Open Knowledge, Open Data, Open Standards and Open

Formats

Nikesh BalamiOpen Knowledge Nepal

www.neekes.com.np

The Open Knowledge

➢ We are a global network using advocacy and technology to open up knowledge and see it used to empower citizens and organizations to drive positive change.

➢ We build tools and communities to create, use and share open knowledge - content and data that everyone can use, share and build on.

➢ We believe that by creating an open knowledge commons and developing tools and communities around this we can make a significant contribution to improving governance, research and the economy.

Working Groups (okfn.org/wg)

What do we mean by open?

“A piece of data or content is open if anyone is free to use, reuse, and redistribute it - subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and/or share-alike” - http://opendefinition.org/

What means Open Data?

Open data involves:

➢ the proactive disclosure of information;

➢ the Internet being the primary medium for such disclosure;

➢ information being made available for access and for re use free of charge and;

➢ information being made available in a machine-readable format to enable computer-based re use.

Why Open Data?

➢ Innovation, Efficiency and Transparency

➢ The Many Mind Principle - The best thing to do with your data will be thought of by someone else

➢ Fixing is Faster with Open Data - To many eyes all bugs are shallow

What Kinds?

How to Make Data Public??

1) Mandate data formats for maximal technical access

2) Provide comprehensive and appropriate formats for varied uses

3) Remove restrictions for accessing information

4) Mandate data be explicitly license - free

5) Mandate the use of unique identifiers

6) Require code sharing or publishing open source

7) Publish bulk data

8) Optimize methods of data collection

9) Mandate ongoing data publication and updates

10) Create permanent, Lasting access to data

Now Open Standards and Open Format

Open Standards allow people to share all kinds of data freely and with perfect fidelity. They prevent lock-in and other artificial barriers to interoperability, and promote choice between vendors and technology solutions. - FSFE

Why Open Standards Important?

➢ Provide you with an adaptable design

➢ Give you greater choice

➢ Make it possible for your digital services to change over time

➢ Rapid Development

➢ Leverage Existing Skills

Open Format??

An Open File Format is a published specification for storing digital data, usually maintained by a standards organization, and which can be used and implemented by anyone.

Source: Wikipedia

Note that because the various definitions of "Open Standard and Open Formats" differ in their requirements, the examples listed below may not be open by every definition.

Examples:

# Image

➢ GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)

➢ PNG

➢ SVG

➢ MNG

➢ APNG

➢ JEPG 2000

etc etc..

Examples:

# Video

➢ Dirac

➢ Matroska (MKV)

➢ Webm

➢ Theora

etc etc...

Examples:

# Audio

➢ ALAC

➢ FLAC

➢ OGG

➢ Musepack

➢ Vorbis

etc etc..

Examples:

# Text

➢ Plain Text

➢ HTML

➢ Unicode

➢ DVI

➢ LaTeX

➢ Office Open

➢ Open Document

➢ PostScript

➢ Various Subsets of PDF

➢ ePub

etc etc..

Examples:

# Archiving and Compression:

➢ 7Z

➢ Zip

➢ TAR

➢ gZip

➢ PAQ

etc etc..

Open Document Formats:

➢ Comma-Separated Values (CSV)

➢ Tab-Separated Values (TSV)

➢ Excel Spreadsheets (XLS/XLSX)

➢ Extensible Markup Language (XML)

➢ JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)

➢ Resource Description Format (RDF)

➢ RDF Site Summary (RSS Feeds)

Why All This??

Past:

Present:

Future:

This increase the value of Open Standards

The Primary goal is to make the data accessible and to create the interface or experience that makes it most useful to those who needs it.

Let's Follow:

“Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world”. - Johan Wolfgang VoGoethe

Thank You!!