Open Data — Open Forum Europe

Jury still out on govt document standards Feb 20, 2012

ZDNet Australia - The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) is still undecided on whether it needs to mandate the support of ODF alongside Office Open XML as an alternative document format in agencies.

When the government released the first draft of its whole-of-government Common Operating Environment (COE) document — designed to standardise government IT use for security and interoperability — a row broke out over AGIMO's decision to standardise government agencies onto a Microsoft-centric document standard known as Office Open XML. The open-source community highlighted that alternative office suites like Open Office can't write documents in the Office Open XML format, which would exclude them from use in government as the sole office suite.

AGIMO reopened the issue for comment last January and received a flood of responses, many critical of the government's decision to select a Microsoft-dependent document format.

In the second draft of its whole-of-government COE document, released today, AGIMO said that the final document standard to be used across government was still "to be decided".

Open data tsar calls for change in government mentality Feb 09, 2012

V3 - The government needs to move to a "presume to publish" mentality to keep its much touted open data strategy alive, according to one of its key information advisors, Nigel Shadbolt.

Shadbolt, together with Sir Tim Berners-Lee, was appointed as information advisor in 2009 by the previous prime minister Gordon Brown to help transform public access to government information.

The two advisors have since created data.gov.uk, a website that allows the public to access all the government's non-personal data.

At a Data Science Summit, hosted by IT storage giant EMC, Shadbolt told V3 there is a danger the public sector will fail to provide the most relevant information, even if it is available.

Open data consultation exposes IT cost and capability worries Feb 02, 2012

The Guardian - The Cabinet Office has revealed concern over whether the public sector's IT is up to the job of supporting more transparency, from responses to last year's open data consultation.

The consultation, which closed in October, drew more than 400 responses from industry, government and other interested parties. The Cabinet Office asked for feedback on issues including how best to gather and make use of data held by the public sector, how to encourage the private sector to make use of it, and how to bolster individuals' rights to access their own data held by public sector, known as an 'enhanced right to data'.

Questions were raised by the respondents over whether current public sector IT is up to the task of supporting the enhanced right to data and whether organisations are sufficiently skilled.

Privacy worries dog open data consultation Feb 01, 2012

UKauthorITy.com - Concerns about personal privacy appeared in a "significant" number of responses to the government's consultation on transparency and open data, the Cabinet Office revealed today.

A summary of responses to last year's consultation on "Making Open Data Real", says that respondents "expressed concern that the consutlation failed to address the interaction between personal data... with open data, and the potential for open data to have a negative impact on confidentiality and privacy."

While the responses showed "widespread support for transparency and open data" there were "divergent views" on how this might work in practice. According to the summary, published along with all but one of the 247 written responses, respondents asked for more clarity on the government's programme.

Overall, the consultation suggests that the government's open data policy may not be quite as much of a universal crowd pleaser as ministers expect. "On balance, there was support for the principle that public bodies, bodies in recepit of pubic funds, and bodies commissioned to deliver public services should be subject to open data obligations." However there were many calls for exceptions, including early releases of research data.

France launches open data portal Jan 26, 2012

The H Open - France has launched a beta version of an open data portal under the domain data.gouv.fr. According to a French government announcement referenced by the European Commission's Joinup, the web site, which launched on 5 December 2011, makes government data available to the public free of charge and without restrictions. The portal currently provides access to around 350,000 government records, including the budgets for 2011 and 2012, air quality data, a summary of accidents resulting in personal injury, geographic data on more than 3,000 railway stations, and the catalogue of the French national library.

The data published at data.gouv.fr is released under an open licence (License Ouverte) which allows the data to be used for any purpose. It is mainly provided in easily processable .xls and .csv formats. Businesses, researchers and citizens are being called upon to develop new uses for this public data.

The objective of the initiative is to increase transparency at government agencies by providing the public with access to the data that the government uses as the basis for its decision making. The French government is also hoping that the availability of this data will lead to the development of new business models.

Open public data can drive growth in all sectors Jan 24, 2012

The Guardian - Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude recently argued that access to data can curb public spending; but it should also be an integral part of a more ambitious growth agenda for the UK.

The autumn statement, which announced the Open Data Institute, demonstrated the government's idea that public data – produced, collected or paid for by public bodies – can deliver economic and societal benefits.

The European Commission also published its open data strategy in December. This aims to deliver on the €140bn promise that public data in the EU can enable new businesses to deliver innovative services, improve public sector transparency and efficiency and, ensure decisions by governments are based on greater evidence and insight.

Widening access to public data, regardless of origin or volume, is a necessary first step towards deriving insights to guide policy decisions and create business opportunities. It will not by itself, however, increase administrative efficiency or transform commerce.

By taking three key actions, public bodies can unlock data's full potential and engage citizens and entrepreneurs in innovative ways.

Open data can unlock growth in Europe Dec 22, 2011: Public Service Europe - The digital revolution and explosive growth of the social media culture is transforming the relationship between government, business and citizen. But when times are tough, opening up access to public data to improve the transparency and accountability of public bodies is not typically seen as a high priority.

Now, though, the European Commission has seen the potential of public data – data produced, collected or paid for by public bodies in the European Union – to deliver much wider economic and societal benefits. The commission's strategy, released on 12 December 2011, promises a future in which new businesses create economic growth by delivering innovative services; public administration is more transparent and efficient; and, policy decisions at all levels of government are based on greater evidence and insight. Legislating to open up access to public data, no matter what its origin or volume, does not by itself increase administrative efficiency or transform commerce. But opening up data is a necessary first step towards deriving valuable insights.

By acting on three key recommendations, the commission can unlock the potential of public data and, in so doing, engage citizens and entrepreneurs and reinvigorate national economies still struggling to deliver growth.; More

Public sector needs to improve quality of information, warns Eurim Dec 20, 2011

The Guardian - Parliamentary group gives cautious welcome to the EU's plans to open up more public sector data.

