Jonathan Gray | 1 Jun 15:49

New mailing list for open knowledge in development

Hi all,

We just created a new list specifically aimed at those interested in
open knowledge in development:

  http://blog.okfn.org/2009/06/01/new-mailing-list-for-open-knowledge-in-development/

Can anyone think of any people we should write to to invite
individually? Or any blogs we should pass this on to?

--

-- 
Jonathan Gray

Community Coordinator
The Open Knowledge Foundation
http://www.okfn.org
Rufus Pollock | 3 Jun 11:35
Gravatar

Supporters drive is go -- sign up now!

First, thanks to everyone who sent comments on and off-list regarding
the draft text -- the supporters drive is now officially go:

<http://blog.okfn.org/2009/06/02/the-okf-turns-5-and-we-need-your-support/>

Please, if you're able, do sign up to the pledge and help us continue
our efforts:

<http://www.pledgebank.com/support-okfn>

Regards,

Rufus
Jonathan Gray | 3 Jun 13:44

OGC's Geospatial Rights Management Summit to be held on June 22 at MIT in Cambridge, MA

For anyone in the vicinity, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is
having a Geospatial Rights Management Summit at MIT later this month!

J.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Jonathan,

I wonder if you would send the invitation below to the people on your
Open Knowledge Foundation list. Some of them may be interested in
attending the OGC's Geospatial Rights Management Summit to be held on
June 22 at MIT in Cambridge, MA.

I believe the work of the OGC's Geospatial Rights Management Working
Group (http://www.opengeospatial.org/projects/groups/geormwg) and the
OGC's development of an open architecture for the Global Earth
Observation System of Systems
(http://www.opengeospatial.org/projects/initiatives/geoss/ogc) are
critical enablers of a new era in which all types of geospatial
scientific data will aggregate into a permanent and increasingly
important knowledge resource. The benefits -- which I think are
extraordinary -- are outlined after the press release below under
"Open Access to Geospatial Data," extracted from an article by Dr.
Mike Jackson et al.

I helped found the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) in 1994 and
continue to serve the OGC as a consultant.

Lance McKee
10 Circuit Avenue East
(Continue reading)

Jonathan Gray | 3 Jun 18:16

List of Open Services

Hi all,

We've started a list for OSSD-compliant services:

  http://wiki.okfn.org/openservices

Any ideas for things to add?

--

-- 
Jonathan Gray

Community Coordinator
The Open Knowledge Foundation
http://www.okfn.org
Jonathan Gray | 3 Jun 19:21

Eurostat licensing?

Hi all,

Andreas Harth currently has an RDF version of Eurostat at:

  http://ontologycentral.com/2009/01/eurostat/

He does not host the whole thing, but states: "Unfortunately we cannot
provide access to the full dataset due to limited storage and
bandwidth resources. If you are interested in the full dataset and
able to sponsor our effort please contact us."

I understand Talis would consider hosting the data if it was fully
open. There is mention of some commercial restrictions at:

  http://ckan.net/package/read/eurostat

On the new Eurostat site, there is a link to the general EC legal
notice (http://ec.europa.eu/geninfo/legal_notices_en.htm) which
states: "Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is
acknowledged, save where otherwise stated. Where prior permission must
be obtained for the reproduction or use of textual and multimedia
information (sound, images, software, etc.), such permission shall
cancel the above-mentioned general permission and shall clearly
indicate any restrictions on use."

There is also: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/about_eurostat/corporate/copyright_licence_policy

Which re-iterates that material may be used for any purpose
(commercial or noncommercial) as long as source is attributed - unless
otherwise stated.
(Continue reading)

John Bywater | 4 Jun 12:41
Favicon

Re: guide to resources

Rufus Pollock wrote:
> 2009/5/28 James Casbon <casbon@...>:
>> Is there an overview of the various mailing lists, websites, etc
>> somewhere?  There are quite a few lists, websites, repositories and
>> more, and I'm trying to get my head around what goes where.
> 
> Good question!
> 

Incidentally, FWIW, in the world of service orientation this is called
"asset inventory". An asset inventory is a list of asset descriptions,
designed to help with service discovery and change management.

Assets can be non-software, software units, or software services. Assets
are described in terms of providers and users, basic capabilities
(software assets: name and basic description), how satisfactory, and how
easy to change. Issues can be effectively tracked and prioritized
against assets, including by delegation to project backlogs.

Best wishes,

John.
Rufus Pollock | 4 Jun 17:43
Gravatar

Re: Eurostat licensing?

