[open-government] Seeking advice on China's open data policy

Tue Apr 22 03:58:30 UTC 2014

Hi Feng,

Here are a few ideas of mine. Obviously I have no idea how well any of these ideas will be received in China, but I am optimistic about open data there. China has the ability to push for greater disclosure policies country wide.

1) The central government should establish an open license under which all data is released. It can be based upon the creative commons or developed specifically for CN. Creative Commons licenses are ideal, but they could also look to how the UK established their own license.

All departments should be encouraged to release data early and often. This includes small datasets as well as big. The power of even small data (ie. statistics) gathered by a government department could prove useful to someone. It is difficult to know how data will be used, and in many respects, it is better to ignore that question.

2) ckan is a great system for gathering together datasets and it should be used. However, there is nothing better for getting data out then simply releasing it with the appropriate metadata (ie. description of exactly what it is). Search engines will index it, and when people search for information, they use search engines first, rather than navigate through complex government websites. Don’t spend too much effort on a searchable portal. These are always less effective than search engines and data shared on social networks.

3) Releasing data is an evolving process. No format will be right at first. Each department needs to be prepared to work with NGOs, journalists and other stakeholders to determine what formats are useful. Regarding economic value, it will take time to process data and make use of it. A policy to release data before determining its value will bring positive and surprising results.

4) Don’t over-emphasise download analytics. Look at the use of the data, not just whether it is downloaded. For example, articles that Journalists produce will better illustrate how much impact it has. As with all analytics, it will take time to get good statistics. Steps can be taken to anticipate what metrics to measure, but this will change over time. In the early stages of an open data program, the focus should be more upon getting the data out. If a country is good about opening their data, it will become very clear over time.

Darcy W. Christ
Digital Generalist
@1000camels

On 17 Apr, 2014, at 4:47 pm, FENG GAO <gaofeng860918 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello, all
> 
> Recently I was approached by a researcher from a China's gov-funded think tank. She is doing research for the gov to prepare China's open data policy which will focus on economic value and social innovation. And the work is at its early stage now, so she has many questions around open data policy. 
> 
> She knows there are many experts on this list, so she asked me to forward her questions to seek advices here. if you can suggest any references or directly answer any questions, it would be great. Thanks in advance.
> 
> Questions:
> 
> 1. when the central gov tries to promote open data in the country, what kinds of regulations or policies are needed to support such work?
> 
> 2. what kind of management system should the gov design to manage and support open data suppliers,  open data publisher and open data users?
> 
> 3. what kind of challenges should the gov prepare to face? especially when they want to focus on economic value?
> 
> 4. what kind of evaluation framework can the gov use to evaluate impact and performance of its open data initiative?
> 
> 
> best,
> Feng
>  
> 
> 
> -- 
> Feng GAO | @okfncnfenggao | skype: fenggaosh
> mobile: 0086-13764007565 | wechat: fenggaosh
> Ambassador for China, Open Knowledge Foundation
> 
> Open Data China (开放数据中国）| @开放数据中国
> Advocate, Cultivate, and Support Open Data Innovation
> 
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> 
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