Following some remarks from Richard Swetenham from the European Commission, we made a few changes relative to the trialogue process and the coming steps: the trialogue will start its meetings on 17th December and it is therefore already very useful to call on our governments to support Open Formats! When we work on building all […]
COMMUNIA statement on open access to EU funded Horizon 2020 research
Horizon 2020 is the EU’s proposed new programme for research and innovation, which would run from 2014 to 2020. The programme would create an “Innovation Union” with a budget of €80million, bringing together current research and innovation funding available through a number of sources. On 28th November MEPs are set to vote on the proposals, […]
Hack4Health: London 2-4 November
In the first November weekend – 2-4 November – the UK Open Data Institute in London will host Hack4Health, organised by Coadec, Healthbox Accelerator, the Cabinet Office, NHS Hackday and the Open Knowledge Foundation. The event brings together entrepreneurs, developers and technical startups working on health and fitness data to create innovative solutions and products. […]
World’s first REAL commercial open data curation project!
The following post is by Francis Irving, CEO of ScraperWiki. Can you think of an open data curation project where the people who work on it come from multiple commercial companies? In the mid 1990s, as open source code began to boom, the equivalent was commonplace. Geeks working at ISPs would together patch the Apache webserver into shape. Startups like […]
“Rest assured, the EU is behind you” says European Commissioner Neelie Kroes to OKFestival participants
If you have more than a passing interest in EU policies related to the internet, digital content and digital technologies then you’ve probably heard of Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda. Today Neelie gave a virtual address for participants at OKFestival, one of the largest open knowledge […]
Open Data, Technology and Government 2.0 – What Should We, And Should We Not Expect
This is second of two pieces about “managing expectations” (the first is here). Open data has come a long way in the last few years and so have expectations. There’s a growing risk that open data will be seen as a panacea that will magically solve climate change or eliminate corruption or “fix” democracy. This […]
New open access recommendations ten years on from Budapest Open Access Initiative
The notion of open access – or making research freely usable by all, without cost or legal barriers – has been in the news quite a bit this year. It received significant media coverage on the back on the so-called Academic Spring, and subsequent high profile activities and announcements in the UK, the US and […]
OpenDataMx: Opening Up the Government, one Bit at a Time
On August 24-25, another edition of OpenDataMx took place: a 36-hour public data hackathon for the development of creative technological solutions to questions raised by the civil society. This time the event was hosted by the University of Communication in Mexico City. The popularity of the event has grown: a total of 63 participants including […]
Ending Secrecy – Why Global Transparency Rules Matter
Earlier this week, the SEC voted on the final rules of Section 1504 of the Dodd Frank Act. Global Witness teamed up with the Open Knowledge Foundation to explain what these rules are about, and why they matter. View the infographic ‘Ending Secrecy – Why Global Transparency Rules Matter’ On August 22nd 2012, the U.S. […]
Talk at European Data Forum: Open Data, Where We’ve Come From, Where We’re Going
Last week I was at the European Data Forum and gave a Keynote entitled Open Data, Where We’ve Come From, Where We’re Going. Here are the slides.
