This article is written by Paul Connor, Executive Director of the Canadian Open Data Society.

  • The problem: Open data has enormous potential to transform society, yet its true potential is untapped.
  • Why it matters: Utilising open data effectively can lead to more prosperous and empowered societies.
  • The solution: Anyone who can grasp and share a vision of open data’s possibilities to play a part in championing its cause.

Open data is the idea that a lot of data should, in the public interest, be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control (Wikipedia). Alternatively, open data is defined as structured data that is machine-readable, freely shared, used and built on without restrictions (government of Canada). In this two-part series, I will first discuss the history and principles of open data, and in the second article, the reasons for open data, its limits and its potential.

The history of open data

‘Open science data’ started in 1957-58, the International Geophysical Year in which Sputnik I was launched. It was built on the idea that scientific research should be free to all, popularised by Robert King Merton in the 1940s.

‘Open data’ as a distinct term first appeared in 1995, in an American agency’s report about geophysical and environmental data disclosure. They wanted a complete and open exchange of scientific information between nations, for better analysis and understanding of such global phenomena. To quote the authors: “Our atmosphere, oceans and biosphere form an integrated whole that transcends borders.”

Laws mandating the release of open data have been passed... And this is just the beginning.

Then in 2007, in Sebastopol, California, a group of thought leaders gathered to discuss and define the concept of open public data. Consequently, on his first day in office in 2009, US President Barack Obama signed the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government. And that was the beginning of data.gov, the United States government’s vast open data portal.

In 2011, the Open Government Partnership launched, growing to 77 national and 20 local members today. These governments share best practices and implicitly challenge one another to uphold and expand the scope of open government principles which include the publishing of open data on a broad scale.

Since then national and international communities have developed around the practice of open data, hosting events such as the Canadian Open Data Summits, the GO Open Data Conferences and the International Open Data Conferences; and starting NGOs like the Open Data Institute, the Open Data Charter, the Canadian Open Data Society, and the Global Data Barometer. Laws mandating the release of open data have been passed, such as by the government of Ontario with respect to the 444 municipalities, conservation authorities and universities under it. And this is just the beginning.

The 10 principles of open data

To truly be considered open, published data must generally adhere to ten principles for the sake of comprehensiveness, accountability, utility, accessibility, usability, universality and barrier-free access. These principles, enunciated by the government of Canada, are as follows:

  1. Completeness: Datasets should be as complete as possible, reflecting all of what is recorded about a particular subject.
  2. Primacy: Datasets should come from / link to the entity that collected it.
  3. Timeliness: Datasets released should be made available to the public in a timely fashion. Whenever feasible, as quickly as it is gathered and collected.
  4. Ease of physical and electronic access: Datasets released should be as accessible as possible.
  5. Machine readability: Machines can handle certain kinds of inputs much better than others. Datasets should be stored in widely-used file formats that are easily machine processed (e.g. CSV, XML).
  6. Non-discrimination: Non-discriminatory access should enable any person to access the data at any time without identification or justification needed.
  7. Use of commonly owned standards: You should not have to pay to read the file format, that format should be based on open standards.
  8. Licensing: The conditions attached to the data should be designed to increase openness and minimise restrictions on the use of the data.
  9. Permanence: Being able to find information over time is permanence. For best use by all, information published online should remain online.
  10. Usage costs: The government of Canada releases data on the Open Government site free of charge.

In the second part of this series, I will explore the limitations and possibilities of open data.

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