LOD in Context - Challenging the Assumptions
PiLOD
29 January 2014, Amsterdam
You might have seen this
And this
| ★ | Available on the Web (whatever format) but with an open licence, to be Open Data |
| ★★ | Available as machine-readable structured data (e.g. excel instead of image scan of a table) |
| ★★★ | as (2) plus non-proprietary format (e.g. CSV instead of Excel) |
| ★★★★ | All the above plus, Use open standards from W3C (RDF and SPARQL) to identify things, so that people can point at your stuff |
| ★★★★★ | All the above, plus: Link your data to other people’s data to provide context |
Originally developed by Tim Berners-Lee
Yes. But …
Study on business models for Linked Open Government Data
(BM4LOGD)
Phil Archer, W3C; Makx Dekkers, AMI Consult; Stijn Goedertier, Nikolaos Loutas, PwC EU Services.
Assumptions
- 5 star data is worth more than lower starred data → applications that use it are worth more;
- 5 star data is worth more than lower starred data → more applications will use it;
- 5 star data is worth more than lower starred data → we should do this for the good of everyone;
- 5 star data is what developers prefer.
Case Studies
- AT – Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP)
- DE – German National Library (DNB)
- EU – Europeana
- EU – European Commission Directorate-General for Health and Consumers
- EU – European Environment Agency (EEA)
- EU – Publications Office of the European Union
- IT – Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale
- UK – BBC
- UK – Companies House
- UK – Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
- UK – National Archives
- UK – OpenCorporates
- UK – Ordnance Survey
- UN – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Questions
- What did it cost to make it available as 5 star data?
- Who uses your data?
- Can you please put us in touch with users of your data?
- What are the benefits of the approach?
Questions
- What did it cost to make it available as 5 star data?
- Hard/impossible to split out cost of LD from other costs
- Who uses your data?
- Can you please put us in touch with users of your data?
- What are the benefits of the approach?
Questions
- What did it cost to make it available as 5 star data?
- Hard/impossible to split out cost of LD from other costs
- Who uses your data?
- Don't know, it's not why we do it, but server logs suggest traffic is increasing.
- Can you please put us in touch with users of your data?
- What are the benefits of the approach?
Questions
- What did it cost to make it available as 5 star data?
- Hard/impossible to split out cost of LD from other costs
- Who uses your data?
- Don't know, it's not why we do it, but server logs suggest traffic is increasing.
- Most people who use the data download a copy rather then use the SPARQL endpoint.
- Can you please put us in touch with users of your data?
- What are the benefits of the approach?
Questions
- What did it cost to make it available as 5 star data?
- Hard/impossible to split out cost of LD from other costs
- Who uses your data?
- Don't know, it's not why we do it, but server logs suggest traffic is increasing.
- Most people who use the data download a copy rather then use the SPARQL endpoint.
- Can you please put us in touch with users of your data?
- Ermmm …
- Lots of users of the service
- What are the benefits of the approach?
Questions
- What did it cost to make it available as 5 star data?
- Hard/impossible to split out cost of LD from other costs
- Who uses your data?
- Don't know, it's not why we do it, but server logs suggest traffic is increasing.
- Most people who use the data download a copy rather then use the SPARQL endpoint.
- Can you please put us in touch with users of your data?
- Ermmm …
- Lots of users of the service
- What are the benefits of the approach?
- Lots!
The Benefits of LOD for Government
- Flexible data integration (REEEP, FAO, EEA)
- Increase in data quality (DG SANCO, Publications Office, UK National Archives)
- New services (UK National Archives, DNB)
- Cost reduction (FAO, UK National Archives, DEFRA, BBC)
Flexible data integration
- Internal processes more streamlined, i.e. sharing data within the department
- Where working relationships already exist, much easier to share.
- Linking reference collections → discovery of new relationships
- No other technology comes close for what we want to do ourselves.
Increase in data quality
- Little in the way of crowd sourced corrections so far (often the data defines the legal status
- Use of open data internally brings errors to light → greater quality of data for all
- Use of open standards increases quality of systems
New services
- Related information about people, places and subjects; links previously obscured
- Gazettes (staatsblad) are a prime example of this
Cost reduction
- Not a reduction in cost of providing the service
- Benefit is in incrased efficiency.
- 50% increase in data useage noted by FAO due to enrichments by using LOD
- 30% improvement in services due to greater contestabiluty and portability through use of open standards.
External apps
Enablers
- Efficiency gains in data integration – the network effect
- Forward-looking strategies
- Increased linking and integrated services
- Ease of model updates
- Ease of navigation
- Open licensing and free access
- Enthusiasm from ‘champions’
- Emerging best practice guidance
Roadblocks
- Necessary investments
- Lack of necessary competencies
- Perceived lack of tools
- Lack of service level guarantees
- Missing, restrictive, or incompatible licences
- Surfeit of standard vocabularies
- The inertia of the status quo
Conclusion
★ Linked Open Data really does open new possibilities.
★★ More efficiency, better provision of the public task.
★★★ Greater flexibility leads to lower cost for future projects.
★★★★Linking authoritative data leads to new services, new discoveries.
★★★★★ Providing 5 star linked data for other people is an extra bonus you get for free.
Conclusion
★ Linked Open Data really does open new possibilities.
★★ More efficiency, better provision of the public task.
★★★ Greater flexibility leads to lower cost for future projects.
★★★★Linking authoritative data leads to new services, new discoveries.
★★★★★ Providing 5 star linked data for other people is an extra bonus you get for free.