Sharing data on public services could have serious consequences unless the material has been valued, maintained and protected and the original reasons for its collection have been taken into account, the Information Society Alliance (Eurim), has warned.

In a report on the quality of public sector information, the group says that the drive to put central and local government data online, open to public scrutiny, has revealed the long standing problems with quality that lie behind the reluctance of some departments and agencies to trust one another's data. It adds that it is important that decisions on spending cuts are based on good quality information.

"Meanwhile demands from regulators and government agencies for the collection and retention of data that is not required for operational purposes, but might be needed in future, reduce UK competitiveness and add to public sector costs," says the document.

Data storm: Making government data pay Dec 20, 2011

BBC - Here's the good news: Europe's fiscally squeezed governments are sitting on assets that could be worth 40bn euros ($52bn, £33.6bn) a year.

The bad news is that, to realise those assets' full potential, governments have to give them away.

For free, and without licensing conditions, to all comers, including multi-national corporations as well as to local start-ups.

The assets are gargantuan archives of data that public administrations generate in the course of their public tasks. Such so-called public sector information can range from data sets about the weather and the natural environment to great works of historic art.

Taking open data up a level Dec 19, 2011

The Guardian - Nigel Shadbolt says it's time to accelerate the use of government data in generating innovation.

Data is variously described as the oxygen of the digital economy or the new raw material of the 21st century. So it is good to see that the UK is setting a cracking pace as it opens up government data for anyone to reuse.

Detailed data is made available every month on central and local government spending. Each month reported crime data is made available from every police force at an unprecedented level of detail. There have been releases of geographic data, health service performance data and transport data.

Whenever the data has been released the applications have followed. There are mobile apps that find you a parking space and companies using spending data to advise local authorities on how to get best value for money when procuring goods and services.

Open data push is essential for growth, says Deloitte report Dec 14, 2011

Computing - The use of open data could be a critical factor in determining the success or failure of the UK's growth agenda, according to a report from business advisory firm Deloitte.

But although the move will increase transparency and make government more innovative, responsive and better informed, there are ongoing issues around privacy, the report warns.

Called Unlocking Growth, How Open Data Creates New Opportunities for The UK, the report argues that providing data to the public will bring four main benefits:

Openness: as a result of making raw data easy to access and reuse the government will increase its accountability to citizens.

Innovation: the move will make citizens and government more innovative by encouraging the public and government developers to design own applications and harvest value from public data.

Responsiveness: access to information from social networks means the government can participate in public debate and be more responsive to the public.

Better informed: data analytics will become a core competency, improving productivity, quality and performance in the public sector.

The report follows several big announcements around making data more open.

The best way to get value from data is to give it away Dec 14, 2011

The Guardian - Yesterday European Vice President Neelie Kroes unveiled a new package of policies related to open data and public sector information.

Last Friday I wrote a short piece on for the Datablog giving some background and context for a big open data big policy package that was announced yesterday morning by Vice President Neelie Kroes. But what does the package contain? And what might the new measures mean for the future of open data in Europe?

The announcement contained some very strong language in support of open data. Open data is the new gold, the fertile soil out of which a new generation of applications and services will grow. In a networked age, we all depend on data, and opening it up is the best way to realise its value, to maximise its potential.

There was little ambiguity about the Commissioner's support for an 'open by default' position for public sector information, nor for her support for the open data movement, for "those of us who believe that the best way to get value from data is to give it away". There were props to Web Inventor Tim Berners-Lee, the Open Knowledge Foundation, OpenSpending, WheelMap, and the Guardian Datablog, amongst others.

Open Data in Europe gets a huge boost from new EU rules Dec 13, 2011

TNW - The Open Data movement has received a significant boost today with the announcement of the European Commission’s Open Data Strategy for Europe.

The move, which follows success with opening up public data to be used to create new apps and services in the UK and France, will see the Commission launching a three-pronged Open Data initiative. This will see it opening its own data portal, establishing standards for how open data should be handled across the European Union, and offering €100m in grants over the next two years to fund research that examines better technology for handling data.

Open Data allows developers to take existing public information, such as crime statistics, the locations of public amenities, public transport fares and much more, and transform it into useful tools to make that data more useful. For example, UK Pharmacy helps people in the UK find their nearest drugstore, and we’ve previously covered two teenagers who created a public transport app for smartphones using information made available under an Open Data strategy. Only last month, the UK government announced further initiatives in the UK.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the announcement is the EU-wide standards for Open Data. This will see a number of guidelines by which data should be handled across the Union:

Digital Agenda: Turning government data into gold Dec 13, 2011

Europa - Brussels, 12 December 2011 – The Commission has launched an Open Data Strategy for Europe, which is expected to deliver a €40 billion boost to the EU's economy each year. Europe’s public administrations are sitting on a goldmine of unrealised economic potential: the large volumes of information collected by numerous public authorities and services. Member States such as the United Kingdom and France are already demonstrating this value. The strategy to lift performance EU-wide is three-fold: firstly the Commission will lead by example, opening its vaults of information to the public for free through a new data portal. Secondly, a level playing field for open data across the EU will be established. Finally, these new measures are backed by the €100 million which will be granted in 2011-2013 to fund research into improved data-handling technologies.

These actions position the EU as the global leader in the re-use of public sector information. They will boost the thriving industry that turns raw data into the material that hundreds of millions of ICT users depend on, for example smart phone apps, such as maps, real-time traffic and weather information, price comparison tools and more. Other leading beneficiaries will include journalists and academics.

Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes said: "We are sending a strong signal to administrations today. Your data is worth more if you give it away. So start releasing it now: use this framework to join the other smart leaders who are already gaining from embracing open data. Taxpayers have already paid for this information, the least we can do is give it back to those who want to use it in new ways that help people and create jobs and growth.” See Mrs Kroes video quote here.

