Talk given at Fronteers 2015 in Amsterdam. In a world where many of our digital spaces are becoming more closed than ever, open data is a concept that is rapidly on the rise. In this talk we'll explore what open data is (and what it isn't), and why we should care about it. We'll look at how you can introduce it into your projects with regards to practical publication and consumption, and discuss some useful tools and reference points. Open data isn't just dry and technical - it gives us great scope to be creative, and throughout this talk we'll go through some of the amazing things that it has been used for globally in the hope that it will inspire you to create something amazing yourself.

1. AN INTRODUCTION
TO OPEN DATA
Sally Jenkinson - Fronteers - Amsterdam - 09.10.2015
@sjenkinson | sally@recordssoundthesame.com

2. sally@recordssoundthesame.com | @sjenkinson
Digital solutions architect & consultant
Records Sound the Same Ltd
Sally Jenkinson

4. DATA

5. OPEN DATA

6. “Big data”
@sjenkinson

7. 90% of the world’s total
data has been created
within the last 2 years
!
(IBM, 2014)
@sjenkinson

9. I ♡ DATA

10. @sjenkinson

13. @sjenkinson

14. sallyjenkinson.co.uk/labs/teatracker

15. BUT…

17. “You agree to maintain your apps
and your systems in accordance with
industry standard quality levels…”

19. DATA SHARING

21. WHAT IS OPEN DATA?

23. Open data and content can be
freely used, modified, and shared
by anyone for any purpose.
opendefinition.org

25. Re-publish
Derive new content or data
Make money by selling products
Charge a fee for access

26. Make money by selling products
Charge a fee for access

27. “We observed that often people think of
open data as a specific ‘kind’ of data –
something separate and distinct from the
data they use day-to-day in their
organisation or team – rather than a choice
about how people publish data.”
theodi.org/blog/closed-shared-open-data-whats-in-a-name

28. theodi.org/guides/publishers-guide-open-data-licensing | theodi.org/guides/reusers-guide-open-data-licensing
Public domain (CC0)
Attribution (CC-by)
Attribution & share-alike (CC-by-sa)
OPEN LICENCES FOR
CREATIVE CONTENT

29. theodi.org/guides/publishers-guide-open-data-licensing | theodi.org/guides/reusers-guide-open-data-licensing
Public domain (PDDL)
Attribution (ODC-by)
Attribution & share-alike (ODbL)
OPEN LICENCES FOR
DATABASES

30. theodi.org/guides/publishers-guide-open-data-licensing | theodi.org/guides/reusers-guide-open-data-licensing
Open Government Licence
OS Open Licence
etc
OTHER OPEN LICENCES

31. WHERE CAN I GET IT FROM?

32. wiki.dbpedia.org

34. musicbrainz.org

35. earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/search/

36. plaidplug.com

37. data.id/dataset/daftar-titik-reklame-di-dki-jakarta/resource/361ce01f-34ed-4e00-a204-6062c7b9ad64

38. web.archive.org/web/20150520175645/http://137.189.35.203/WebUI/CatDatabase/catData.html

39. vision.stanford.edu/aditya86/ImageNetDogs/

40. {"gilded":
0,"author_flair_text":"Male","author_flair_css_class":"ma
le","retrieved_on":1425124228,"ups":
3,"subreddit_id":"t5_2s30g","edited":false,"controversial
ity":
0,"parent_id":"t1_cnapn0k","subreddit":"AskMen","body":"I
can't agree with passing the blame, but I'm glad to hear
it's at least helping you with the anxiety. I went the
other direction and started taking responsibility for
everything. I had to realize that people make mistakes
including myself and it's gonna be alright. I don't have
to be shackled to my mistakes and I don't have to be
afraid of making them.
","created_utc":"1420070668","downs":0,"score":
3,"author":"TheDukeofEtown","archived":false,"distinguish
ed":null,"id":"cnasd6x","score_hidden":false,"name":"t1_c
nasd6x","link_id":"t3_2qyhmp"}
x ~1.7 billion
reddit.com/r/datasets/comments/3bxlg7/i_have_every_publicly_available_reddit_comment/

41. ♥
github.com/caesar0301/awesome-public-datasets

42. CONSUMING OPEN DATA

43. @sjenkinson

45. d3js.org

46. MORE THAN WEBSITES

48. iquantny.tumblr.com/post/92116352544/mapping-nyc-hydrant-revenue-upper-easts-19th

51. Generating value & making savings
@sjenkinson

52. +$3 trillion / year
mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/open_data_unlocking_innovation_and_performance_with_liquid_information
open data

