[School-of-data] Is data open if you can not create derivatives?

Fri Jul 11 14:51:18 UTC 2014

Thanks Tim.

I'll follow up your suggestions.

Cheers Simon

On 11/07/14 20:00, Tim Davies wrote:
> Hello Simon,
>
> As Michael mentions, the Open Definition, which offers criteria for
> judging the openness of the dataset as an artefact would judge these
> non-open, as license restrictions, or incompatibilities, would limit the
> ability to combine, work with and redistribute the results.
>
> The wider issues you mention of data description and quality don't
> feature in the Open Definition - but are important elements of
> 'openness' more broadly - and well worth documenting.
>
> You might want to share your findings on the difficulty of re-using this
> data with the currently-developing Global Initiative on Open Data for
> Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN - http://godan.info/) which has some
> strong backing, and is currently setting out an agenda / workplan for
> future projects. Highlighing to them the importance harmonising licenses
> in this space could be a good move.
>
> All the best
>
> Tim
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 11, 2014 at 9:06 AM, Michael Bauer <michael.bauer at okfn.org
> <mailto:michael.bauer at okfn.org>> wrote:
>
>     Simon,
>
>     According to the OpenDefinition (http://opendefinition.org/) these
>     datasets
>     are _not_ open.
>
>     Michael
>
>     On Fri, Jul 11, 2014 at 12:44:18PM +1000, Simon Cropper wrote:
>      > Hi Everyone,
>      >
>      > I am currently collating some public datasets on nutrition as
>     fodder for
>      > some community data wrangling projects and events I am planning.
>      >
>      > https://github.com/SimonChristopherCropper/Food_Data_Analysis
>      >
>      > Interestingly I have discovered that most datasets are released
>     under a
>      > limited license -- put simply, the custodian agencies allow for
>      > redistribution of the dataset with attribution but derivatives of
>     any kind
>      > are not allowed or allow you to look at their data but not even
>     download
>      > them. Most nutritional datasets released worldwide fall into this
>      > category[1].
>      >
>      > To me this data is not open. Open data, in my mind, should allow for
>      > derivatives to be created and redistributed. I understand that
>     agencies wish
>      > to be attributed and in some cases disclaimers included with any
>     derivatives
>      > as means of indemnifying the source agency, but having constraints on
>      > 'working [2]' on and 'working' with the data makes the dataset of
>     no real
>      > value.
>      >
>      > For the record -- the only datasets I have confirmed allow
>     derivatives is
>      > the Australian, USA and Swiss Datasets, and maybe the UK dataset
>     (still
>      > waiting for official confirmation of the ambiguous license
>     documentation on
>      > the UK website).
>      >
>      > What is your opinion regarding 'openness'?
>      >
>      > When looking at licenses or terms of use statements, what
>     attributes are you
>      > looking for? Do you have a preferred license type?
>      >
>      > Open Data in my mind has the following attributes:
>      > - freely downloadable/accessible in a common data format
>      > - the data is clearly described so other people can understand
>      >   what they are seeing (e.g. no undefined acronyms)
>      > - the methodology and sources of the information presented,
>      >   and any inherent problems, are clearly described and this document
>      >   freely available
>      > - there are no restrictions on working with the data and
>     redistributing
>      >   your results (attributing the source and including disclaimers are
>      >   not considered to be restrictions in this definition)
>      >
>      > [1] This statement is based on inspection of the term of use for
>     all the
>      > database identified from General Internet Searches using Google
>     and all the
>      > databases specified in the list of Food Composition Databases
>     managed by
>      > EuroFin (http://www.eurofir.org/?page_id=96)
>      > [2] Definition of 'working' -- cleansing, standardizing,
>     wrangling, munging,
>      > coding, geocoding, summarizing, graphing, analyzing, etcetera.
>      >
>      > --
>      > Cheers Simon
>      >
>      >    Simon Cropper - Open Content Creator
>      >
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-- 
Cheers Simon

    Simon Cropper - Open Content Creator

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    ------------------------------------------------------------
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