Data.gov-In-a-Box and the struggle for open government Dec 07, 2011

Washington Post - The U.S. government has, as part of it’s stated commitment to open government, released open-source code for portions of Data.gov, the U.S. data repository created as part of President Obama’s Open Government Initiative.

But, for an administration that has struggled to balance its aspirations with its actions regarding greater transparency, is the release the beginning of a deluge, or merely a trickle?

Programmers with the U.S. government have been working with programmers in India since August as a part of the U.S.-India strategic Dialogue to create Data.gov-in-a-Box, “an open source version of the United States’ Data.gov data portal and India’s [India.gov.in] document portal,” according to a message posted on the Data.gov Web site.

More UK Open Data Moves - and Why That Makes Sense Dec 02, 2011: ComputerWorldUK - Glyn Moody - In striking contrast with its disappointing performance in terms of supporting open source, the UK government continues to take huge strides in the world of open data. Details about its latest moves are contained in this document [.pdf] that came out of the recent 2011 Autumn Statement:; More

ECS Professors to co-direct UK's Open Data Institute Nov 30, 2011

University of Southampton - ECS Professors Nigel Shadbolt and Sir Tim Berners-Lee have been named as co-directors of a new world-leading Open Data Institute, established by the UK Government to innovate, exploit and research Open Data opportunities.

The new Institute will be based in Shoreditch, the newly designated 'Tech City UK' area of London, where there is a huge concentration of Web 2.0 start-ups, and it will involve business and academic institutions.

The Open Data Institute is intended to help demonstrate the commercial value of public data and the impact of open data policies on the realisation of this value. The Institute will also help develop the capability of UK businesses to exploit open data opportunities, with support from University researchers. It will help the public sector use its own data more effectively and it will engage with developers and the private and public sectors to build supply chains and commercial outlets for public data. The Government is to commit up to £10m over five years to support the Open Data Institute through the Technology Strategy Board - in a match-funded collaboration with industry and academic centres.

Government calls for public data app developers Nov 17, 2011

ComputerWorldUK - The UK government is urging entrepreneurs to make use of open public data by developing applications that can help benefit consumers and the society.

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude made the call at an event at Downing Street today where Prime Minister David Cameron was awarding prizes to eight groups of university students who have won a competition to design consumer applications using open public information.

As part of the Silicon Valley Comes to UK programme’s ‘appathon’ competition, students designed applications using health, education and environment data available on the government’s website data.gov.uk.

The winning tools included ones that enabled people to find local vocational skills training providers, find the local hospital with the shortest accident and emergency waiting times, and to choose schools. These were called Coursehorse, A&Express and SchoolHunt, respectively.

€27bn public data opportunity highlighted Nov 11, 2011

Irish Times - THE OBAMA administration, the British cabinet office and four Dublin local authorities are the “poster children” of a growing worldwide movement to unlock public data, according to researchers at NUI Galway.

Public data, or basic information collected by government and other bodies, is valued at €27 billion across the EU.

However, more State bodies need to realise the potential benefits of making such basic information not only available, but also accessible, an open data conference run by NUI Galway’s Digital Enterprise Research Institute (Deri) heard this week.

Monmouthshire council uses open government licence Nov 08, 2011

The Guardian - Monmouthshire council has opened up data on its website to allow the public to create "useful apps" and re-use its information freely.

The council has decided to adopt the UK government's open government licence, which provides for the re-use of public sector information with a number of conditions attached. Monmouthshire said that it was the first council in Wales to do this. Under the new terms, people are free to:

• Copy, publish, distribute and transmit the information.

• Adapt the information.

• And exploit the information commercially for example, by combining it with other information, or by including it in your own product or application.

Monmouthshire said that developers and other interested parties will be able to use data available on the council's website and build applications that may benefit people living locally.

Open data 'new way of operating', says Francis Maude Nov 07, 2011

The Guardian - Transparency is a new way of operating and the public sector is now more accountable to the public, aided by the release of more than 7,500 datasets, including 800 plus geographical linked datasets via data.gov.uk, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has said.

In a parliamentary written answer he said that the government's consultation and forthcoming white paper on open data represent the next phase in its transparency agenda.

According to Maude, the government is moving away from a "simple accountability model", towards embedding openness and transparency as core operating principles of public services.

"The white paper will contain a full impact assessment of policy proposals and the benefits of open data," he said.

Open data: beware the empire striking back, insiders warn Oct 25, 2011

UKAuthorITy - Two central figures of the UK government's initiative to open its data for re-use have warned of the risk of ministers being thwarted by reluctant or apathetic bureaucrats. "There is a real risk of the empire striking back," Andrew Stott, the government's first director of digital engagement and a former deputy chief information officer, said last week.

Stott said that, despite the government's promise to introduce a new "right to data", the campaign for open data is not over yet.

He told the Open Government Data Camp, an event in Warsaw hosted by the Open Knowledge Foundation, that the civil service has a wealth of tricks for diluting the coalition government's pledge to make data available. "We're seeing a move from Bureaucrat 1.0 - the straight 'No Minister' - to Bureaucrat 2.0. That's the one who says 'Yes Minister' but then quietly fails to execute the plan."

At the same meeting, Professor Nigel Shadbolt of Southampton University and a member of the UK Transparency Board said the campaign still had a long way to go. He singled out the Meteorological Office for failing to embrace the new Open Government Licence for re-use of data.. "You can't get primary weather data in the UK."

He urged anyone with an interest in the subject to respond to the Cabinet Office's two current consultations, on making open data real and the policies of the new Public Data Corporation. Both close this week.

"The value of data is in its use, not its sale," Shadbolt said.

European Commission plans pan-European data portal for 2013 Sep 30, 2011

FierceGovernmentIT - A European Commission official laid out Sept. 22 new open-government goals that will facilitate the reuse of public-sector information among member countries. By spring 2012, the commission plans to update its data procedures and open its data resources to the public, and in 2013, the EC hopes to open a pan-European data portal, said EC Vice President Neelie Kroes, while speaking at the OpenForum Europe Summit in Brussels.

