The good (and bad) news about open data

The good (and bad)news about open data Online Information, November 2010

Me: Chris Taggart • Developer of OpenlyLocal, opening up local government information since 2009. Over 150 councils, 10,000 councillors, 300,000 payments, all open data. • Developer of OpenCharities, an open version of the Register of Charities • Member of Local Public Data Panel • Member of London Digital Advisory Board • Member of Open Knowledge Foundation open government working group

why open data? Do we still need to answer this question? Yes

Our lives aregoverned by data... Mainframe photo: http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/cote/54408562/

Our lives aregoverned by data...and always have been Mainframe photo: http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/cote/54408562/

But now increasingly,our lives are data

The web isno longerjust aboutwebsitesAnd in the futurewill be primarilyNOT websites

Information, when we want it, where we want it, how we want it sensors, apps, api’s, offline...Photos, from left: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mduchesn/3107504673, http://www.flickr.com/photos/yewenyi/2769658703

Open data is...enfranchisement

Democracy Data Democracy

Democracy Data Democracyallowing different people to read the samearguments, hear the samespeeches, and then take a different view

Democracy Data Democracyallowing different people to read the same allowing different peoplearguments, hear the same to look at the same dataspeeches, and then take a and come up with a different view different perspective

Open data is...relevance

Open data is...relevanceFacebook vs the British govt

Open data is...relevanceFacebook vs the British govt Tesco vs any council

Open data is...relevanceFacebook vs the British govt Tesco vs any council BP vs any country

Open data is...relevanceFacebook vs the British govt Tesco vs any council BP vs any country Government is becoming less powerful, less relevant but by opening its data it increases its relevance

Open data is...new opportunities Data owners (& not just govt ones) are usually the last people to be able to see its full potential. Data reusers bring a fresh (and non-public sector) eye to the data

So, open data’s asilver bullet? http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/eschipul/4160817135/

There are no silverbullets • If there weren’t problems, we wouldn’t be doing anything interesting • We’ve now had local councils publishing open data for over a year (kudos to @pezholio and @londondatastore) • Done some interesting experiments (Open Election Data project) • Can now identify some real & bogus problems

Open Data nonproblems• What if people misinterpret the data? (c.f. What if people vote the ‘wrong’ way)• What if nobody uses the data (inevitable for some data, but even this is useful feedback mechanism)

So where are theproblems? Why is this still quite hard?

People & organisationssee it as a threat(and it is if you are wedded to the status quo, or anintermediary that doesn’t add anything)

People & organisationssee it as a threat(and it is if you are wedded to the status quo, or anintermediary that doesn’t add anything) Answer: the internet routes around blockages; do the same.Concentrate of getting things done rather than the properchannels (& your citizens & frontline staff will thank you)

The data is messy –e.g. tied up in PDFs,Word documents, orarbitrary web pages

The data is messy –e.g. tied up in PDFs,Word documents, orarbitrary web pages Answer: Don’t lose too much sleep over it, but ﬁx it for the future

The data is bad

The data is bad Answer: publish it, but clearly acknowledge the problems (and the community may help clean it up)

The data is complex

The data is complex Answer: publish internal explanations/ training info, and make available people who understand it (NB its complexity may be a sign that the process is ﬂawed, e.g. LAAs)

The data is proprietary Answer: work with the supplier, or else go public & make this a reputational issue for them (and so warn other potential clients)

The data containspersonal info Answer: use FoI as a benchmark (e.g. consultants have no protection), balance the cost/beneﬁt, and protect vulnerable individuals

The data will exposeincompetence Answer: Get over it, embrace the increased information & use it to do a better job (& get media buy-in)

The tools are poor anddata literacy in thecommunity is low Answer: work with hyperlocal sites,SMEs, schools and colleges to improvethis and work with the data (and build closer links with the community)

One more thing...

One more thing...open data != linked data

One more thing...open data != linked data linked open data open linked data data

TBL’s 5-stars of open data make your stuff available on theThe essential steps – do these ﬁrst Web (whatever format) under an open licence make it available as structured data (e.g., Excel instead of image scan of a table) use non-proprietary formats (e.g., CSV instead of Excel) do use URIs to identify things, sothese that people can point at your stuff later link your data to other data to provide context

Jumping in straight atthe deep end mayseriously damageyour sanity and cost you money

Linking Open Data cloud diagram, by Richard Cyganiakand Anja Jentzsch. http://lod-cloud.net Local Openly Text publishing a fair bit of it And that’s speak as someone

We’renotbuildingone ofthese http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chartres_1.jpg

of these to develop We’re allowing onehttp://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/aknock/5072756231

Closing points... forpublic sector• How you approach open data is critical. Start at the beginning, e.g. simple CSV ﬁles and then take a progressive, incremental view• Give people what they ask for (and don’t spend ages building what they don’t)• Establish conversations with wide variety of users – developers, hyperlocal sites, community groups, other councils

Closing points... forsuppliers• The government’s new ‘Right to data’ is bringing open data to you, like it or not• As data moves to the web it takes on the web’s characteristics: incremental change, connections, accepting of failure• Further undermines the scope-tender model, as it encourages and rewards iterative development• Undermines rent-seeking business model, rewards problem-solving

http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com	886
http://www.africaopendata.org	27
url_unknown	16
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com	2
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	2
http://lj-toys.com	1
http://www.twylah.com	1

The good (and bad) news about open data

by Chris Taggart on Nov 30, 2010

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

7 Embeds 935

Statistics

The good (and bad) news about open data — Presentation Transcript