Nigel Shadbolt on the Promise and Perils of Open Government Data
Video via http://vimeo.com/26320724
Description
"The past two years have seen the emergence of a powerful new force in e-government – the arrival of Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives. Nation states, regional authorities and cities are all setting up OGD programmes. The reasons are numerous and compelling; transparency and accountability, the drive to improve public services, efficiency and the creation of social and economic value are all advanced as reasons to publish public sector information. In June 2009 we began the process of setting up data.gov.uk – in the subsequent two years the UK has put thousands of datasets online. These range from geography to spending, crime to transport data. Not only has this work produced significant and tangible benefits for the UK it has also pioneered the use of linked data approaches to OGD – a next stage in the development of the Web. This talk will examine the lessons learnt, the future for such efforts around the world and consider how these developments fit into a wider open data context. It will also consider the challenges and difficulties we are likely to encounter as conitnue this exciting work."