53. Transparency
@sjenkinson

54. “…within two years chemical emissions
nationwide (at least as reported, and
presumably also in fact) had decreased
by 40 percent.
!
Some companies were launching
policies to bring their emissions down
by 90 percent, just because of the
release of previously sequestered
information.”
maban.co.uk/80

56. DATA & USER EXPERIENCES

57. “How far do you live from your
workplace? Chances are, you'd answer
that question in minutes rather than
miles.
!
An hour on the bus tells us a lot more than
47 miles. That's why we made
Mapumental.
!
Given any start point or destination, it'll
show everywhere within the chosen
commute time, by public transport.”
mapumental.com/services/travel-time

58. “How accessible is your nearest school, post
office, or GP’s surgery?
!
In Wales, that’s not always a simple question: the
country’s mountainous landscapes, rural
populations, and sometimes infrequent bus
services can mean that those without cars are
rather cut off from public service provision.”
mapumental.com/services/accessibility

59. “Just how quickly could fire engines reach
a given postcode in case of a fire?
!
It’s a question that’s pivotal to decisions
made by both the emergency services and
the insurance industry.”
mysociety.org/2013/04/22/fire-fire-mapumental-and-fire-engine-journey-times

60. Improved efficiency
Improved effectiveness
Impact measurement
@sjenkinson

61. Improved or new private products or
services & innovation
@sjenkinson

62. NOT JUST DIGITAL

63. opensensors.io

64. DOUG MCCUNE
dougmccune.com

69. STEFANIE POSAVEC
stefanieposavec.co.uk

70. “Air Transformed is a series of
wearable data objects that communicate
this physical burden in different ways.
Though seemingly decorative, they are
based entirely on open air quality data
from Sheffield, UK, a former steelmaking
city and notorious for its bad air.”
stefanieposavec.co.uk/data/#/airtransformed

74. Participation & self-empowerment
@sjenkinson

75. LINKED DATA

76. New knowledge from combined
data sources and patterns in large
data volumes
@sjenkinson

81. Misrepresentation

83. tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations

84. tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations

85. Combining data sets & licences
clipol.org/tools/compatibility

86. PUBLISHING OPEN DATA

87. “There are known knowns; there are things
we know we know. We also know there are
known unknowns; that is to say we know
there are some things we do not know. But
there are also unknown unknowns – the
ones we don't know we don't know.”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns

89. STEP ONE
Identification & planning
@sjenkinson

90. Clear licensing & usage information
Structure & quality
A plan for support
@sjenkinson

92. Accuracy

93. STEP TWO
Extracting & cleaning
@sjenkinson

94. Data privacy &
the individual

95. openrefine.org

96. STEP THREE
Sharing
@sjenkinson

97. FIVE STAR DATA
5stardata.info

98. ★
Make your data available on the web (in whatever format)
under an open license.
★★
Make it available as structured data
(e.g., Excel instead of image scan of a table).
★★★ Use non-proprietary formats (e.g., CSV instead of Excel).
★★★★ Use URIs to denote things, so that people can point at your data.
★★★★★ Link your data to other data to provide context.

99. OPEN DATA CERTIFICATES
certificates.theodi.org

101. IN CONCLUSION…

102. 1. Choose open data
2. Publish your data
3. Link it
4. Use standards
5. Promote freedom
6. Do some good
7. Be creative

104. @sjenkinson
!
sally@recordssoundthesame.com
!
recordssoundthesame.com
THANK YOU. Thank you to these lovely people for making their
content open:
Linking Open Data cloud diagram 2014, by Max Schmachtenberg, Christian Bizer,
Anja Jentzsch and Richard Cyganiak - lod-cloud.net
The Data Spectrum - theodi.org/data-spectrum
Doug McCune - dougmccune.com
Stefanie Posavec - stefanieposavec.co.uk
Data abstract painting - flickr.com/photos/rachubarama/2709346242
IE Market Share vs Murder Rate - imgur.com/47D7zGq
Troy Marusek - flickr.com/photos/troymars/9113025616
The Roof of Wales - flickr.com/photos/stray_croc/4743302841
Fire Wall - flickr.com/photos/epleitez/1714341218
Money - flickr.com/photos/mikephotoart/12839909303
cc - flickr.com/photos/kalexanderson/7175627336
RDF - flickr.com/photos/gertcha/8292978031
Small Parts - flickr.com/photos/oskay/2156889157/
Hydrant - flickr.com/photos/pamhule/4677109732/
Upsala Glacier Retreat - flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/10726540434/