UK Cabinet Office relaunches Data.gov.uk, releases open data white paper - O'Reilly Radar

abernard102@gmail.com 2012-06-30

Summary:

Use the link to access the full text blog post and embedded videos including: the press conference announcing the white paper ands interview with Francis Maude, The UK’s minister for the Cabinet Office, Tim Berners-Lee, and Rufus Pollock, Open Knowledge Foundation. “The British government is doubling down on the notion that open data can be a catalyst for increased government transparency, civic utility and economic prosperity. Yesterday, the United Kingdom's Cabinet Office hosted an event in London, England to highlight the release of a new white paper on "unleashing the potential of open data, linked at the bottom of the post, and the relaunch of Data.gov.uk, the country's open data platform. The site now has over 9,000 data sets on it, according to the Cabinet Office. In the video below, Francis Maude, minister for the Cabinet Office, talks about the white paper, which was the result of a public consultation over the last year. ‘I think it's all good overall,’ commented author Dr. Ben Goldacre, via email. ‘The UK government have been saying the right things about data for a long time: that it's the 21st century's raw material, that it has economic and social benefits, that privacy issues need caution, and so on. That in itself is reassuring, as governments can sometimes be completely clueless about this kind of stuff. They also get the nerdy details: that standards matter, and so on. Also, all the stuff about building reciprocal relationships with developers, building coder capacity, two way relationships to improve datasets etc is all great. The star rating system for departments is neat, as one lesson from this whole area is simple structured public feedback often improves services. The main concern is that the core reference data hasn't been released for free. The Postcode Address File allows developers to convert addresses into postcodes: this kind of dataset is like the road network of the digital domain, and it needs to be open with free movement so businesses and services can meet users. Our excellent Ordnance Survey maps are still locked up at the more detailed levels, which is problematic since a lot of geographical data from local government uses OS data too, so release of that is hindered. Companies House data is also still pay only.’ The Guardian's Datablog published a smart, cogent analysis of the open data white paper and a spreadsheet of the government's commitments under it. I strongly agree with Simon Rogers, the editor of the Datablog, that one of the most significant elements of the white paper is its acknowledgement of the need to engage developers and solicit their feedback on the quality and availability of open government data. Traditionally, government has almost ignored developers, even as prime users of its data,’ wrote Simon Rogers at the Guardian. ‘This commitment to take that community into account is probably the most striking part of this White Paper, which will allow users to ask government for specific datasets, feedback on how they've used them and, crucially, 'inform us when there are anomalies or mistakes in our data.’ The past several years have shown such engagement is a critical aspect of building communities around open data. Directly engaging entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, industry and academia is, as US CTO Todd Park's success with stimulating innovation around open health data has demonstrated, necessary for downstream success. Publishing high quality open data online is, in that context, necessary but unsufficient for better downstream outcomes for citizens. In the context of the costs incurred through publishing open data, this investment of time and energy in community engagement can't be underemphasized - and the inclusion of this strategic element in the white paper is notable.”

Link:

http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/06/uk-cabinet-office-relaunches-d.html

Updated:

08/16/2012, 06:08

From feeds:

Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » abernard102@gmail.com

Tags:

oa.new oa.data oa.comment oa.government oa.open_science oa.events oa.crowd oa.uk oa.costs oa.presentations oa.geo oa.prices oa.fees oa.interviews oa.data.gov.uk oa.five_star_data oa.data.standards oa.white_paper oa.video oa.people

Authors:

abernard

Date tagged:

06/30/2012, 13:50

Date published:

06/30/2012, 14:11