[open-government] What are your questions for opengovernmentdata.org?

Tue May 3 09:31:46 UTC 2011

It's fantastic to have all of this discussion.

At this stage, the site is a useful place for relevant information to be
held. My preference would be to have the service as comprehensive as
possible. Therefore, I think including information and advice for
governments, as well as other audiences such as journalists is worthwhile.

In terms of return of investment, it is hard to talk in general terms for a
global audience. Perhaps the site could expand upon the statements that it
has made in its "Why" section and refer people to local groups for more
specific advice.

Who's responsibility is it to open governments' data? Open New Zealand built
its own directory of government datasets. The team then used this as an
example for our Department of Internal Affairs to build its own. Perhaps
external players should not bear all of the responsibility. However, it is
important that they can provide examples of why it is worthwhile.

I have begun working on some of the questions that have arisen today[1]. If
you have some spare time, please feel free to assist with the editing.

Tim McNamara  |  @timClicks <http://twitter.com/timClicks>  |
timmcnamara.co.nz

[1] http://wiki.okfn.org/wg/government/FAQ

On 3 May 2011 21:02, Alessandra Cornero <alecornero at gmail.com> wrote:

> hello everybody, it's my first time here! I work  in Italy and my job
> deals with public sector information.
>
> I share Sarah's doubt, I hope I got it properly . When you say support
> open data you're just supporting the openness (that is a matter of
> formats and licensing) or, as Sarah suggests, you want to encourage
> governments to put their own data online? Both? In my opinion they're
> different things, but it's necessary to promote both. If both,
> explaining it in your FAQ could be really useful!
> thanks a lot ,
> Alessandra
>
>
> > I guess I also have a question for your site … when you say ‘support
> > development of open government data catalogues’, is that about
> encouraging
> > governments to publish their own data proactively online, or is the idea
> > that data will be legally available and copyright-free so that we as
> private
> > citizens can obtain and publish it ourselves? Or both? I suppose the
> > question is, who do we think should ultimately bear the responsibility of
> > publishing public data? I certainly don’t have an answer, just throwing
> it
> > out there.
> >
> >
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Sarah Welsh
> >
> > Executive Director
> >
> > New Mexico Foundation for Open Government
> >
> > (505) 764-3750
> >
> > (888) 843-9121
> >
> >
> >
> > Do you support NM-FOG's work? Please consider donating at www.nmfog.org!
> >
> >
> >
> > From: open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org
> > [mailto:open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of Anna
> Kuliberda
> > Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 3:42 PM
> > To: Tim McNamara
> > Cc: open-government at lists.okfn.org
> > Subject: Re: [open-government] What are your questions for
> > opengovernmentdata.org?
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi,
> > Great idea with this FAQ!
> > I don't know who is the target group, but if it's also public officials
> or
> > decision makers, it would be good to let them know about tow following:
> >
> > 1. Open government data regarding freedom of information, freedom of
> > expression and re-use of public information (or public sector information
> if
> > you prefer)
> >
> > 2. All the licensing issues - what to think about before choosing one.
> Not
> > necessarily indicate better or worse license, but just pointing out
> things
> > to be considered.
> >
> > And maybe it's too complex but
> > 3. What may be the return of investment from putting money, time and
> effort
> > for a release open government data project
> >
> > And than form an advocate point of view - I meet quite often this
> question -
> > "Ok, open data, suer, but please show me change that was done thanks to
> open
> > data, just prove it works!". I know it is not a place for such a thing in
> > FAQ, but actually, it is the most frequently asked question in my case.
> >
> > And because this is my first time not only lurking - I'm saying hello!
> > My name is Anna Kuliberda and I work for Polish watchdog NGO who, among
> > other things, organised first TransparencyCamp in Poland
> > (http://transparencycamp.pl) in 2010.
> >
> > regards,
> > Anna
> >
> > ----
> > Anna Kuliberda
> > Stowarzyszenie Liderów Lokalnych Grup Obywatelskich (The Association of
> > Leaders of Local Civic Groups)
> > anna.kuliberda at lgo.pl tel. 0048 22 844 73 55
> > www.sllgo.pl www.informacjapubliczna.org.pl, www.watchdog.org.pl
> >
> > 2011/5/2 Tim McNamara <paperless at timmcnamara.co.nz>
> >
> > I'm attempting to build some questions to create a FAQ for
> > opengovernmentdata.org. If you have any thing you would like answered,
> > please let me know. If you use Quora, I've created a question there[1].
> >
> >
> >
> > Tim McNamara  |  @timClicks  |  timmcnamara.co.nz
> >
> >
> >
> > [1] www.quora.com/Which-questions-should-be-part-of-a-great-FAQ
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > open-government mailing list
> > open-government at lists.okfn.org
> > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > open-government mailing list
> > open-government at lists.okfn.org
> > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government
> >
> >
>
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