Unleashing the Potential of Open Data - Open Enterprise

“... one in particular that I wanted to cover was the release of this UK Open Data White Paper entitled ‘Unleashing the Potential’... as I've noted before, the UK's open data programme really is one of the best things the government has done in the field of technology, and is arguably now leading the world, something the white paper is not shy about pointing out: ‘In the last two years, the UK has released the largest amount of government data of any country in the world.’ I think it's required reading for anyone interested in the areas of openness in general, and open data and open government in particular. As is customary, it's well written, and has embedded in it a series of case histories that leaven its otherwise rather intense narrative. Here are just a few of the highlights I spotted as I read through it. For example, I hadn't realised that the Freedom of Information Act was being subtly modified to take account of the need to give people the ability to access not just information, but data too: ‘The Datasets Section of the Protection of Freedoms Act, which received Royal Assent in May 2012, enhanced access to data. This new section pushes public authorities to consider disclosing data that is not already routinely published and sets out what is meant by a dataset - the raw, factual or source information behind a public function - to allow for a better understanding between the person requesting the dataset and the public authority holding the data of what is being sought...’ This is really rather important, because it broadens the scope of the FOIA considerably, and will help to get the message across to central and local government departments that datasets must also be released, just like the more discrete pieces of information they currently send out. A reference to open data activities Europe-wide gives us some sense of the scale of things: ‘Late last year, the European Commission published its proposals to amend the Directive, Communication on Open Data: An engine for innovation, growth and transparent governance, forming part of the EU’s 2020 Strategy to promote growth in Europe’s economies. The Commission believes that adopting Open Data principles and removing barriers to re‑use can generate economic benefits in the order of £33 billion a year. Following from the UK’s example, the European Commission believes that opening up public data leads to greater transparency in public administration and promotes social and political engagement...’ I was also pleased to see among the so-called "Information Principles" the following: ‘Public data will be published using open standards, and following relevant recommendations of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)...’ As readers of this column will know, unlike open data, which seems to enjoy almost universal support, open standards is highly contentious. So it's good to see this commitment here. Interestingly, the currently quite fashionable area of open access also makes an appearance in the report, with the following paragraph specifically about open access for businesses: ‘For small businesses in particular, relevant research is often difficult to find and expensive to access, limiting the spread of knowledge and innovation. To address this, Research Councils will invest £2 million in the Gateway to Research project which will launch in December 2013. This will provide a single point of access to all aspects of UK publicly funded research...Research Councils are currently on track to develop a prototype demonstrator portal by November 2012.’ Aptly enough, towards the end of the white paper, there is a section dealing with perhaps the new frontier of open data - that held not by government, but by businesses. Obviously, providing access is more problematic, so it's good to see the UK government starting to address the challenges here: BIS is running a programme, midata, with leading businesses to provide customers with access to personal data held about them in an electronic re-usable format; often referred to as smart disclosure...’ The current white paper confirms once again that the UK is right at the forefront here; long may it remain so as its potential is indeed unleashed.”