Open Data is the idea that certain data should be freely available and accessible for everyone to use, reuse and redistribute without any restrictions. The concept has gained popularity recently due to development of the Internet and launching of big open-data government initiatives like Data.gov and Data.gov.uk. Open data is a part of Open knowledge philosophy together with similar movements like open source, open hardware, open content, open access, and open contracting.
The key features of openness are:
- availability and access
- reuse and redistribution
- universal participation
Each type of open data has its own potential uses and applications. For instance, if financial data such as government accounts (expenditure and revenue) is open, this leads to transparency of government operations. The same goes for cultural works and artefacts info, scientific research data, transport timetables, routes, on-time statistics, etc.
What ideas is open data driven by?
First of all, we need open information for a variety of social and commercial activities. To ensure development of innovative business and services data needs to be opened up. Second reason is aforementioned transparency. To support democracy and proper functioning of state structures people must have free access to all government data. They should be able to share and reuse it in order to analyze, understand and make conclusions on its basis. What is more important - being informed about governance activity is not nearly enough. Opportunity to contribute and participate in decision-making will change the way society operates.
We are joining open data initiative by supporting several projects: