workshop: open data - what's the point?
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Workshop: Open Data - what's the point?
Suraj Kika, CEO, JaduStuart Harrison, Web Manager, Lichfield District Council
twitter.com/JaduCMS
OpenData:Why information sharing important to the future of the web
@SurajKika #CEO
“Government data is being put online to increase accountability, contribute valuable information about the world, and to enable government, the country, and the world to function more efficiently.”
Tim Berners-Lee
Sharing Information
Repurposing Information
Open Data gives real power to the people.
www.w3.org/DesignIssues/GovData.html
Web 1.0: The Document Web
Content is everything.
Web 2.0:The Social Web
“...an embryo of the Web to come...”
“The Web will be understood not as screenfuls of text and graphics but as a transport mechanism, the ether through which interactivity happens...
...It will appear on your computer screen, on your TV set on your car dashboard, on your cell phone, hand-held games machines and maybe even your microwave.”
Darcy DiNucci
Huge shift from mass media to personal media
Over 1600% Growth in 2009
CEO/CIO: “Social Media is Irrelevant to our business”
-They may have missed the point!
350 Million users in 2010
Service Oriented Architecture websites like Twitter are a first step to sharing data
Create an API for your content.
Social media has changed the way the web is being used.
APIs now rule the web.
Web 3.0:The Web of Data
You ALREADY have the data.
The first step is understanding the modern Internet.
It’s essential Senior Management understand the evolution of the Internet.
You ALREADY have the data.
All you have to do is:Publish it.
“Sometimes it is better just to do it.”
Tim Berners-Lee
How Can I Make My Data Open? 1. Make your data publicly available!
2. Apply a suitable open data license.
See - opendatacommons.org - creativecommons.org
www.w3.org/DesignIssues/GovData.html
The future is happening now.
We‘re all learning.
twitter.com/jaducms
twitter.com/surajkika
www.jadu.co.uk
Open data: Under the hood
Stuart HarrisonLichfield District Council
Hikaru Kazushime
Lichfi eld District
Small district north of BirminghamTwo urban centres (Burntwood and Lichfield)Mainly older population, but younger in urban centres Technically savvy, with a lively blogging scene
NickBrickett
Ratemyplace
Food Safety scores websiteBuilt completely in houseOpen data? Why not!Simple RESTful API
Food Safety scores website
Widgets too!
Next steps
Lots of information on our websiteWhy not expose all this?Added geographical information too
Next steps (2)
Heard about Openly LocalFelt the pain of scrapingWhy don't I just give you our data?
What are the barriers?
Lack of awareness
Lack of technical knowledge in web teamsLack of interest from suppliersFear, Uncertainty and Doubt
AdobeMac
Open Elections Project
Aims to overcome some of these barriersStandards-basedMinimal technological knowledgeMinimal costMinimal technological knowledge
Also built a Jadu module
Ordnance Survey
Data created on OS maps (even points) OS derivedCan't easily be reused by third partiesMassive issue with Google MapsOngoing discussion with Cabinet Office
A consumer as well!
My AreaInspired by BCC DIYUses data from:
Openly LocalPlanning AlertsData.gov.ukPolice APINHS ChoicesEtc, etc
http://www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/myarea
Why open data?
Allows us to engage with different audienceMakes engagement a 'many to many' arrangement'Failure for free'It's going to happen anyway
coccu
What next?
Deeper integration with systemsMore useful data (performance data, geographic data)Standards, standards, standards
Don Solo
Thank you
Stuart [email protected] 308779www.twitter.com/pezholio
www.lichfielddc.gov.ukwww.pezholio.co.uk
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Open data: Under the hood
Stuart HarrisonLichfield District Council
Hikaru Kazushime
2
Lichfi eld District
Small district north of BirminghamTwo urban centres (Burntwood and Lichfield)Mainly older population, but younger in urban centres Technically savvy, with a lively blogging scene
NickBrickett
The internet, whilst being accessible to people is mainly a system for presenting information.
While machines know what type of information is on a web page, they don't necessarily know what the information is
Open data essentially makes web based information accessible to machines, as well as people.
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Ratemyplace
Food Safety scores websiteBuilt completely in houseOpen data? Why not!Simple RESTful API
Food Safety scores website
Widgets too!
