Re: Weekly Skype Discussion about Open Data

From: Daniel Laeng <daniel_at_laeng.org>
Date: Tue, 26 May 2015 23:34:57 +0400

I'd like to join in. Are you saying that the skype call is at 20:50 on
Thursday?

Some suggestions on things it would be interesting to discuss:

*1. Discovery service for Open Data*

It would be really nice (essential?) for there to be a single website
which publishes (or at least indexes) all Mauritian open data.

Reading the Open Government Data Initiatives
<http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un-dpadm/unpan050413.pdf>
(2012) document (mentioned by SM a few weeks ago), I would assume that
there should now be several government departments which have open data
available. I'm unable to find much of that data, either because I don't
know where to look, or because it hasn't actually been published.
Having a nice index would at least make that clear.

*2. Agile Style Approach*

It would be nice if we could have a unified voice advocating small steps
towards opening up data *now*, rather than a 10 year bumbling government
initiative that aims to do everything, but delivers nothing.

Specifically, although it would be wonderful to have a public API
offering fully linked data from all government data, complete with
unique IDs, I doubt anybody has the resources, desire or ability to do
this in any meaningful time frame. So, I'd rather see the focus on
delivering useful (but less perfect) data as soon as possible, then
improve the offering over time. i.e. publish raw data now, work towards
improving the data and the tech incrementally.

I have no experience in how the government here tackles open ended
projects like Open Data, and would be interested to know your experiences.

*3. Prioritise Geographic Data!*

SM mentioned this in his email to Mr Hawabhay, and I can't emphasise
enough how much I agree. Geographic data is a requirement for many web
style business, and often for making sense of raw data.

I have not seen a reliable source of map data in Mauritius, and that
seems to be a huge problem. I assume that the government maintains the
only detailed geographic data for Mauritius (maps, streets, addresses,
everything) - I think there is a strong case for publishing this.

Cheers,

Dan.


On 05/26/2015 04:33 PM, S Moonesamy wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Ish, as representative of the Linux User Group Meta, and I had a
> conversation about Open Data yesterday. I suggest using the weekly
> Skype session for this week to discuss about Open Data only.
>
> There are people who do not understand:
>
> - what Open Data means.
>
> - what can be done with Open Data.
>
> The session is not for students to learn or study. The session is for
> you to ask questions. It is an opportunity for you to explain what
> you would like to have.
>
> Please contact Shelly, Nadim, or Ish at 20:50 on Thursday if you are
> interested in participating in the discussion.
>
> Regards,
> S. Moonesamy
>
>

-- 
Daniel Laeng
Software Developer
+230 5775 1037
Received on Tue May 26 2015 - 19:35:16 PST

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