eGovernment Interest Group Teleconference

<trackbot> Date: 03 September 2010

<mhausenblas> scribenick: mhausenblas

Admin

sandro, will you join in?

<sandro> d'oh, lost track of time.

open actions are at http://www.w3.org/egov/IG/track/actions/open

Roadmap

<sandro> scribe: sandro

<scribe> scribenick: sandro

mhausenblas: The idea is to get other people to do demos, for example a Challenge, from W3C, perhaps supported by DERI
... maybe some sort of prize, which helps get public attention
... should one do this? how restricted might it be?

cory: There's been a couple other challenges. "Triplify"

mhausenblas: I participated, recently one something (with a colleague)

cory: another one... trying to remember... promoted through the white house.
... be aware there are other things with similar names, similar initiatives.

mhausenblas: most I know of are about publishing data, or doing something (like reasoning) with the data

<Cory-c> http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/memoranda_2010/m10-11.pdf

mhausenblas: I'm not aware of ones around *applications*.. There aren't a lot of apps which make use of open gov't information
... something to make clear the benefits of Open Data, preferably Linked Open Data
... shall I draft something?

sandro: How about drafting a possible announcement/rules

<mhausenblas> ACTION: Michael to draft a strawman call incl. rules, goals, etc [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2010/09/03-egov-minutes.html#action01]

<trackbot> Sorry, amibiguous username (more than one match) - Michael

<trackbot> Try using a different identifier, such as family name or username (eg. maisenbe, mhausenb)

Cory-c: It'll be abstract if you don't point at something specifically?

<mhausenblas> ACTION: Hausenblas to draft a strawman call incl. rules, goals, etc [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2010/09/03-egov-minutes.html#action02]

<trackbot> Created ACTION-111 - Draft a strawman call incl. rules, goals, etc [on Michael Hausenblas - due 2010-09-10].

cory: Point at specific data sets?

mhausenblas: I'd focus on gov't data, but it should be linked.

Cory-c: I would suggest we not limit it, but express it such that a linked data solution would show its stuff, so it helps demonstrate the value

sandro: that's very brave

:-)

sandro: maybe require data to at least be converted, in an open way, to Linked Data

cory: Could at least label it G L D challenge

mhausenblas: Could have it open, but have two tracks
... Or use timbl's five-star plan
... Whatever helps attract as many people as possible

Cory-c: I would not be surprised if some govt agencies were interested
... middle ground -- data sets leveraging each other, without pushing the technology too hard

mhausenblas: rules: it has to be publicly available, on the web, without needing to install something.
... I think of oData, where you are often restricted to certain software.
... it should work in any browser.
... then a question of doing the assessment -- judges, and maybe public voting.

sandro: or two prizes -- "people's choice" and judges prize.

mhausenblas: DERI can sponsor this, but sometimes it's a bit plain to have the money .... what other motivations would there be, ... show your work.
... bragging rights are quite valuable
... also for gov't agencies
... make sure it has strong backing and exposure, eg White house

sandro: selection of judges shows this

Cory-c: purchasing power, technical expertise

mhausenblas: Couple this with some event, eg Gov2.0
... Is there something international?

Cory-c: United Nations Open Data event?

sandro: Yeah, offhand O'Reilly Gov 2.0 might be best, but it's very American

Cory-c: Be sure there is a clear mark they can put on their marketing materials, a cool looking seal.

mhausenblas: Okay, I can certainly put something on the wiki page to start this
... It sounds like we want to proceed with this

<Cory-c> Also, an international company sponsor like google may help

sandro: How about you other folks, who have been quiet?

<mhausenblas> http://www.google.com/publicdata/directory

mhausenblas: I might have a contact with Google that could be helpful in involving them.

brand: I've been working at this from the angle of data science, and data-as-product, within my agency.
... At the SemWeb meetup in NYC, with Deb McGuinness and Peter Fox, Govt Open Scientific Data, ... I've been talking to Peter, and Jim Hendler.
... WebScience is good, but I thing DataScience is bigger and more important
... Tim O'Reilly commissioned an article on DataScience. I linked to it. Data as a product, is the real thing. Of which LOD is a subset.
... I'm getting that to resonate

mhausenblas: I wouldn't exclude that. I want to see how people use the data
... not just technical, but social
... focus on what we can achieve

brand: I couldn't agree more. I've been using SpotFire with s-plus.
... Kingsley has been interested, and started a dialog with TIBCO about making SpotFire handle linked data.
... I needed a tool that sits on a triplestore to look at the data
... OpenLink?

mhausenblas: Ted? Are you still here?

Ted: I'm not familiar with that particular effort, but certainly OpenLink is very interested in consumer and consumable interfaces to this stuff. Our strength is in the back end, but we're still itnerested.
... on the challenge: let's talk about the things that can't easily be answered without linked data
... eg recent economic termoil ... the bad loans were untraceable through securitizations. Similar questions to be asked... Where else has this candidate been active, what are their connections? A lot of this is public record.
... a lot of this is out there, but hard to track back.
... lots of interesting connections between candidates

mhausenblas: re SpotFire, can you report back on this, or invite Kingsley

ted: sure

<mhausenblas> ACTION: Ted to gather info re SpotFire (Kingsley) [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2010/09/03-egov-minutes.html#action03]

<trackbot> Created ACTION-112 - Gather info re SpotFire (Kingsley) [on Ted Thibodeau - due 2010-09-10].

mhausenblas: Nice examples, subprime, candidates
... Good examples for contest
... maybe you can write them down on the wiki

ted: As valuable to expose the gaps as to show the final solution. Show the GAPS in the linkage. We know this is in a gov't data some place.

gdick: I've heard a lot of good ideas. I like the idea about the scientific data. A lot of it is so old it hasn't been linked. I'm willing to work on that. Doing weather and astronomy data.
... national map is a wonderful thing, but it's imposing, so little maps are good
... Data that's out there, 20 years ago, still very valuable, just needs to be resurected.

mhausenblas: Something we discussed here in Ireland... noticed this is mostly driven by developers, not business need. How to turn tech-driven to more business stuff?
... It could be we don't just ask for apps, but also ask for apps that can be transitioned to business driven.
... right now, often driven by what data is out there.

sandro: suggestion board
... what's your dream app

<mhausenblas> http://lab.linkeddata.deri.ie/b2d/

cory: make that part of the challenge ... what's the best dream?

sandro: maybe require or reward number of data sources. Minimum?

mhausenblas: Yes, minimum 2, grading criteria rewards having many data sets.

sandro: maybe the judges can take into effect that the system is designed to work with many data sets, if they were available.

mhausenblas: let's meet on a weekly basis.

sandro: regrets for next week, but in general weekly make sense.

<Cory-c> Thanks Micheal!

ADJOURN