Gov 2.0 & Transparency in the UKthe story of data.gov.uk

Andrew Stott Director for Transparency & Digital Engagement

03 Nov 2010

Power of Information Taskforce 2008-09

The start of work on data.gov.uk

Objectives increase transparency improve public services release new economic and

social value and growth make UK a global hub of

skills in the future of the Web

“So that Government information is accessible and useful for the widest possible group of people, I have asked Sir Tim Berners-Lee who led the creation of the World Wide Web, to help us drive the opening up of access to Government data in the web over the coming months".

Gordon Brown, 10 June 2009

Coalition Government’s Commitments

Create a powerful new right to government data, enabling the public to request and receive government datasets

Transforming the culture of the public sector to one that presumes datasets should be open and shared with the public on an ongoing basis.

Publishing data in open and standardised formats

Specific commitments to release data to make all public bodies more transparency

Prime Minister’s letter of 31 May 2010

Set timetable for releasing as open data spending, salaries, organisation, contracts and tenders, and performance data

Directed central government implementation of:‒ openness in response to

requests for data‒ release data underlying

government websites Established Public Sector

Transparency Board

Releasing 24m lines of spending data ….

… interpreted and republished in 48 hours

Local Government spending open to “Armchair Auditors”

From 10 June 2009 to present

established data.gov.uk - available from 30 Sep 09, a fuller ‘beta’ version 21 Jan 2010, regularly extended

formed a developer community of over 2700 peoplemade nearly 4000 datasets available to them with a new

open licence for data re-useestablished common transparency for all Departments of

salaries, spending, contracts and tendersnurtured the first few applications released 37 GB of geographical reference information –

maps, postal codes, gazetteers. learned many of the obstacles and how to overcome them

practically

Learning Points along the way

It’s not an IT project

It’s about the data, not the IT

CholeraCases in 19th

Century Soho, London

[ + Linux, Mediawiki, Varnish, Apache, ….]

Learning Points along the way

It’s not an IT projectEstablish coherent set of policy principles

Public Data Principles

Public data policy and practice will be clearly driven by the public and businesses who want and use the data, including what data is released when and in what form

Public data will be published in reusable, machine-readable form

Public data will be released under the same open licence which enables free reuse, including commercial reuse

Public data will be available and easy to find through a single easy to use online access point (data.gov.uk)

Public data will be published using open standards, and following relevant recommendations of W3C

Public Data Principles

Public data underlying the Government’s own websites will be published in reusable form for others to use

Public data will be timely and fine grainedRelease data quickly, and then re-publish it in

linked data formPublic data will be freely available to use in any

lawful wayPublic bodies should actively encourage the re-use

of their public dataPublic bodies should maintain and publish

inventories of their data holdings

There’s lots of learning about how to do it

Guidance from National Statistician‒Administrative Data‒Reasonable measures to prevent identification

of individualsScientific dataFreedom of Information ActInformation Asset RegistersOpen Standards communityWhat others are doing

Learning Points along the way

It’s not an IT projectEstablish coherent set of policy principlesDon’t be afraid to be rough, but then

improve

Data Publishing – Star Quality

Put your data on the Web (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

31

Why 5 Linked Data?

National digital infrastructure being built

URIs for schools, roads, bus stops, post codes, admin boundaries...

Some of the data links across and connects other data together

Key data link points exist

Joining up the dots…http://map.psi.enakting.org/how

Joining up the dots – UK Linked Datahttp://myarea.psi.enakting.org/

Learning Points along the way

It’s not an IT projectEstablish coherent set of policy principlesDon’t be afraid to be rough, but then

improveIt’s about making data more useful

The goal is re-use of public data

It’s not just about releasing previously unpublished data: also need to bring out

Data previously published, but in non-reusable formatData previously published, but with restricted licenceData in a myriad of different places – sometimes

reflecting the silos of governmentData not easy to findData not easy to understand

Learning Points along the way

It’s not an IT projectEstablish coherent set of policy principlesDon’t be afraid to be rough, but then

improveIt’s about making data more useful Engage with those who will use the data

Photo: @paul_clarke

Learning Points along the way

It’s not an IT projectEstablish coherent set of policy principlesDon’t be afraid to be rough, but then

improveIt’s about making data more useful Engage with those who will use the dataLocation, location, location

Location, location, location

Learning Points along the way

It’s not an IT projectEstablish coherent set of policy principlesDon’t be afraid to be rough, but then

improveIt’s about making data more useful Engage with those who will use the dataLocation, location, locationEvery organisation needs to make its

journey

Learning Points along the way

It’s not an IT projectEstablish coherent set of policy principlesDon’t be afraid to be rough, but then improveIt’s about making data more useful Engage with those who will use the dataLocation, location, locationEvery organisation needs to make its journeyDeep-rooted Political backing is essential

Deep-rooted political backing

“Greater transparency across Government is at the heart of our shared commitment to enable the public to hold politicians and public bodies to account; to reduce the deficit and deliver better value for money in public spending; and to realise significant economic benefits by enabling businesses and non-profit organisations to build innovative applications and websites using public data.”

David CameronMay 2010

Learning Points along the way

It’s not an IT projectEstablish coherent set of policy principlesDon’t be afraid to be rough, but then improveIt’s about making data more useful Engage with those who will use the dataLocation, location, locationEvery organisation needs to make its journeyDeep-rooted Political backing is essential