(først sett på Epsiplatform).

Guardian har et ekstremt interessant referat fra lanseringen av data.gov.uk. Det er åpenbart at diskusjonene i stor grad er direkte overførbare til norske forhold.

Det er også interessant at data.gov.uk framhever applikasjoner så tydelig. Det er jo tross alt intelligent bruk av dataene, ikke datasettene i seg selv, som skal skape nytte for publikum.

Her er prinsippene teamet bak data.gov.uk sier de bygger på:

• Working with the web;
• Keeping things simple: we aim to make the smallest possible changes that will make the web work better;
• Working with the grain: we are not looking to rebuild the world. We appreciate that some things take time; others can be done relatively quickly. Everything has it’s own time and pace;
• Using open standards, open source and open data: these are the core elements of a modular, sustainable system; and
• Building communities, and working with and through them (both inside government and outside).

En norsk data.gov er for øvrig en av anbefalingene i rapporten vi publiserte om offentlige data i Norge sist uke.

OPPDATERING: Tim Berners-Lee og Nigel Shadbolt skriver i Guardian om arbeidet med å sette opp data.gov.uk:

It’s re-use of data in new — and often unexpected — ways that creates both social value and opportunities for economic growth. It’s not our job to say where data might be useful; it’s our job to unleash it and allow businesses and independent developers to build innovative services which they can then deliver to users. That’s the story of technology through the years — and the way the World Wide Web itself has grown over the last twenty years.

Mot slutten av artikkelen kommer de med noen bemerkninger som jeg tror er viktige for de som etter hvert — forhåpentlig — vil arbeide med et tilsvarende prosjekt i Norge:

Today marks another step along the path: making the “beta” of data.gov.uk available to everyone, whether in the wider community of interest or one of our registered developers. The very idea of a beta release is exciting – it is not large scale IT procurement – rather a platform built quickly using agile project management to provide a core capability that can be extended easily and at low cost. This is how most innovative software is built in the age of the Web. What’s more data.gov.uk is not a big database itself. It’s more of a catalogue of the non-personal “public data” now being made available on the websites of individual government departments. But for the first time we have created a single online place where those looking for government data can go to find it, without having to know which department holds what and where it is.

Se også dataportalens egen blogg, hvor de tegner og forteller mer om detaljene.

Men hvordan klarte Berners-Lee og Shadbolt å få offentlige virksomheter til å samarbeide om å åpne datakilder? Magasinet Prospect tar i sin neste utgave for seg dette spørsmålet, og her blir det antakelig nyttige ting å lære, skal en tro forhåndsreklamen.

BBC har intervjuet Berners-Lee og Shadbolt.

OPPDATERING II: The Guardian har lansert sin egen søkeside der du kan lete etter data fra “hele verden” — det vil foreløpig si Australia, New Zealand, USA og Storbritannia, men flere er på vei. De har også laget en oversikt over de ti beste visualiseringene og applikasjonene basert på offentlig sektors data.

We have demonstrated that we can integrate a whole range of data about your postcode — ranging from crime statistics to recycling, from travel times and timetables to adult education and healthcare provision. We have shown that freeing data is practical and economic to do.(…) Maybe someone uses the web to show schools close to you and their Ofsted reports, or the planning applications that might affect you, or the allotments available to use, or the crime rates in your area. Data is beginning to drive the Government’s websites. But without a consistent policy to make it available to others, without the use of open standards and unrestrictive licences for reuse, information stays compartmentalised and its full value is lost. Openly available public data not only creates economic and social capital, it also creates bottom-up pressure to improve public services. Data is essential in enabling citizens to choose between public service providers. It helps them to compare their local services with services elsewhere. It enables all of us to lobby for improvement. Public data is a public good.

The Guardian skriver at beslutningen om å frigi kartdata ble tatt på toppnivå i regjeringen. Det er nå standard praksis å vurdere frigivelse av offentlig sektors datakilder (selvsagt med unntak av persondata):

Government sources at the seminar at No 10 indicated that the concept of making non-personal government data free is now a standard consideration when examining datasets that have been collected.