[open-government] ANN: Open Definition v2.0 Released - Major Update of Essential Standard for Open Data and Open Content

[Rufus Pollock]

Hi All,


On behalf of the Open Definition Advisory Council I'm delighted to announce
the release of the Open Definition v2.0 (see below). With the growing
number of government open licenses having a "standard" to check them
against to ensure both compatibility and quality is every more important.


Please do share this announce with relevant communities and organizations!


Regards,


Rufus Pollock


*ANN: Open Definition v2.0 Released - Major Update of Essential Standard
for Open Data and Open Content*



*Also online
at http://blog.okfn.org/2014/10/07/open-definition-v2-0-released-major-update-of-essential-standard-for-open-data-and-open-content/
<http://blog.okfn.org/2014/10/07/open-definition-v2-0-released-major-update-of-essential-standard-for-open-data-and-open-content/>*


Today Open Knowledge and the Open Definition Advisory Council are pleased
to announce the release of version 2.0 of the Open Definition
<http://opendefinition.org/>. The Definition “sets out principles that
define openness in relation to data and content” and plays a key role in
supporting the growing open data ecosystem <http://okfn.org/opendata/>.

Recent years have seen an explosion in the release of open data by dozens
of governments including the G8. Recent estimates by McKinsey put the
potential benefits of open data at over $1 trillion and others estimates
put benefits at more than 1% of global GDP.

However, these benefits are at significant risk both from quality problems
such as “open-washing” (non-open data being passed off as open) and from
fragmentation of the open data ecosystem due to incompatibility between the
growing number of “open” licenses.

The Open Definition <http://opendefinition.org/> eliminates these risks and
ensures we realize the full benefits of open by  guaranteeing quality and
preventing incompatibility. See this recent post for more about why the
Open Definition is so important
<http://blog.okfn.org/2014/09/30/why-the-open-definition-matters-for-open-data-quality-compatibility-and-simplicity/>
.

Created in 2005, this new version of the Open Definition
<http://opendefinition.org/> is the most significant revision in the
Definition’s nearly ten-year history and reflects more than a year of
discussion and consultation with the community including input from experts
involved in open data, open access, open culture, open education, open
government, and open source.  As well as major revisions to the text there
is a new process for reviewing licenses which has been trialled with major
governments including the UK.

The Open Definition was published in 2005 by Open Knowledge and is
maintained today by an expert Advisory Council. This new version of the Open
Definition <http://opendefinition.org/> is the most significant revision in
the Definition’s nearly ten-year history.

It reflects more than a year of discussion and consultation with the
community including input from experts involved in open data, open access,
open culture, open education, open government, and open source. Whilst
there are no changes to the core principles, the Definition has been
completely reworked with a new structure and revised text as well as a new
process for reviewing licenses (which has been trialled with governments
including the UK).

Herb Lainchbury, Chair of the Open Definition Advisory Council
<http://opendefinition.org/advisory-council/>, said:

‘The Open Definition describes the principles that define “openness” in
relation to data and content, and is used to assess whether a particular
licence meets that standard.  A key goal of this new version is to make it
easier to assess whether the growing number of open licenses actually make
the grade. The more we can increase everyone’s confidence in their use of
open works,  the more they will be able to focus on creating value with
open works.’

Rufus Pollock, President and Founder of Open Knowledge
<http://www.okfn.org/> said:

‘Since we created the Open Definition <http://opendefinition.org/> in 2005
it has played a key role in the growing open data and open content
communities. It acts as the ‘gold standard’ for open data and content
guaranteeing quality and preventing incompatibility. As a standard, the
Open Definition plays a key role in underpinning the ‘open knowledge
economy’ with a potential value that runs into the hundreds of billions -
or even trillions - worldwide.’

What’s New

In process for more than a year, the new version was collaboratively
<https://github.com/okfn/opendefinition> and openly
<https://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/od-discuss/> developed
<https://github.com/okfn/opendefinition> with input from e
<https://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/od-discuss/>xperts involved in open
access, open culture, open data, open education, open government, open
source and wiki communities. The new version of the definition:


   -

   Has a complete rewrite of the core principles - preserving their meaning
   but using simpler language and clarifying key aspects.
   -

   Introduces a clear separation of the definition of an open license from
   an open work (with the latter depending on the former). This not only
   simplifies the conceptual structure but provides a proper definition of
   open license and makes it easier to “self-assess” licenses for conformance
   with the Open Definition.
   -

   The definition of an Open Work <http://opendefinition.org/od/> within
   the Open Definition is now a set of three key principles:
   -

      Open License: The work must be available under an open license (as
      defined in the following section but this includes freedom to use, build
      on, modify and share).
      -

      Access: The work shall be available as a whole and at no more than a
      reasonable one-time reproduction cost, preferably downloadable via the
      Internet without charge
      -

      Open Format: The work must be provided in a convenient and modifiable
      form such that there are no unnecessary technological obstacles to the
      performance of the licensed rights. Specifically, data should be
      machine-readable, available in bulk, and provided in an open
format or, at
      the very least, can be processed with at least one free/libre/open-source
      software tool.
      -

   Includes improved license approval process to make it easier for license
   creators to check conformance of their license with the Open Definition and
   to encourage reuse of existing open licenses (rrareuse and outlines the
   process for submitting a license so that it can be checked for conformance
   against the Open Definition.


More Information

   -

   For more information about the Open Definition including the updated
   version visit: http://opendefinition.org/
   -

   For background on why the Open Definition matters, read the recent  article
   ‘Why the Open Definition Matters’
   <http://blog.okfn.org/2014/09/30/why-the-open-definition-matters-for-open-data-quality-compatibility-and-simplicity/>
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