Which data.gov Model for France?
Paris: 11 December 2009
Planning of a French PSI portal is underway with an interdepartmental working group focused on the task which is led by The Agence du patrimoine immatériel de l’État (APIE ).
Coinciding with the Paris’ First Open Data Bar Camp held on the 12 December 2009, which considered PSI Re-use Issues, ReadWriteWeb France published a news story by Nicolas Cynober entitled, Quel modèle pour le data.gov Français? (Which data.gov model for France?).
In the news, Nicolas reflects on the data.gov models currently available since the launch of the U.S. data.gov site about six months ago and suggests that these models point to questions to consider in the development of the French data.gov. Which model?, is an interesting and timely question for France and many other countries.
Here are the brief summaries of the models (English translations below) (Original French text online).
The New Zealand Model
data.govt.nz so far contains 200 datasets (data sources). There is a directory which links to files on other government sites. For each record found there is a link, the data format, a brief description, some keywords and date added. Note that the site is currently in beta, so this is a prototype which will evolve. The final version is scheduled for summer 2010 and by then an effort will be made on the formatting of data among agencies. One regrets the lack of transparency of the license data and the obligation to make contact with each agency.
The Australian Model
data.australia.gov.au provides a catalog of 210 datasets. Although most data is still housed in remote offices, it seems that some files have been centralized. The records here are both richer and lighter which makes navigation in datasets much more enjoyable and easy. Note that the data is licensed under a Creative Commons (CC-BY) license clearly displayed on each sheet. Again this is a beta release.
The American Model
data.gov is the first portal to have centralized government data. Open datasets started with 47 made available last May and the site now contains 1081. Besides the basic functionality that can be expected, we found for each dataset more ratings by users and a technical document that describes the nature of the data (which increases promotes accessibility and understanding). Even if the ground was conducive to the exploitation of these data (with the presence of the Sunlight Foundation), we see the efforts of communication and community management. So many visualizations were created by associations, universities or private companies and the data are now being standardized.
The English Model
data.gov.uk has been introduced with in light of arrival of Tim Berners Lee , inventor of the World Wide Web working on the project. The site is currently in private beta and is opening its doors in January with more than 1,100 datasets (an effort has been made on health and transport data). The site will be particularly community focused by offering to share with the public ideas and applications. But most striking is the technological dimension of this project. By opening a SPARQL endpoint, gateway to the Linked Data, the English data.gov makes it possible to access government data as a single open database. The goal is to make all data available in this format by June 2011, with plans to potentially utilise Creative Common Licensing.
Additional Resources
- For more information, explore ReadWriteWeb’s pearltree on the subject of open government with over 50 sources including political, strategic and technical.
- The European Commission PSI Group is focussing on PSI Portal development and documentation form the 25 September 2009 meeting on portals is accessible online.
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