The EU data portal will federate existing national and regional data portals, and develop such data capabilities where they do not currently exist across the union, said Kroes.

A formal directive, codifying the EC's plans will be released at the end of November, she said. The forthcoming mandate will set a framework for data disclosure by specifying formats and data license rules. Implementing the initiative will require the EU to revisit specifications in other, previously issued directives on openness. Kroes said that will involve clarifying how principles are actually put into practice and possibly getting "rid of a few exceptions or loopholes."

EC member states told to open public datasets by 2013 Sep 27, 2011

V3.co.uk - The European Commission is to make governments across Europe open their datasets by 2013 to give citizens the right to access and use data as they wish.

Neelie Kroes, vice president of the EC for the Digital Agenda, said at an OpenForum europe (OFE) event in Brussels that making data available has numerous benefits for individuals, businesses and governments.

"I am convinced that the potential to reuse public data is significantly untapped. Such data is a resource, a new and valuable raw material. If we became able to mine it, that would be an investment which would pay off with benefits for all of us," she said.

"What could be more natural than public authorities who have collected information on behalf of citizens using their tax money to give it back to those same citizens? New professionals such as data journalists are our allies in explaining what we do."

French Prime Minister encourages greater use of open formats Sep 16, 2011: The H Open - The office of the Prime Minister of France, François Fillon, has announced that he has issued a circular to all members of the French government encouraging the use of free and open formats as part of new government platform data.gouv.fr. The portal is part of a wider programme opening up public data to create a more transparent state and is intended to be the single public platform for the dissemination and reuse of public data.; More

Report: Involve IT experts in releasing gov datasets Sep 16, 2011

The Register - A review (84-page/927KB PDF) of information transparency and privacy commissioned by the Cabinet Office has concluded that IT experts should help decide whether to release datasets and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) should have a greater technical awareness.

The review was led by Dr Kieron O'Hara, senior research fellow in electronics and computer science at the University of Southampton. In his report, O'Hara says the involvement of technology experts in a procedure for pre-release screening of data to ensure respect for privacy should be decided on a case-by-case basis. The procedure would include screening of user requests, consideration of potential privacy threats and the maintenance of a data asset register.

The register should set out which data sets were controlled, what they contain, and what decisions have been taken about their release, O'Hara proposes. It could be centrally curated, or kept by individual departments and agencies.

Privacy review sounds alarm on open data Sep 14, 2011

UKAuthorITy - The government's open data programme could pose threats to individual privacy unless immediate steps are taken, an independent review for the Cabinet Office warns today.

The review, entitled Transparent Government, Not Transparent Citizens, by Professor Kieron O'Hara of Southampton University, warns that the distinction between private and public data could be threatened by the government's proposed "right to data". It calls for privacy protection to be "embedded in any transparency programme, rather than bolted on as an afterthought".

"Privacy and transparency are compatible, as long as the former is carefully protected and considered at every stage."

Bus times go mobile with beta test of Countdown app in London Sep 06, 2011

The Guardian - Are you a five-minute walk from the bus stop, and wonder if you should run or just walk to catch the next one? If you were at the stop, you'd know because of the "countdown" systems in place. But now if you've got a smartphone, wonder no longer: Transport for London has made public its Countdown service, which indicates how long it will be until the next bus on any service arrives at a location.

The service's existence leaked out after an internal memo was sent to all TfL staff telling them about it, at countdown.tfl.gov.uk. Though it was meant to remain in private beta, news of the service rapidly leaked out and was spread around by open data fans. There is also a mobile test version, though it's intended for developers only.

'Support for proprietary OOXML format spurs open source suites adoption' Sep 01, 2011: OSOR - Better support for the proprietary XML format OOXML will make it easier for public administrations to move to vendor independent and free and open source office applications, say the organisers of the LibreOffice/OpenOffice.org-Workshop, scheduled to take place in Zürich, Switzerland, on 10 and 11 October.; More

TransferSummit: Innovation, commoditisation and value creation Aug 30, 2011

The H Open - In the second of a short series of articles introducing some of the topics which will be discussed at the upcoming TransferSummit in Oxford, IBM's Don Harbison discusses the benefits of an open approach to the development of document standards.

Documents are getting smarter. Programming libraries are now available for the automation of document workflows. Semantics can now be enabled at the document element level. Social business frameworks are weaving documents within dialogues, enabling new forms of synchronous and asynchronous document authoring and consumption. The recent donation of OpenOffice to the Apache Software Foundation demonstrates the need for independent communities, for companies such as IBM to be able to both support and contribute to the ongoing development of open software solutions based on open standards.

First of a short series of articles - TransferSummit: Evolving open innovation in software

Defence bolsters search for open source software Aug 30, 2011

IT News Australia - Discloses year-long 'semi-formal' OpenOffice trial.

The Department of Defence has stepped up its push for open source software to reduce its $100 million annual software licensing bill.

Last week, it joined five other government agencies in forming the Open Technology Foundation, which aimed to facilitate collaboration and interoperable technology in the public sector.

Defence chief technology officer Matt Yannopoulos said the department had been considering open source software for more than three years.

Prior to the Federal Government’s introduction of a more aggressive open source policy in January, Defence had not “specifically encouraged” open source software tenders from the market.

EU-law on re-use of public sector data may include source code Aug 11, 2011: Public Networks - Public administrations in the EU facing resistance to their publishing of software as open source, are likely supported by a European Law, the ‘Directive on the re-use of public sector information’. The PSI-directive, part of member states’ national laws since 2005, obliges public administrations to avoid discrimination between market players, when making information available for re-use. Making source code available as open source is one way to avoid favouritism.; More

How To Get Open Government Out Of Life Support Aug 08, 2011: Gartner - Beneath the continuing enthusiasm around open government, including the announcement of yet another country (Singapore) and city (Edmonton) building their open data store, and the renewed commitment to open government in the new US CIO’s first interviews, I found two data points that still call for caution.; More

Government launches open data consultation Aug 05, 2011

COMPUTERWORLDUK - The government is asking the public to come up with ideas on how the government can become more open.