Here's a standard web page
As I mentioned before, machines know how to present the data, but they can't tell the difference between what is an address (for example) and what is a political party or telephone number.
This makes it very difficult to get the data from a web page to any other system (without a lot of work from developers)
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Next steps
Lots of information on our websiteWhy not expose all this?Added geographical information too
This is the same information presented as XML
It's standardised, so machines can read it very easily and there is less work involved on the part of developers.
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Next steps (2)
Heard about Openly LocalFelt the pain of scrapingWhy don't I just give you our data?
Data can then be reused as in this example – openly local
Information is shown in a simple, clear format, with other council's information in the same format – much of it gained through screen scraping.
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What are the barriers?
Lack of awareness
Lack of technical knowledge in web teamsLack of interest from suppliersFear, Uncertainty and Doubt
AdobeMac
However, there are some barriers, licensing is one, sometimes we can't share all the data we want to because of licensing restrictions.
There's also a lack of awareness amongst senior management, which means there's noone pushing for data to be opened
There's also a lot of fear about open data, it's a brave new world and a lot of people are used to 'data hugging' – keeping their data close and using it as power
Suppliers don't seem to have got on the open data train yet, there's currently no offering that allows online systems to be opened easily
Some web teams don't have a technical resource, and without suppliers offering systems, they just don't have the knowledge
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Open Elections Project
Aims to overcome some of these barriersStandards-basedMinimal technological knowledgeMinimal costMinimal technological knowledge
Also built a Jadu module
Twitterplan uses data provided in a standard format by PlanningAlerts
Sends a direct message on Twitter to users whenever a planning application is lodged in their area
Because it uses standard data, which is easy to work with, it took me two days to build – if I had to get the data from council websites myself it would take a lot longer
However, due to the actions of the Royal Mail, this service is currently suspended.
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Ordnance Survey
Data created on OS maps (even points) OS derivedCan't easily be reused by third partiesMassive issue with Google MapsOngoing discussion with Cabinet Office
Twitterplan uses data provided in a standard format by PlanningAlerts
Sends a direct message on Twitter to users whenever a planning application is lodged in their area
Because it uses standard data, which is easy to work with, it took me two days to build – if I had to get the data from council websites myself it would take a lot longer
However, due to the actions of the Royal Mail, this service is currently suspended.
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A consumer as well!
My AreaInspired by BCC DIYUses data from:
Openly LocalPlanning AlertsData.gov.ukPolice APINHS ChoicesEtc, etc
http://www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/myarea
At LDC, I was inspired by the work of dedicated volunteers, and wanted to open up our data
We've taken a 'steady as she goes' approach, releasing data in a piecemeal fashion, working with developers in the community and finding out what they want
We've also been identifying quick wins, if someone wants a new system, we make sure open data is built in. Also if there's data that's easy to open, such as leisure centre or park locations (as KML files), that goes in too
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Why open data?
Allows us to engage with different audienceMakes engagement a 'many to many' arrangement'Failure for free'It's going to happen anyway
coccu
I've gone through the hows, but what about the whys? Why should we lofty public sector folk give our data to the public?
For a start, it allows us to engage with a different type of audience, opening data gives us access to a typically younger, digitally switched on audience, not just the curtain twitching nimby type
Also, when we release data, communities build up around data, making engagement a many to many arrangement – good example is BCCDIY
It gives people the opportunity to build cool stuff with our data – stuff we either wouldn't have thought of or don't have time to do. And if it doesn't work, we've lost nothing – to paraphrase Clay Skirky, we get 'Failure for Free'
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What next?
Deeper integration with systemsMore useful data (performance data, geographic data)Standards, standards, standards
Don Solo
I've gone through the hows, but what about the whys? Why should we lofty public sector folk give our data to the public?
For a start, it allows us to engage with a different type of audience, opening data gives us access to a typically younger, digitally switched on audience, not just the curtain twitching nimby type
Also, when we release data, communities build up around data, making engagement a many to many arrangement – good example is BCCDIY
It gives people the opportunity to build cool stuff with our data – stuff we either wouldn't have thought of or don't have time to do. And if it doesn't work, we've lost nothing – to paraphrase Clay Skirky, we get 'Failure for Free'
12
Thank you
Stuart [email protected] 308779www.twitter.com/pezholio
www.lichfielddc.gov.ukwww.pezholio.co.uk