Video of PSI Roundtable @ FICOD09 Online

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Posted by Mary Gianoli on 20 Nov 2009

Madrid: 19 November 2009

The PSI Panel discussions from FICOD 2009 are online on FICOD TV (Spanish or English translation available).

Seventy plus persons participated 'in person' plus an active Twitter channel at the PSI panel discussion, which was a part of the Foro Internacional de Contenidos Digitales 2009 (FICOD 2009) Conference (International Forum of Digital Contents 2009) held 17–19 November 2009.

The topic under discussion was “Generating Value through the Re-use of Public Sector Information”. The panel members presented perspectives from innovative business built on re-use, the European Commission, W3C and advisor to the ePSIplatform.

Here are some highlights about what was said and the questions asked (for the full discussion watch the video online).

PSI re-use is not a completely new concept. It has been taking place since before the introduction of the Internet.
In our networked society, re-using of PSI is becoming easier with technical innovations such as linked data options and many others now available.
Citizens interest in re-using PSI is high and becoming more common, which is evidenced in the outputs of the PSI re-use competitions taking place in Europe and elsewhere.
Entrepreneurs, in particular the small companies adding value to PSI, when access is provided, bring talent, innovation and commercial success.
Transparency about the availability and cost of PSI is key for successful commercial PSI re-use.
Spain was commended for making excellent progress in terms of PSI re-use developments and business start ups based on PSI re-use since the Spanish transposition of the European PSI Directive, which is relatively recent.
The Spanish Proyecto Aporta was commended for its excellent work in offering on PSI Information portal services, training and raising awareness of the value of PSI for citizens and the business community, with the comment: 'The Aporta project was like a prize to us'.
The public sector was encouraged to opt for win-win approaches to PSI re-use and not to be concerned about acknowledgements of the source of PSI to public authorities when PSI is re-used - given that when value is added to PSI it is often combined with other sources of PSI creating unique products and the source of data loses importance.
The European Commission, among several strategy strands directed towards developing PSI re-use, is promoting the collection of data and numbers about re-use and the development of PSI portals.

In closing, the panel, chair, David Cierco Jiménez de Parga, make reference to a tweet of a re-tweet from Argentina, which said, 'Open Your Data and Relax ... Take Risks … the World Will Not End', which was a comment by Chris Corbin, Advisor to the ePSIplatform, during his presentation in discussing the importance of culture change to promote PSI re-use.

Panel Members

Chairperson:David Cierco Jiménez de Parga - General Director for the Development of the Information Society - SETSI - Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce

Speakers:

Juan Pelegrín - Administrator - European Commission Carlos Alonso - President - ASEDIE D. Chris Corbin - Advisor, ePSIplatform Carlos de la Fuente - Director - W3C Ángel Maldonado Elvira - Fundador - legasolo.com José Luis Marín de la Iglesia - Director - www.Euroalert.net Jaime Gómez Obregón - www.elpreciodelagasolina.com

The Conference programme introduction to the panel commented:

“Re-using public sector information can facilitate the creation of new products and services based on this information by the private sector. There are some successful examples in our country, but it is also important to take a look at some cases that have been developed internationally. In the European Union, the reuse market is estimated at between 26 and 47 thousand million Euros, which gives an idea of the economic importance of Public Sector Information.”

More about FICOD 2009