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Obstacles to Open Data
Andrew Stott UK Transparency Boardformerly Director, data.gov.uk
Rome10 Dec 2012
The first 2½ years of data.gov.uk
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Over 8600 datasets37 GB of geo dataPublic Data PrinciplesOpen Government LicenceTransparency of salaries,
spending, contracts and tenders
Four site versions, each in response to user feedback
UK Government Transparency Data
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For every central Ministry and regional/city council:-ExpenditureSenior staff salariesExpensesOfficial credit cardsContractsTendersOrganisation chartsLocal service & performance dataMeetings
Some of the usual excuses
It’s held separately by n different organisations, and we can’t join it up It will make people angry and scared without helping them It is technically impossible We do not own the data The data is just too large to be published and used Our website cannot hold files this large We know the data is wrong We know the data is wrong, and people will tell us where it is wrong We know the data is wrong, and we will waste valuable resources
inputting the corrections people send us People will draw superficial conclusions from the data without
understanding the wider picture People will construct league tables from it It will generate more Freedom of Information requests It will cost too much to put it into a standard format It will distort the market Our IT suppliers will charge us a fortune to do an ad hoc extract
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What’s really going on?
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For the data producer it seems all pain and no gain
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Top-level political and official leadership essential
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“Public information does not belong to Government, it belongs to the public.”
“Greater transparency will enable the public to hold politicians and public bodies to account”
Measure conformance
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Use Open Data to engage with your customers
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Local team
Telephone, website, Facebook and Youtube ….
Local police
Twitter feed
How YOU can get involved
It’s very local
Accessible data on crime
Attract Inform Engage Action
Internal Return on Investment
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Easier sharing
Lower transaction costs
Faster access to data
Reduced admin costs
Improved decisions
More “joined up” working
DataGM: Inter-agency benefits alone greatly exceed all open data costs
Ensure some financial re-cycling
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Pause
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How to promote effective re-use of data
Andrew Stott UK Transparency Boardformerly Director, data.gov.uk
Rome10 Dec 2012
Release interesting & useful data
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and data on things that people care about
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Encourage requests for more data
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Photos: @memespring, @MadLabUK, @paul_clarke
Encourage and support developers
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Encourage young people to use data
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Make the information findable
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Make Open Mean Open
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Measure reusability as well as accessibility
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Data Publishing – Star Quality
Put your data on the Web with an Open Licence (any format)
Make it available as structured data (e.g. Excel, CSV, instead of PDF)
Use open, standard formats (e.g. XML, RDF)
Use URLs to identify things (so people and machines can point at your data)
Link your data to other people’s data
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Automatic rating tools becoming available
Recognise success
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UK Open Data Institute
Develop capability of UK businesses to exploit value of Open Data
Engage developers/small businesses to build Open Data supply chains and commercial outlets
Help public sector use its own data more effectively
Ensure academic research in Open Data technologies
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Promoting more effective re-use
Release the data people wantLet them find itMake sure that it is really openMake sure that it is really re-usableSupport and encourage developers and other
users
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End
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