1. Opening up Government Data Jenny Telford Director of Census Products and Services Australian Bureau of Statistics

2. Opening up ABS Data

How far we have come

• Case Study of the 2006 Census Output

The challenges:

• Policy

• Organisational

• Technical

3. How far we have come

The past

• Data available in paper publications

• The paper on the web era

The present

• Content designed for the web

• Interactive applications

The future

• More interactivity

• Data as a service

4. Case Study: 2006 Census Output

Aim to make data:

• Relevant

• Visible

• Usable

• Timely

• Accurate

• Accessible

5. 2006 Census Output Objectives

Provide a range of products aimed at meeting individual user needs

• Tourists

• Harvesters

• Miners

Better access to more data

Changes to delivery not content

Improve the quantity and quality of our metadata.

6. The Product Range 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. TableBuilder

High end application for experienced users

Create custom tables direct from unit record data

Confidentiality built into the application

Range of formats

• csv, xls, mid/mif, esri, GML, etc

Create tables, maps and charts

17. Where to next?

Opening up data even further

Data delivered as services

Increased emphasis on geospatial display

Aggregating Census data with other sources

• Mashups

• Maplets

• Widgets

18. 19. Opening up data the challenges

Protecting our reputation/brand

Authenticity of open data

Protecting respondent confidentiality

Equity of access to all

Making data comparable

Technical challenges

20. Protecting our Reputation

ABS has a reputation for quality accurate data

Direct link between reputation and response rates

Risk of mashing up ABS data with data from a less reliable source

Loss of direct control

21. Data Authenticity

Can you trust what you see?

ABS brand = Quality and Trust

The digital watermark

Official Source stamp

22. Confidentiality is key!

Protect the privacy of individuals and businesses

CORE value cannot be compromised

Range of technical and procedural protections in place

Adds technical complexity

23. Equity of Access

Key ABS principle

Aim to make our data as accessible and usable as possible forall

We cant possibly publish data in every format

• the quest for open standards

• Google gadgets, Yahoo widgets etc

• The potential of RSS

24. Data Cohesion making things comparable

Importance of standards

Changing classifications

Time series

Comparing geographic areas not as simple as it sounds

25. We dont just publish numbers

We publish metadata (and a lot of it)

Fitness for purpose

• you decide

Quality Statements

• need to carry a link with the data.

26. Copyright and IP issues

Policies aim to promote (but not abuse) use of ABS data

More aligned to the past

Copyright - the 500 cell limit

• Does this still work?

Creative Commons

27. The risk of being too interesting

2006 Census results

• 1.7 million hits in the 3 hours after release

CPI is every quarter

• 300 hits per second at 11.30 am

What would these numbers look like if we had automated data feeds as well as static data! 28. The future

Some things will continue

Continued push to open data

More data, more formats, more uses!

Data as a service

Opportunities and challenges.