Category: Open Data

Schema explorers and how they can help guide adoption of common standards

Despite being very different projects Wikidata and OpenStreetmap have a number of similarities. Recurring patterns in how they organise and support the work of their communities. We documented a number of these patterns in the ODI Collaborative Maintenance Guidebook. There were also a number we didn't get time to write-up. A further pattern which I … Continue reading Schema explorers and how they can help guide adoption of common standards →

Some lessons learned from building standards around Schema.org

OpenActive is a community-led initiative in the sport and physical activity sector in England. It's goal is to help to get people healthier and more active by making its easier for people to find information about activities and events happening in their area. Publishing open data about opportunities to be active is a key part … Continue reading Some lessons learned from building standards around Schema.org →

12 ways to improve the GDS guidance on reference data publishing

GDS have published some guidance about publishing reference data for reuse across government. I've had a read and it contains a good set of recommendations. But some of them could be clearer. And I feel like some important areas aren't covered. So I thought I'd write this post to capture my feedback. Like the original … Continue reading 12 ways to improve the GDS guidance on reference data publishing →

Cooking up a new approach to supporting purposeful use of data

In my last post I explored how we might better support the use of datasets. To do that I applied the BASEDEF framework to outline the ways in which communities might collaborate to help unlock more value from individual datasets. But what if we changed our focus from supporting discovery and use of datasets and … Continue reading Cooking up a new approach to supporting purposeful use of data →

How can you help support the use of a dataset?

Getting the most value from data, whilst minimising its harmful impacts, is a community activity. Datasets need to be governed and published well. Most of that responsibility falls on the data publisher. Because the choices they make shapes data ecosystems. But other people have a role to play too. Being a good data user means … Continue reading How can you help support the use of a dataset? →

Why is change discovery important for open data?

Change discovery is the process of identifying changes to a resource. For example, that a document has been updated. Or, in the case of a dataset, whether some part of the data has been amended, e.g. to add data, fill in missing values, or correct existing data. If we can identify that changes have been … Continue reading Why is change discovery important for open data? →

How can publishing more data decrease the value of existing data?

Last month I wrote a post looking at how publishing new data might increase the value of existing data. I ended up listing seven different ways including things like improving validation, increasing coverage, supporting the ability to link together datasets, etc. But that post only looked at half of the issue. What about the opposite? … Continue reading How can publishing more data decrease the value of existing data? →