Technology for Transparent and Accountable Public Finance: Report Published
In early March, we embarked on a project to map out projects which use technology to further the aims of fiscal transparency, accountability and participation. Today, we are happy to announce the official release of the resulting report, Technology for Transparent and Accountable Public Finance. Preliminary findings were presented at last month’s GIFT meeting in […]
Petition the White House to Open Up Publicly Funded Research
John Wilbanks, co-author of the Panton Principles and past OKFN Advisory Board Member, just launched a petition to ask the White House to mandate free access to publicly funded research in the US. Here’s what it says: We believe in the power of the Internet to foster innovation, research, and education. Requiring the published results […]
European Commission launches Open Data Strategy for Europe
The following post is from Jonathan Gray, Community Coordinator at the Open Knowledge Foundation. This morning Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda announced a new Open Data Strategy for Europe. I wrote a bit of background on the announcement on Friday for the Guardian Datablog, discussing what this […]
UK Government Public Data Corporation Consultation Response
The following is the response the Open Knowledge Foundation submitted to the UK Government’s consultation on the public data corporation launched along with the consultation on open data in August 2011. The consultation document references the paper Models of Public Sector Information Provision via Trading Funds (Newbery, Bentley and Pollock, 2007), commissioned by HM Treasury, […]
Open Data in Cultural Heritage: Finding your way through the license labyrinth, London, 24th November 2011
The following post is from Jonathan Gray, Community Coordinator at the Open Knowledge Foundation. Following on from our Open GLAM workshop in Warsaw last month, in a few weeks we’re hosting a half day workshop looking at how to overcome barriers to opening up data in the cultural heritage sector. So far we have confirmed […]
#ogdcamp opening talk from Neelie Kroes
The following post is from Jonathan Gray, Community Coordinator at the Open Knowledge Foundation. Here is the video and full text for Neelie Kroes’s address at Open Government Data Camp 2011. Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, Opening up public data will foster the participation of citizens in political and social life, increase the transparency of […]
Open GLAM Workshop, Warsaw, 15th September 2011
The following post is from Jonathan Gray, Community Coordinator at the Open Knowledge Foundation. How can we encourage more galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM institutions) to open up their holdings – including metadata about their collections, and digital copies of works which have entered the public domain? Following on from my post on opening […]
Registration for Open Government Data Camp 2011 is now open!
The following post is from Jonathan Gray, Community Coordinator at the Open Knowledge Foundation. We’re delighted to announce that registration for Open Government Data Camp 2011 is now open! This will be the biggest international open data event to date. An quick overview in numbers: 2 days of talks, workshops and code sprints 10 days […]
Public Data Consultations: Making Open Data a Reality
This post is from Lucy Chambers, Community Coordinator at the Open Knowledge Foundation. Earlier this month, the UK Government published the ‘Open Data Consultation Paper’. Its aim is to establish a “culture of openness and transparency in public services” and the Government is turning to the general public for their preferences on how this should […]
New EU consultation on open access to scientific information
The following post is from Jonathan Gray, Community Coordinator at the Open Knowledge Foundation. The European Commission has recently announced a consultation on access to scientific information. If you’re interested in open data in science (e.g. as per the Panton Principles for open data in science), then we’re sure the EC would love to hear […]
We need international open government data principles
The following post is from Jonathan Gray, Community Coordinator at the Open Knowledge Foundation. We need a set of international open government data principles. Why? Because as the ‘open data‘ meme travels around the world – unlocking information from local, regional and national public bodies as it goes – we want to make sure that […]
Notes from Open Metadata Workshop, The Hague, 15th June 2011
The following post is from Jonathan Gray, Community Coordinator at the Open Knowledge Foundation. Last week I went to an excellent workshop on open metadata organised by Europeana. The workshop drew together directors from libraries, archives and cultural heritage organisations across Europe – such as the British Library, the Deutsche National Bibliothek, the UK National […]
Open Government Data Camp 2011 is coming soon!
Open Government Data Camp 2011 is coming soon! You can find more at: We’re currently working with the excellent Centrum Cyfrowe Projekt:Polska to finalise logistics for the event, which is currently scheduled to take place on 21st October 2011. As with last year’s event, we will have lots of developers, designers, data journalists, public servants, […]
OCLC, WorldCat Rights and Responsibilities, and Open Data Licensing
The following guest post is from Jim Michalko, VP in charge of the OCLC Research Library Partnership. Karen Calhoun, former VP of Metadata Applications, who has previously been working on these issues, has recently left OCLC to relocate and begin the first phase of her retirement. She has transitioned her role as OCLC’s spokesperson for […]
Exploring European Energy Data
The following post is from Jonathan Gray, Community Coordinator at the Open Knowledge Foundation. Today was the Eurostat Hackday, where coders and designers in several European cities gathered to dig into the Eurostat data, the biggest source of statistical information about Europe and European member states. We met at the Centre for Creative Collaboration in […]
Notes from EU meeting on “pan-European open data portal”
A report from an EU meeting on the “goals and requirements for a pan-European data portal” is now online (PDF). The meeting took place in Luxembourg last month. Participants included Nigel Shadbolt, one of four members of the UK Government’s Public Sector Transparency Board, and Jose Manuel Alonso, co-lead of the eGovernment Interest Group at […]
Post-event material from Open Government Data Camp 2010 is now online!
