Presentation for IRIS Conference, 2011 Salzburg, Austria

2. Political Mindset

3.  Transparency
 Participation
 Collaboration
“My Administration is committed to creating an
Unprecedented level of openness in Government.“
Barack Obama, “Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies -
Transparency and Open Government,” Jan. 2009.

8. Open Data Catalogues
State / Federal Private
 data.gov  data.worldbank.org/
 datasf.org data-catalog
 data.edmonton.ca/
 www.undata-
api.org/wiki/datasets
 data.gov.uk
 gov.opendata.at
 data.london.gov.uk
 data.reegle.info
 digitaliser.dk
 OpenBelgium.be
 geodata.gov.gr
 opengovdata.ru
 data.suomi.fi

13. Why Open Data?
 More information might lead to more informed
and better decisions
 Higher degree of effectiveness & efficiency
● P. Weiss, "Borders in Cyberspace: Conflicting Public Sector Information Policies and their Economic Impacts," ed: U.S.
Department of Commerce, 2004.
 Strengthen trust in establishment
● R. Marcella and G. Baxter, "Information need, information seeking behaviour and participation, with special reference to
needs related to citizenship: results of a national survey," Journal of Documentation, vol. 56, pp. 136-160, 2002.
 Leverage benefits of peer production
 New business models
 “Peoples right to know”

14. Open Data im Policy Cycle
E--Participation
Chance, Erfolg oder Misserfolg
Initiierung
der Politik zu Erkennen, Open Data
Konsultation
auf Foren, Wikis
zu Bewerten
Evaluation Formulierung
und Vorschläge einzubringen Koproduktion
Implementierung
M. Sengens, M.G. Löhe, P. Müller, J.H. Weitzmann, and H. Lesch, Offene Staatskunst - Bessere Politik durch »Open Government«?
Berlin: Internet & Gesellschaft Co:llaboratory, 2010.

17. Open Government Data
Definitions & Principles

18. Open Government Data
Open Government Data are data sets
released by the government on public
interest. Usage is unconstrained with
the right to re-share and re-purpose
without further notice.

19. Open Data Principles
 Complete
 Primary
 Timely
 Easily Accessible
 Machine Processable
 Non-Discriminating
 Using Open Standards
 Liberal Licencing
 Reliable
 Free of Charge OR Non-Discriminating fees
von Lucke and C.P. Geiger, “Open Government Data - Frei verfügbare Daten des öffentlichen Sektors,” Dec. 2010.

20. Open Government Data
Element of Public Administration
Information Management

21. Information Management (EN)
 Collection and management of
information
 Organization of and control over the
structure, processing and delivery of
information

22. Informationsmanagement (DE)
 Beschaffung und Bereitstellung von Information
 Planung, Beschaffung und Bereitstellung der
dafür erforderlichen Informations- und IT-
Infrastruktur und notwendiger, personeller
Ressourcen
● Informationsmanagement wird in der
deutschsprachigen Literatur überwiegend als
Informationsgenerierung und
Informationsbeschaffung behandelt

26. Open Government Data
Architecture Model

27. Architecture Model
 Five level saturation model by Tim
Berners-Lee
★ Available on the web (whatever format), but with an open licence
★★ Available as machine-readable structured data (e.g. excel instead
of image scan of a table)
★★★ as (2) plus non-proprietary format (e.g. CSV instead of excel)
★★★★ All the above plus, Use open standards from W3C (RDF and SPARQL)
to identify things, so that people can point at your stuff
★★★★★ All the above, plus: Link your data to other people’s data
to provide context

29. URIs for everything
 Naming scheme respects federal
principle of subsidiarity and autonomy
 http://{sector}.{federallevel}.data.gv.at/
{concept}/IDENTIFIKATION {.rdf|html}
● http://bildung.krems.noe.data.gv.at/schule/
4711

30. Ontologies for Non-
Information Resources (NIR)
 Enable computer systems to reason
about reality
 Automated service discovery
 Optimal resource allocation for
processes
 Ontologies about NIRs classify Open
Linked Data about Information
Resources (IR)

31. Open Data API
 Reduce server resources by optimal query strategy
 Querying data originator rather than local storage
prevents data inconsistencies
 Extern-facing API by means of RESTful serives
● Integrates seamlessly with web browsers
● Well understood and supported standard technology
● JSON serialization less verbose and more web friendly than
XML
● “Simple” compared to wsdl:SOAP
 Eliminates asymmetry of Open Data by enabling
information in-flow

32. Open Government Data Register
 Topic of research
C. Koumenides, M. Salvadores, H. Alani, and N. Shadbol, “Global
integration of public sector information,” Raleigh, NC, USA: 2010.