The consultation, ‘Making Open Data Real’, was launched today following Prime Minister David Cameron’s letter to the Cabinet last month, which announced plans to publish key data on the NHS, criminal courts, schools and transport, as part of the government’s open data and transparency agenda.

“The UK government is determined to have the most ambitious open data agenda of any government in the world. We want to embed this approach throughout the public service and we want to hear from people about how they think we should do this,” said Francis Maude, cabinet minister.

National Archives extends UK government licensing framework Aug 02, 2011: The Guardian - The National Archives has extended the UK government licensing framework, which provides a policy and legal overview for licensing the re-use of public sector information, to cover as many licensing scenarios as possible.; More

An Open Government Data Licence for the World? Jul 22, 2011

ComputerWorld UK - Glyn Moody - As I've noted before, the UK government is now arguably the leader when it comes to open data. Of course, that's not really the point: this isn't a competition with winners and losers, but a global effort to open things up. As such, it would be nice if there were more collaboration between the different governments - things like this, for example:

As revealed yesterday, the province of British Columbia became the first provincial government in Canada to launch an open data portal.

It's still early but here are some things that I think they've gotten right.

Open data open to concessions Jul 22, 2011

The Guardian - The debate on freeing up public sector data is becoming more complex, and suggesting the original vision may be watered down.

Until this year there was a widespread assumption that open data meant free data. The government would ensure that mountains of data held by the public sector would be available in electronic format for others to re-use, encouraging innovation in public and commercial services. But questions are now being asked over how closely it should be managed, and whether it would justify a price tag.

EC now tendering for Open Data Portal Jul 20, 2011

EPSI Platform - At the Digital Agenda Assembly workshop on Open Data in June, mr. Khalil Rouhana of the European Commission announced the intention (slide 7) to build a European Open Data portal. Rouhana said that a EC Portal should become operational in 2012, holding a significant amount of EC datasets. It is also planned that by 2013 a pan/european data portal should present datasets published by the Member States.

Today, the European Commission has taken a new step in realizing the European Data Portal. The EC has published a call for tenders to develop the data portal on it's electronic Tender Portal ted.europa.eu. The call for tenders is one of the necessary steps for realizing the ambition of creating one pan-european Open Data portal.

Open government data to generate "vast markets" Jul 19, 2011

Information Age - Open government data to provide economic, performance and consumer advantages

Open data will generate "vast markets" that will drive the next generation of life sciences, Tim Kelsey, the government's adviser on transparency and open data, told an audience in a speech today.

"There is an enormous economic opportunity with this data," Kelsey told the attendees of think tank Demos's Where Next for Open Data? keynote, adding that he believed open government was the best way to drive the performance of public services.

"Open government as a whole is the most important lever we've got, and open data is an essential precondition of that," he said.

Can the U.S. 'win the future' without open data? Jul 08, 2011

opensource.com - “Winning the Future through Open Innovation,” is a progress report recently released by Aneesh Chopra, US Chief Technology Officer, to the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) on the Administration’s Open Government Initiative.The report highlights a number of programs at different agencies that represent a wide variety of open innovation techniques, from opening datasets and APIs to creating incentives for competition or testing and certifying open standards.

Less than a week after the report's release, the Administration launched the Campaign to Cut Waste through the newly-formed Government Accountability and Transparency Board (GATB), an 11-member group which will review and cut about 50% of Federal websites to reduce spending and prevent duplication of efforts.

Ironically, Data.gov, which is lauded in Chopra’s memo to the NSTC as a “signature initiative in the endeavor” to democratize data lost 75% of its operating budget (the Electronic Government Fund) during the budget compromise in April, prompting the Sunlight Foundation to launch a “Save the Data” campaign. To be clear, the E-government Fund was cut by Congress, not the GATB, which seems at odds with the federal government’s goals of improving accountability, transparency, and efficiency.

'Transparent' PM dishes up more public datasets Jul 08, 2011

The Register - The Cabinet Office's digital-by-default mantra got a boost today, with the government promising to publish various datasets on the National Health Service, schools, criminal courts and transport online.

The move forms part of Prime Minister David Cameron's "transparency" agenda to make public bodies more accountable to taxpayers.

"The new data will reveal clinical achievements and prescribing data by individual GP practices, the performance of hospital teams in treating lung cancer and other key healthcare conditions, the effectiveness of schools at teaching pupils across a range of subjects, criminal sentencing by each court, and data on rail timetables, rail service performance, roadworks, current road conditions, car parks and cycle routes in an open format for use by all," reads a statement on the data.gov.uk website.

Data Portals Become Fashionable: Time to Worry? Jul 06, 2011

CUK - Nigel Shadbolt, has played a leading role in the opening up of government data in the UK. By chance, I've just come across a report [.pdf] he wrote for the EU about doing much the same, but on a larger scale. Curiously, this is dated 15 December 2010, but this is the first I've seen it. Either it's been buried deep within the Brussels system, or I've been remiss in catching it. Either way, it's still well worth reading.

Here's the thinking that lies behind it:

Open Data Challenge – a milestone in the development of public sector information in Europe Jun 29, 2011

OpenForum Europe (OFE) and its sister organization, the OFE Academy are delighted to have been involved in the organizing of the Open Data Challenge, a competition designed to inspire developers to come up with innovative and useful ways of re-using public data.

This is a relatively new field of activity for us. We became aware of it a year ago when Nigel Shadbolt, an open data pioneer and collaborator with worldwide web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, spoke about it at our 2010 annual summit in Brussels (2010 Shadbolt presentation).

Opening up government data for re-use has been going on for a few years now in Europe, longer in the U.S.. There have been numerous grass roots events like hackathons and local open data competitions to encourage people to make use of the data that we pay pay for with our taxes, which for the most part sits in civil servants' databases gathering virtual dust.

