Outline
When the user community is asked about what datasets they would prefer for release they often cannot respond as they are unaware of what datasets are available. Therefore an overview of datasets managed by an organisation should be published.
Links to the Revised PSI Directive
Challenge
How to make sure that community is aware of datasets that could possibly be made available as open data?
There is often a ‘catch 22’ situation when identifying data for release. The public sector asks the user community what data they would like and they will prioritise based on this feedback. However, the user community are often not aware of what exists and therefore cannot respond meaningfully.
Solution
Publish an overview of datasets managed by an organisation.
Why is this a Best Practice?
The user community is not always fully aware of datasets that an organisation can possibly make available as open data, at least not to a full extent. This might prevent the community from providing useful feedback about what datasets it would have preferred for release. Following this practice should improve efficiency of gathering feedback about datasets requested for release.
The overview when made public gives enough information for users (both public and private sector) to prioritise the most interesting data for release.
Transparency on what datasets public sector is managing combined with a simple classification of legal right to access the data is adding value to both public sector and reusers because:
- The knowledge that this data exists has value in itself
- It makes it possible to crowdsource your priorities
- You are providing transparency on what information your agency is managing
How do I implement this Best Practice?
The technical requirements are minimal. A simple published spreadsheet and a contact point to which feedback can be sent should be sufficient. The overview can also be provided within an existing open data catalog.
The impact of the practice can be improved when the best practice Categorise openness of data is being followed. This can be solved within an existing open data catalog by using the “access rights” property in DCAT-AP.
This allows potential external users to discover the datasets categorised as legally restricted (yellow ) or non public (red).
What do you need for this Best Practice?
The technical requirements are minimal. A simple published spreadsheet and a contact point to which feedback can be sent should be sufficient.
An improved approach is to include unpublished datasets in your existing open data catalog and categorize them by using the “access rights” property in DCAT-AP.
Where has this best practice been implemented?
| Country | Implementation | Contact Point |
|---|---|---|
| Finland | Helsinki Region Infoshare: Helsinki Opens A Window to its Information Systems (press release) | Pekka Koponen, Forum Virium Helsinki. |
References
- Samos Workshop Talk: Traffic Light System For Data Sharing
- Samos Workshop Talk: Public Transport Data in the City of Gijon (PDF)
Contact Info
Heather Broomfield, Difi (Norway).
Issue Tracker
Any matters arising from this BP, including implementation experience, lessons learnt, places where it has been implemented or guides that cite this BP can be recorded and discussed on the project's GitHub repository