2009/6/3 Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray <at> okfn.org>:
> Hi all,
>
> Andreas Harth currently has an RDF version of Eurostat at:
>
>  http://ontologycentral.com/2009/01/eurostat/
>
> He does not host the whole thing, but states: "Unfortunately we cannot
> provide access to the full dataset due to limited storage and
> bandwidth resources. If you are interested in the full dataset and
> able to sponsor our effort please contact us."
>
> I understand Talis would consider hosting the data if it was fully
> open. There is mention of some commercial restrictions at:
>
>  http://ckan.net/package/read/eurostat

Strictly their requirement to have a (free) license for commercial
redistribution makes them non-open but it seems from the below that
this has now changed.

[snip]

> There is also: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/about_eurostat/corporate/copyright_licence_policy
>
> Which re-iterates that material may be used for any purpose
> (commercial or noncommercial) as long as source is attributed - unless
> otherwise stated.
>
> Hence I understand that the bulk of Eurostat data is OKD compliant,
(Continue reading)

Andreas Harth | 5 Jun 15:06
Gravatar

Re: Eurostat licensing?

Hi,

On Thu, Jun 04, 2009 at 04:43:57PM +0100, Rufus Pollock wrote:
> 2009/6/3 Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray@...>:
> > Andreas Harth currently has an RDF version of Eurostat at:
> >
> >  http://ontologycentral.com/2009/01/eurostat/
> >
> > He does not host the whole thing, but states: "Unfortunately we cannot
> > provide access to the full dataset due to limited storage and
> > bandwidth resources. If you are interested in the full dataset and
> > able to sponsor our effort please contact us."
> >
> [...]
> > Hence I understand that the bulk of Eurostat data is OKD compliant,
> > effectively under an attribution license?
> 
> Yes, that seems to be the case. It would be great if Talis were able
> to host this data -- it seems a really useful resource and a good
> example of repurposing/value-adding thanks to the material being open.

As said before, I'd be happy to provide the data for hosting at Talis -
the dataset is relatively large though (tens of GB).  At the moment
I'm serving from static files and do not require a SPARQL endpoint,
which should lower the resource requirements.  Some configuration for
redirects etc. would be needed if hosted on a different server.

Cheers,
Andreas.
(Continue reading)

Jonathan Gray | 5 Jun 15:56

Re: Open Data is Civic Capital: Best Practices for "Open Government Data"

Brilliant!

I also wonder if you think it could be worth creating a very concise,
'open government data definition' - which detailed the necessary
additions to OKD as outlined in your essay?

(As is done in the OSSD: http://opendefinition.org/ossd)

Jonathan

On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 3:50 PM, Josh Tauberer<tauberer@...> wrote:
> Yes, I think you're right. I'll keep this in mind for the next version.
>
> Thanks.
>
> - Josh Tauberer
> - GovTrack.us
>
> http://razor.occams.info
>
> "Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation!  Yields
> falsehood when preceded by its quotation!" Achilles to
> Tortoise (in "Godel, Escher, Bach" by Douglas Hofstadter)
>
> On 05/19/2009 01:53 PM, Jonathan Gray wrote:
>>
>> This looks great Josh!
>>
>> I wonder if there's any way you would consider alluding to the OKD in
>> the body of the text, as well as towards the end?
(Continue reading)

Rufus Pollock | 8 Jun 11:04
Gravatar

Re: Open Data is Civic Capital: Best Practices for "Open Government Data"

2009/6/5 Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray <at> okfn.org>:
> Brilliant!

Yes, this is great Josh!

> I also wonder if you think it could be worth creating a very concise,
> 'open government data definition' - which detailed the necessary
> additions to OKD as outlined in your essay?

I recall in our original discussion here of the 8 principles [1], it
was suggested that items 4-8 were probably covered by the Open
Knowledge/Data Definition leaving as extra items 1 to 3 which were
more about principles or actions the Government should take:

[1]: http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-discuss/2007-December/000673.html

<quote>
1. Complete: All public data is made available. Public data is data that is not
subject to valid privacy, security or privilege limitations.

2. Primary: Data is as collected at the source, with the highest possible level
of granularity, not in aggregate or modified forms.

3. Timely: Data is made available as quickly as necessary to preserve the
value of the data.
</quote>

One extra item that is worth thinking about is how these kind of
principles will play outside of the US -- attitudes to Government data
in, e.g. European countries, is often rather different than in the
(Continue reading)


Gmane