ODF 1.2 submitted for Candidate OASIS Standard (COS) Jun 27, 2011: OpenDoc Society - OASIS has announced that the OpenDocument Version 1.2 specification produced by the OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) Technical Committee is today entering 60-day COS public review in preparation for member ballot to consider approval as an OASIS Standard.ODF is one of the first standards to follow this new procedure within OASIS.; More

ScraperWiki and Open Knowledge Foundation win grants to help data journalism Jun 24, 2011

The Guardian - ScraperWiki, the British startup website which enables people to write code to "scrape" sites for public data, has won a grant of $280,000 from the Knight Foundation to help expand its offering to journalists and other users around the world.

ScraperWiki's chief executive Francis Irving received the cheque at an awards ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Wednesday evening.

Another British project, by the Open Knowledge Foundation, also won funding for a scheme to give greater context to reports about government finance spending.

GPL Faces Test in German Court Jun 22, 2011

PCW - A court case that open-source advocates say could have major repercussions on the GPL opened in German district court in Berlin Tuesday.

German DSL router vendor AVM has taken Cybits, which produces children's Web-filtering software, to court for copyright infringement for selling software that removes AVM's altered modules on the Linux kernel in their routers. The move is an attempt to stop Cybits from changing any part of the firmware used in the routers, including a key piece of free software.

The case could have huge consequences for free software, as both companies use the Linux kernel, which is licensed under the General Public License (GPL).

Digital Agenda : awards for creative reuse of open data Jun 17, 2011: Europa - European Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes awarded prizes to the winners of the Open Data Challenge and Hack4Europe! competitions at the Digital Agenda Assembly being held in Brussels on 16th and 17th June 2011. Companies, designers, programmers, developers, journalists, researchers and the general public from across Europe participated in the two open data competitions, trying out their ideas for creative reuse of information held by the public sector and open cultural data. European public bodies produce thousands of datasets every year - from how our tax money is spent to the quality of the air we breathe. This data can be reused in products such as car navigation systems, weather forecasts, and travel information apps.; More

Open data: top tips on transparency for local authorities Jun 17, 2011: The Guardian - Last year Nesta launched Make it Local, a project to explore the potential of opening up local authority data. Its aim is to bring together councils and digital developers to design web-based services for the benefit of their communities. The Guardian local government network has already reported on the innovative new services that have been designed as a result of this programme. We've already begun to gain some valuable insights, including some tips for developing online services using your own data.; More

India to join the open data revolution in July Jun 07, 2011

TNW - Indian government is all set to launch its own public data portal next month.

This portal which has been modeled on Data.gov, a portal which offers public and government data to the outside world, aims to share non-sensitive data from various Indian ministries for general public use in scientific, economic and developmental programmes.

EU adopts e-govt action plan 2011-2015 Jun 07, 2011: FutureGov - The Council of the European Union (EU) has announced its adoption of a 23 point E-government Action Plan 2011–2015 on 27 May 2011. With greater interoperability, an open government and adoption of emerging technologies, the action plan aims to increase the use of e-government services to 50 per cent of citizens and 80 per cent of businesses by 2015.; More

OpenDocuments become standard in Russia Jun 06, 2011: East-West Digital News - As of June 1, Russian civil administrative authorities have been accepting documents submitted by citizens in electronic form, specifically in the OpenDocument Format, or ODF, an international standard for documents, spreadsheets, charts, and presentations.; More

Open public sector information principles now available Jun 01, 2011: Spacial Source - The Australian Information Commissioner, John McMillan, launched the government's eight principles on open public sector information at the Meta 2011 conference in Canberra last week.

The principles were developed by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) through a process of public consultation, and recognise government information as a national resource that should be published for community access and use.; More

Data, not software, paves the road to riches May 31, 2011

The Register - Matt Asay - Open...and Shut For those who believe software is a quick road to riches, think again.

As RedMonk analyst Stephen O'Grady detailed in his Open Source Business Conference keynote, the top 20 software companies are relatively low on Fortune 500's totem pole of revenue, and not a single one lands in the top 10. And of the top 20 companies on PwC's list of the top 100 software companies, not a single one of the top 20 has been founded in the last 22 years. Their average age? 47 years.

What this means is that if you want to make a boatload of money in software, be prepared to spend decades getting big enough to catch the world's attention. What the data also suggest, however, is that there are far better ways to make money than through software.

Like data. Or, really, anything else.

Experts call on government to extend open data policy May 25, 2011: V3 - The government needs to overcome its "data hugging tendencies" and keep pace with the expectations of a new web-savvy generation, according to industry experts speaking at the Profiting from the New Web conference on Monday.

Andrew Stott, a member of the UK Transparency Board, explained that the government often decides not to release public data, using the excuse that it is not accurate or is too time consuming a process.

"Sometimes government just has an instinctive feeling not to free up data, and then tries to rationalise it," he said.; More

Government lures US open data guru May 17, 2011

UKauthorITy - Professor Beth Noveck, former head of President Obama's Open Government Initiative, has been recruited to the UK, Chancellor George Osborne announced today. Noveck, author of Wiki Government, is an advocate for open data. Osborne described her as "a world class recruit" who will be "working alongside" the Cabinet Office's open data taskforce.

In a speech to Google's Zeitgeist conference in London, Osborne stressed the potential of the web to change both policy-making and the running of services. "If we make the most of this opportunity, there is no doubt that we can significantly reduce the cost of government."

The speech was notable as the first time that Osborne has engaged so thoroughly with the government digital agenda. The Treasury has been seen as a potential obstacle to freeing government data. However his speech highlighted the potential of open data for economic and scientific returns.

