[open-government] Open Data Tooling - should the OKF/others promote a set of tools for open data?

[Jose M. Alonso]

Something I've been saying since long time ago is that:
a) an Open Data initiative is not a portal (although the portal might/should be part of it)
b) technology only represents a small percentage of an Open Data initiative

TimD, you're making very valid points along those lines here and I fully agree with them.

In our case, the focus of the Web Foundation on Open Data is on building local sustainable Open Data eco-systems. I believe this is the only way an Open Data initiative will last. I expect we'll be able to identify patterns within and across dimensions (political, legal, organizational,technical, economic, social), document them, make them openly available and help to transfer them to those willing to start.

On a more technical note, building on what TimD said, there would be (are already!) various valid approaches. I remember there was a useful resource at [4] compiling tools for scraping, transforming, visualizing data, than seems to be down :(

Providing something like an "Open Data Stack" would be certainly useful for many, but that stack should have not only (but also) technology components.

Josema.

[4] http://datapatterns.org/

-- 

Jose M. Alonso
Program Manager, Open Data
World Wide Web Foundation
email: josema at webfoundation.org
twitter: @josemalonso
skype: josema.alonso
http://www.webfoundation.org

El 21/08/2011, a las 17:40, Tim Davies escribió:
> Hello Tim,
> 
> Interesting reflections. I'm not sure the issue is so much with having one standard set of tools, as helping organisations to understand that open data is not just about the data, but is about creating an eco-system of resources and support to enable it to be used for positive civic gain.
> 
> Suggesting some example tools and resources that could form part of such an eco-system might be useful - but advocating for one particular package of tools is probably less helpful (in that people will generally turn to the tools they have most familiarity with: and intense advocacy for a particular toolset tends to alienate some groups, or confuse others). 
> 
> That said, encouraging some principles for the choice of tools and resources (e.g. they themselves should be open, shared and re-usable) may be useful.
> 
> So, we might explore that, in addition to releasing open data, organisations should think about:
> 	• Releasing any source code/spreadsheets/how to guides they've written for working with particular datasets, and making sure details of these are linked to when the dataset is published; ideally licensing such resources to allow for their re-use and modifications based on them to be shared freely. 
> 
> 	• Promoting data literacy within the organisation and within partner organisations: ideally making use of open learning resources;
> 
> 	• Openly sharing their own analysis of open data, and linking this to the raw datasets; wherever possible, being open about who citizens can contact directly to give feedback on a dataset;
> 
> 	• Developing open routes for users of data to feed back potential modifications and updates;
> Effectively advocating for open data as the starting point for "open all the way down", and from that, talking about linux / R / python etc. as possible, but not the only, tools for that.
> 
> Tim
> 
> On Sun, Aug 21, 2011 at 8:28 AM, Tim McNamara <tim.mcnamara at okfn.org> wrote:
> Alex Howard (O'Reilly Radar's government) has written a nice
> feature[0] on Chicago city's moves towards open data. There's lots of
> great content in the article. An excerpt I would like to draw people's
> attention to is reproduced below:
> 
> "To fully embrace this vision, however, Chicago is going to have to
> build out its data capabilities to become a smarter city. "The first
> step is moving over to a more open platform," said Goldstein. "You
> don't have to make a multi-million-dollar investment to get a fancy
> GUI and something meaningful. If you bring something over to Linux,
> between Python and R you can produce some remarkable outcomes. These
> are some really low-cost solutions.""
> 
> One of the things he mentions on Twitter[1] is the interesting
> coincidence of Python & R in Chicago's plans and a post I wrote in
> early August about open data tooling[2]. It has made me wonder if
> there should be calls for a standard set of tools for introducing
> people to the open data. The OKF has been actively supporting
> Python[3]. Is that the right approach?
> 
> 
> Tim McNamara
> Open Knowledge Foundation
> 
> 
> [0] http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/08/chicago-data-apps-open-government.html
> [1] https://twitter.com/#!/digiphile/status/104973421519179776
> [2] http://notebook.okfn.org/2011/08/01/open-data-tooling/
> [3] http://datapatterns.org/
> 
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> 
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> 
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