33. [0] Identify an Open Data Set

34. [0] Identify an Open Data Set
[1] Browse Url / Uri (eg. http://bildung.krems.noe.data.gv.at/schule/4711)

35. [0] Identify an Open Data Set
[1] Browse Url / Uri (eg. http://bildung.krems.noe.data.gv.at/schule/4711)
[2] Transfer minimal Web Page with
Javascript RDF-Browser

36. [0] Identify an Open Data Set
[1] Browse Url / Uri (eg. http://bildung.krems.noe.data.gv.at/schule/4711)
[2] Transfer minimal Web Page with
Javascript RDF-Browser
[3] Retrieve Data using OGD API

37. Architecture (4)
[4] Query RDF-Database

38. [4'] Use HTTP-Proxy to Query Databases
outside Internet Domain

39. Big picture

40. Next steps
 Identify already released data or uncritical data sets;
grab for the low hanging fruits
 Release as XML, CSV
 Create an online-catalogue of Open Data
 Go semantic: Enrich with meta data, create URI
infrastructure, identify open source components
 Extend government enterprise architecture with
Linked Data elements

41. Links and further reading
Papers & Literature:
C. Koumenides, M. Salvadores, H. Alani, and N. Shadbol, “Global integration of public sector information,” Raleigh, NC, USA: 2010.
F. Ortiz-Rodríguez, J.C. Pelaez, and F.J. Pascual, “Semantic model approach for eGovernment to improve sharing, retrieving and
exchanging documentation across back-office,” Proceedings of the 10th Annual International Conference on Digital Government
Research: Social Networks: Making Connections between Citizens, Data and Government, Digital Government Society of North
America, 2009, pp. 319–320.
S.K. Goudos, V. Peristeras, and K. Tarabanis, “Reengineering Public Administration through Semantic Technologies and a Reference
Domain Ontology,” Semantic Web for eGovernment 2006, p. 25.
C. Koumenides, M. Salvadores, H. Alani, and N. Shadbol, “Global integration of public sector information,” Raleigh, NC, USA: 2010.
P. Salhofer, “Ontology Driven E-Government,” eGovernment Review, Jan. 2009, pp. 22-23.
J. Sheridan and J. Tennison, “Linking UK government data,” Proc. of the WWW Workshop on Linked Data on the Web, 2010.
D. Wood, Linking Enterprise Data, Springer, 2010.
F. Servant, “Linking Enterprise Data,” CEUR Workshop Proceedings, Bejing: 2008.
F. Maali, R. Cyganiak, and V. Peristeras, “Enabling Interoperability of Government Data Catalogues,” Lecture Notes in Computer
Science, Lausanne, Switzerland: Springer, 2010, pp. 339-350.
P.N. Weiss, “Borders in Cyberspace: Conflicting Public Sector Information Policies and their Economic Impacts,” Public sector
information in the digital age: between markets, public management and citizens' rights, 2004, p. 137.
E. Hornes, A. Jansen, and Ø. Langeland, “How to Develop an Open and Flexible Information Infrastructure for the Public Sector,”
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Lausanne, Switzerland: Springer, 2010, pp. 301-314.
. von Lucke and C.P. Geiger, “Open Government Data - Frei verfügbare Daten des öffentlichen Sektors,” Dec. 2010.
Web Links:
Empowering the empowered: http://gurstein.wordpress.com/2010/09/02/open-data-empowering-the-empowered-or-effective-data-use-
for-everyone/
Cool URIs for the semantic web: http://www.w3.org/TR/cooluris/
Re-use HTTP-Header Response Codes for the Semantic Web: http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/doc/httpRange-14/2007-05-31/HttpRange-14
Licenses: http://www.opendatacommons.org/
CKAN Semantic Web Software: http://ckan.org/
Tabulator Library to render RDF as (X)HTML: http://semanticweb.org/wiki/Tabulator
APIs: http://open311.org/, http://www.odata.org/ http://services.sunlightlabs.com/docs/Sunlight_Congress_API/
SKOS recommendation to create thesauri: http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/
Tools and Software recommended by the W3C to deal with RDF and the Semantic Web: http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/wiki/Tools