More on this from The Register - Boy George plonks tech centre onto Silicon Roundabout

Preparing the grounds for open data - an area that is moving with exceptional speed May 16, 2011: Jochen Friedrich's Open Blog - Over the last two days I had the pleasure to attend a most interesting and inspiring workshop on open data. Opening up public sector information (PSI) has been identified by the European Commission as an important way to promote collaborative innovation. And since public data is stored in digital formats this is also a key action item in the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE).

This workshop was organised jointly by ETSI and W3C within the Share-PSI initiative they both kicked off. IBM had submitted a position paper to the workshop which I had the honour to present. Both the paper and my presentation are available on the PSI website.; More

The OpenData movement will be a people’s revolution May 16, 2011

Silicon Republic - The emerging OpenData revolution could transform ordinary people’s lives and create jobs as governments and businesses see the merit of opening up their data vaults. Welcome to the people’s information technology revolution.

Get ready to fall in love with technology ... all over again. There’s a revolution coming, it’s a revolution that could potentially empower millions, if not billions of people. But it will be a trickle before it becomes a raging torrent.

You see until now most organisations lived by the maxim information is power. Indeed it is power, but only if you know what to do with it. Imagine instead of holding onto that power you instead empower people to take that raw data that sits on databases and spreadsheets and allow them to do something proactive with it.

Open Data - the UK government story May 06, 2011: FutureGov - John Suffolk finished in the role of Government CIO in the UK at the end of March after five years in the position. I heard John speak in New Zealand recently. He had some powerful advice on the subject of Open Government Data:; More

Francis Maude outlines Public Data Corporation plans May 06, 2011: The Register - The government intends to have a data policy framework in place by autumn 2011 as part of its preparations for the Public Data Corporation (PDC), according to Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude.; More

Apps Contest Winners Need Better Government Data to Sustain Innovative Services May 04, 2011: Government Technology - A popular trend ignited in 2008 when the District of Columbia initiated Apps for Democracy, a contest challenging citizen programmers to use open data sets published by government agencies to make useful apps for the public.

That year, the district offered $35,000 in cash prizes and got back an estimated $2.3 million in apps. Similar open data programs sprouted in New York; Philadelphia; San Francisco; Portland, Ore.; and others. Some of the programs operated as contests, and other cities just made the data available and promised to showcase the resulting apps. Applications came back to help citizens navigate public transit, find parking spots, locate government monuments — even to help map the safest routes for stumbling from bar to bar at night.

But now, three years after Apps for Democracy’s inception, some experts are questioning how useful the strategy has been.; More

Irish Government called on to open up its data to citizens May 03, 2011

SiliconRepublic - The Irish Government is being called upon to open up all data to citizens and enterprising software developers in a move that could drive a raft of new services to citizens, eradicate logjams and lead to greater accountability.

By embracing open data principles, open source technology and cloud computing, it is envisaged Ireland could follow in the steps of the US Government and European nations like Norway that have embraced open data principles to great success.

Tim Berners-Lee: Coalition mustn't be 'lazy' on open data Apr 19, 2011

The Register - The inventor of the World Wide Web told The Register today that it would be a great disappointment to see open data projects such as the data.gov.uk example, and the seemingly doomed data.gov version over in the US, closed in an effort to cut costs.

"What would be a shame would be if people use 'depend on money' as an excuse to be lazy and not be transparent," Tim Berners-Lee told us at a W3C media event in Oxford.

However, he thinks that data.gov – which was recently flagged to be quietly wound down by the US government with the so-called Electronic Government Fund budget being cut from a proposed $35m to a small-fry $8m – will come under lots of pressure to keep it running.

IBM paints the cloud-scape blue Apr 11, 2011

The Register - IBM has backed the creation of a standards body that comprises 40 "leading cloud organisations" but none of its main rivals in the battle to dominate the next big thing in computing.

The Cloud Standards Council was wafted into public view as Big Blue unveiled a slew of cloud products and services and reset its stall to grab [big] customer spend.

Open data challenge: Europe's biggest ever public data competition Apr 07, 2011

The Guardian - Money prizes for discovering and using data in Europe's biggest public data competition.

The Open Data Challenge launches this week, with 20,000 Euros worth of prize money up for grabs. We were curious about the competition and received the following answer to our questions.

IEEE Targets Cloud Interoperability Standards Apr 07, 2011

InformationWeek - The venerable IEEE is wading into the chaotic and roiled realm of cloud computing, seeking to set standards through a cloud computing initiative launched Monday that will focus on cloud interoperability.

IEEE is the professional engineering organization that formulated 802.11 Ethernet, which became the standard for the global implementation of Wi-Fi, David Bernstein, chairman of the initiative's two working groups that were announced Monday, noted in an interview.

The working groups are: P2301, chartered to draft a standard for establishing portability, or the ability of a workload sent to one cloud to be moved into another. Its output will be known as a "Draft Guide for Cloud Portability and Interoperability Profiles." The second working group, P2302, will concentrate on allowing a system in one cloud to work with a system in another. It will produce a draft standard for "Intercloud Interoperability and Federation."

EU must look to the cloud for IT strategy Apr 05, 2011: PS - Public Service Europe - The European Commission can learn a great deal from the British government's new IT strategy and its focus on open source, the cloud and small suppliers – Graham Taylor argues.

Last week, the British government published its long-awaited IT strategy. It comes after a string of announcements by senior officials all pointing in the same direction. What we have is a well-articulated plan, backed up by a series of promises on specific actions that give us confidence that previous fine words will now be matched by delivery.; More

Document Freedom Day - Wednesday 30th March Mar 29, 2011

DFD's main goals are:

- promotion and adoption of free document formats

- forming a global network

- coordination of activities on last Wednesday of March, Document Freedom Day

Once a year, we celebrate Document Freedom Day as a global community. On those days, DFD will be focused on facilitating community action and building awareness for issues of Document Freedom and Open Standards. We hope that you will join the DFD community.