A few weeks ago was the first international Open Government Data Camp in London. The event brought hundreds of people interested in open government data from around the world for two days of talks, discussions, planning and coding. You can now find videos, photos, notes and other material from the event online at:
Turin: Italian Open Data kicks off!
This post was cowritten by Friedrich Lindenberg, CKAN developer, and Stefano Costa, lead of OKF Italia. Driven by the powerful combination of late-night espresso and a room full of italian open data enthusiasts, the Italian instance of CKAN received a major push of new pacchetti dati last thursday in Turin. Most of the data sources […]
New mapping tool from European Fish Subsidy project
The folks over at Fish Subsidy (who are also behind the amazing Farm Subsidy project) have just released a new mapping tool to help people find out how €3.4 billion of European fisheries subsidies is spent: This is a great example of reusing European public data to make it easier to understand for citizens, journalists […]
New report on access to information and open government data
We’re pleased to announce that a new report on access to information and open government data is open for consultation! From the announcement: Access Info Europe and the Open Knowledge Foundation, in collaboration with the Open Society Institute Information Program, are holding a public consultation on open government data and the right of access to […]
New Zealand Government Open Access and Licensing framework
Today the New Zealand Government announced the NZGOAL framework for opening up material published by public bodies: The New Zealand Government Open Access and Licensing framework (NZGOAL) was approved by Cabinet on 5 July 2010 as government guidance for State Services agencies to follow when releasing copyright works and non-copyright material for re-use by third […]
One Information Policy for Freedom of Information and Re-use
The following guest post is from Katleen Janssen, researcher at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Law and ICT at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and member of the Open Knowledge Foundation’s Working Groups on EU Open Data and Open Government Data. In Belgium – and I can imagine this is the case in more countries – we look […]
Opening up European public sector information: two recommendations
Last week I participated in the third (and sadly final!) conference of Communia project, a European thematic network on the digital public domain. The theme of this conference was University and Cyberspace and several of the talks articulated a vision in which universities, academics, and students play a key role in creating, curating and promoting […]
OKCon 2010 Nearly Here: 24th April 2010 in London
It’s April, and in the UK the sun has, at last, been sighted! To add to the cheer, The Open Knowledge Foundation’s 5th Open Knowledge Conference (OKCon) takes place in ten days time on Saturday 24th April in London. Tickets for OKCon 2010 are selling rapidly, so for those who’d like to ensure their place […]
Ordnance Survey opens up UK mapping data!
