Licence Friction: A Tale of Two Datasets

For years now at the Open Data Institute we’ve been working to increase access to data, to create a range of social and economic benefits across a range of sectors. While the details change across projects one of the more consistent aspects of our work and guidance has been to support data stewards in making … Continue reading Licence Friction: A Tale of Two Datasets →

[Paper Review] The Coerciveness of the Primary Key: Infrastructure Problems in Human Services Work

This blog post is a quick review and notes relating to a research paper called: The Coerciveness of the Primary Key: Infrastructure Problems in Human Services Work (PDF available here) It's part of my new research notebook to help me collect and share notes on research papers and reports. Brief summary This paper explores the … Continue reading [Paper Review] The Coerciveness of the Primary Key: Infrastructure Problems in Human Services Work →

[Paper review] Open data for electricity modeling: Legal aspects

This blog post is a quick review and notes relating to a research paper called: Open data for electronic modeling: Legal aspects. It's part of my new research notebook to help me collect and share notes on research papers and reports. Brief summary The paper reviews the legal status of publicly available energy data (and … Continue reading [Paper review] Open data for electricity modeling: Legal aspects →

How do data publishing choices shape data ecosystems?

This is the latest in a series of posts in which I explore some basic questions about data. In our work at the ODI we have often been asked for advice about how best to publish data. When giving trying to give helpful advice, one thing I'm always mindful of is how the decisions about … Continue reading How do data publishing choices shape data ecosystems? →

Lets talk about plugs

This is a summary of a short talk I gave internally at the ODI to help illustrate some of the important aspects of data standards for non-technical folk. I thought I'd write it up here too, in case its useful for anyone else. Let me know what you think. We benefit from standards in every … Continue reading Lets talk about plugs →

The words we use for data

I've been on leave this week so, amongst the gardening and relaxing I've had a bit of head space to think. One of the things I've been thinking about is the words we choose to use when talking about data. It was Dan's recent blog post that originally triggered it. But I was reminded of … Continue reading The words we use for data →

How can we describe different types of dataset? Ten dataset archetypes

As a community, when we are discussing recommendations and best practices for how data should be published and governed, there is a natural tendency for people to focus on the types of data they are most familiar with working with. This leads to suggestions that every dataset should have an API, for example. Or that … Continue reading How can we describe different types of dataset? Ten dataset archetypes →

That thing we call “open”

I've been involved in a few conversations recently about what "open" or "being open" means in different situations. As I've noted previously when people say "open" they often mean very different things. And while there may be a clear definitions of "open", people don't often use the terms correctly. And some phrases like "open API" … Continue reading That thing we call “open” →

Thinking about the governance of data

I find "governance" to be a tricky word. Particularly when we're talking about the governance of data. For example, I've experienced conversations with people from a public policy background and people with a background in data management, where its clear that there are different perspectives. From a policy perspective, governance of data could be described … Continue reading Thinking about the governance of data →

Impressions from pidapalooza 19

https://twitter.com/ldodds/status/1088029286865555457 This week I was at the third pidapalooza conference in Dublin. It's a conference that is dedicated open identifiers: how to create them, steward them, drive adoption and promote their benefits. Anyone who has spent any time reading this blog or following me on twitter will know that this is a topic close to … Continue reading Impressions from pidapalooza 19 →