Events for Document Freedom Day

Cloud computing needs tighter regulation, says EU Mar 29, 2011: THINQ - Europe could be on the brink of a multi-billion euro investment in cloud computing - but a senior figures has warned that it could come hand in hand with a massive increase in market regulation. Neelie Kroes, European Commission vice-president for the digital agenda, laid out the EU's proposals for cloud computing in a blog post on Friday, declaring that Europe needed to become not just "cloud-friendly" but "cloud-active". "I think the Cloud is critical to Europe's growth, and essential for making the best internet available to all," Kroes explained.

The commissioner set out the three key principles she says will guide Europe's thinking on cloud computing: establishing a clear legal framework, standardising data formats and the APIs used to tap into cloud-based services, and driving the use of the cloud by the public and private sector.

And she issued a stark warning about what could happen if Europe gets its cloud strategy wrong.; More

Opening business minds to open data Mar 29, 2011

University of Southampton - The new Google magazine, 'Think Quarterly', features an article in its first edition by Nigel Shadbolt, Professor of Artificial Intelligence in ECS-Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton.

Since 2009 Professor Shadbolt has been working with Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, ECS Professor and inventor of the World Wide Web, as advisers to UK Government and leading advocates of the ‘open data’ movement. They developed the website data.gov.uk, which provides a single point of access to thousands of UK government datasets, and which has focused interest worldwide on the benefits of freeing up public data for business and citizens.

In the article in 'Think Quarterly' - 'Open for Business', Professor Shadbolt explains the scope and challenges of obtaining and publishing non-personal public data in a format that enables it to be re-used for public good, citing examples such as Who’s Lobbying, which reveals the many special interest groups which are aiming to influence government ministers, and TravelOptions which provides information to help citizens find their way round London.

OASIS ODF 1.2 Committee Specification Approved Mar 28, 2011

Rob Weir - A few quick ODF updates. We have a number of projects moving forward at multiple levels.

First, just last week the OASIS ODF TC approved the ODF 1.2 Committee Specification. This is the highest level of approval we can give to the specification in the technical committee.

Microsoft's embrace of ODF cautiously welcomed Mar 11, 2011

ITWorld - Despite years of bitter criticism, Microsoft resisted putting native support for ODF in Office, instead supporting projects to create translators. Sun Microsystems developed one of those translators, which allows users to save in ODF in Microsoft Office 2003.

...In the meantime, ODF could gain wider support, wrote ODF supporter Andrew Updegrove, an open-source and open-standards attorney with Gesmer Updegrove in Boston.

Google Cloud Connect: The limits of a Microsoft makeover Feb 28, 2011: The Register - Google's new Microsoft Office plugin is meant to woo existing Microsoft users onto Google Apps, Mountain View's suite of (completely) web-based business applications. But the bridge it lays between the two competing platforms goes only so far.; More

Document Foundation seeks set-up funds Feb 21, 2011: H Open - The Document Foundation has announced that it is now seeking €50,000 in order to become established properly as a legal entity. To date, the foundation has operated with its legal assets being held by the German non-profit association OpenOffice.org Deutschland e.V.; More

Beating the snags in open data Feb 17, 2011: Guardian.co.uk - The drive for public sector data transparency has accelerated with the publication of spending data and the Open Government Licence (OGL) framework, licensing the re-use of public data. Central government has set up data.gov.uk as a searchable home for data and the number of organisations using the OGL is increasing: of the 293 councils that had published spending data by the end of January 2011 deadline, 141 had released their data under the OGL.; More

Helen Wadham - Wikileaks shows the power of public data Feb 15, 2011

Public data could provide charites with very useful information, says the senior lecturer at Staffordshire University.

In a report by the Advanced Performance Institute, a research organisation for performance management, half the public sector organisations surveyed said they collected more data now than two years ago, but only about 10 per cent of it helped them to perform better.

The big society initiative will give the third sector access to much of this data, which is key to service delivery and policy decisions

LibreOffice Debuts, Beating OpenOffice.org by a Whisker Feb 15, 2011: eWEEK - In the open-source movement, the forking of a project is often a contentious matter, and can lead to the demise or mothballing of the applications that spawn from the original software. In many ways, it’s a “nuclear option” as developers choose their allegiances and take their skills with them. Often, the result is the loss of momentum as well as mindshare for all the spawned projects. But it’s not an inevitable one: the January release of LibreOffice 3.3 shows that sometimes forking can lead to a positive outcome.; More

Why You Need Document Freedom Feb 15, 2011: ComputerWorldUK - It seems everything has a special day. While today's celebration is easy enough to understand, you may not have run into Document Freedom Day, which this year is being celebrated on March 30th. Don’t for a second underestimate the importance of document freedom. It sounds dull - not just mundane, but the forgotten esoterica of the mundane - but it’s a crucial driver in the dominance of major software vendors. If the other elements of our Digital liberty are to be allowed to unfurl in their natural order, we need document freedom.; More

'Hack day' for open source applications that use Eurostat data Feb 07, 2011: Software developers in Athens, Berlin, Edinburgh and London on Thursday will brainstorm on new uses of the data made avaible by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Communities. It is expected that most software applications resulting from the 'Eurostat Hackday' will be available under an open source license.; More

Open Data, Open Society Jan 13, 2011: A research project about openness of public data in EU local administration

The report discusses the current and potential role, in a truly open society, of raw Public Sector Information (PSI) that is really open, that is fully accessible and reusable by everybody. The general characteristics of PSI and the conclusions are based on previous studies and on the analysis of current examples both from the European Union and the rest of the world.; More

Threat to Open Data withdrawn by French Parliament Dec 21, 2010

Access Info Europe Access Info Europe and Regards Citoyens today welcomed the withdrawal last week of a proposed amendment to France’s security and access to information laws which would have required background behaviour checks on users of government information.

The proposed amendment was significantly changed in the French parliament on Thursday 16 December following an international campaign by 35 organisations and experts from 25 countries which had raised concerns that the new law would seriously constrain both access to information and freedom of expression. Read the campaign letter here.

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