Subsequent to the recent consultation on Ordnance Survey data and Gordon Brown’s commitment to opening up (an unspecified amount of) the data in a speech last week – today the UK’s mapping agency is releasing a significant portion of their data for free use by the public. More information is available in the following report, […]
Response to the consultation on opening access to Ordnance Survey data
The Open Source Geospatial Foundation, or OSGeo, founded in 2006 is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to support and promote the collaborative development of open geospatial technologies and data. The Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF) is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2004 and dedicated to promoting open knowledge in all its forms. What follows is […]
Open government data in Norway: mounting interest but no breakthrough yet
The following guest post is from Olav Anders Øvrebø, Assistant Professor at the University of Bergen, who recently worked on a report on open government data in Norway. A loose community is forming, slowly pushing open data higher on the agenda of Norway’s politicians and civil servants. But these developers, journalists, academics, and IT business […]
7th Communia Workshop, Luxembourg
We recently attended a workshop in Luxembourg as part of Communia, the EU policy network on the digital public domain. There was a focus on bringing together themes from previous events to make a series of policy recommendations to the European Commission (watch this space!). Below are a few notes highlighting some of the talks […]
Open data in France: the state of play
The following guest post is from Regards Citoyens, a French association of citizens with a shared interest in opening up information about the functioning of democratic institutions in France. France is lagging behind… There is no doubt about it: compared to other countries, France is definitely late in opening up its data. For a country […]
Opening up UK local spending data
Just before Christmas, the UK Government announced a new report on Making local public expenditure data public, and the development of Local Spending Reports. The report outlines government plans to publish lots more information on where UK public money is spent at local level: It is critical […] that information on public expenditure should be […]
US Government announces more open government data!
So far its been a good week for open government data (and its only Tuesday)! After yesterday’s announcement from UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, today the US Government’s Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra and Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra gave a live webcast from the Whitehouse to announce the release of the new Open Government […]
UK Government announces lots of new open data!
This morning UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced plans to open up lots more UK Government data! His speech describes plans to put much more detailed information online under open licenses in 2010. This includes: public services performance data – including on crime, hospitals and schools new transport data geospatial data from Ordnance survey (as […]
Climate Change, Climate Sceptics and Open Data
With the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen starting on Monday, it is of vital important that there is consensus on the scientific evidence about climate change, in order to inform debates about the best course of action for the international community. Sharing the same basic picture about the climate, global warming and the […]
Ordnance Survey to open up UK geospatial data
In a press release earlier this week, it was announced that there will be moves to open up geospatial data produced by the Ordnance Survey: The Prime Minister and Communities Secretary John Denham will today announce that the public will have more access to Ordnance Survey maps from next year, as part of a Government […]
Conservatives Pledge to Open 20 Most Socially Useful Datasets
Thanks to a pointer from the ever-aware Julian Todd we’re heartened to see these pledges being made at the Conservative Party Conference in the UK: Use open source software as much as possible Publish on a website details of all government spending over £25,000. [ed: great news for Where Does My Money Go] Allow the […]
Opening up e-Government in Europe: accessibility, transparency and the ‘right to reuse’
European policy analyst David Osimo recently invited me to be on the steering committee of a new ‘Open Declaration on Public Services 2.0’. The background page says: Every two years, EU Ministers gather to agree on a Ministerial Declaration on e-government, which is the main European strategic document. This is usually accompanied by an Industry […]
Australian government releases open data for MashupAustralia competition
Yesterday the Australian government announced its new MashupAustralia competition, with a prize fund of over $20,000 Australian dollars: Today the Government 2.0 Taskforce is launching its MashupAustralia contest […]. To fuel your innovative mashup juices, around 59 datasets from the Australian and State and Territory Governments have been released at data.australia.gov.au on license terms and […]
Open licensing for philanthropic foundations – “Why not?”
Harvard University’s Berkman Center, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Institute recently released a report on copyright and open licensing for private philanthropic foundations. The report examines: […] the copyright licensing policies and practices of a group of twelve private foundations. In particular, it looked at the extent […]
Opengov.se – a registry of open government data in Sweden
Opengov.se is a registry of open government data in Sweden: Opengov.se is an initiative to highlight available public datasets in Sweden. It contains a commentable catalog of government datasets, their formats and usage restrictions. It makes a note of what percentage of the datasets are fully open – i.e. material that is free for anyone […]
What do you think about open government data in Australia?
Back in June the Australian Minister for Finance announced a new Government 2.0 Taskforce. Part of the work of this new taskforce includes: increasing the openness of government through making public sector information more widely available to promote transparency, innovation and value adding to government information Paralleling recent initiatives such as the UK’s Power of […]
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