Open Data Canada (ODC)

Hi canada.ca webmaster, Your posts are always well-timed and relevant.

To the canada.ca administrator, Your posts are always well-supported by research and data.

L'idée proposée est intéressante, mais peut-être pas autant que celle de faciliter la recherche, la consultation et la comparaison de données ouvertes issues des divers ordres de gouvernement... à l'échelle de la planète, dans le respect des langues nationales et régionales.

I think there is a troubling degree of hype associated with so-called open data initiatives. It's simple enough for governments to put out all sorts of datasets in the name of "openness", but it strikes me as a fundamentally empty gesture. I'm much more interested in how "open data" can enable "open government", ie genuine openness and transparency in government. There is huge potential here to empower the democratic process and i'm surprised at how little discussion there is along these lines. As already mentioned above, a key issue related to this is the government's muzzling of scientists and their research. In the face of alarming developments such as this, the entire open data initiative rings extremely hollow.

I fail to see the confusion here, All data within the federal/ provincial gov bodies is bought and paid for by the people it represents. It belongs to the people of Canada. There should be a common avenue that is known and well documented to get any information deemed (public) by the people of Canada. Granted -- Their are security considerations that need to be taken into account on certain levels of information. but this data should sir-come to any viable request made for the information. sir/mam dg jones I agree with your statement. But -- data in its raw form through interpretation may be misinterpreted, manipulated (see your local news paper, tv, social media). Best scenario: The data that one can use in its raw form that is open to all Canadians. Common format xml, json, ymal etc... (absolutely nothing vendor specific) In accompaniment should be Standard Library Documentation. And its interpretation with clear concise methods on how this interpretation was calculated/brought to bear If available, any third party's interpretation Re: Mohsen Shamsi,Stacy D. What's the old adage? Garbage in, garbage out. Just think of it as being able to scrutinize the people we pay to deliver a service--- (Personally I think this is a long time in coming.) Imagine if you delivered such a product (once we finished laughing at you, you'd be scrambling to rectify the issue then convince your superior that you have a handle on the situation). As for the criers I know there are problems, you know there are problems. But blaming this or that is not the solution... Be Canadian. For the countless men and women who gave up so much so you may have the opportunity to do something about what's not right, to have the freedom to invoke change where change is due, to not be oppressed in body, mind nor soul. Be Canadian. Do... Soyez canadien. Pour les innombrables hommes et femmes qui ont donné tant et si bien afin que vous puissiez avoir l'occasion de faire quelque chose à propos de ce qui est pas juste, d'avoir la liberté d'invoquer le changement où le changement est exigé, afin de ne pas être opprimé dans le corps, l'esprit, ni l'âme. Soyez canadien. Passez à l'action...

Canadians don't want "access to data." They want access to information so they can be better informed and make better decisions. Government has the same need, despite what the Clerk of the PC says.

Could pairing up with an engine like: www.wolframalpha.com not allow data to become useful information very simply? It is at a perfect level for the public to interact, and the way they render data is very informative. Plus, I'm certain they would jump on the opportunity to work with government. Wish this discussion had social login tools. Were talking about being advanced and we can't even be up to date. Maybe I missed something, I didn't spend more than 5 minutes trying to make an account to contribute. Like most people, my attention span is short. You don't want to lose a chunk of your audience due to poor planning.

iii. As a developer who participated in the CODE programming contest, I believe that data provided by ODC is not perfect by any means and needs to be refined a lot.

ii. One of the models that I really like and I thinks works very well in practice is the http://stackexchange.com/ model. The same model can be used for a Q/A like website to discuss the results of the previous step that I described.

i. Supporting raw data accessible to everyone is not enough or so useful at all. Data needs to be processed to become useful. An essential part of the model is the ability to query, aggregate and visualize the data by users (public). What I have in mind is a simple but comprehensive web interface that enables the users to generate aggregate data and charts from the open data. This is important because: 1) Most people do not have technical expertise, computational resources, time, money or energy to use complicated development tools. 2) The process of generating the aggregate data will be verifiable by public. This is not necessarily true if someone uses any other aggregation tools.

Basic, but I believe essential: To document every new official project or action is the first step. With IT we started saving all data, so, losing control of the essential. IM has to become part of every project since start and orient its data collection. Technology alone is not the answer. We have to invest in IM people, qualification and participation in business processes.

It's a bit of a sham when a site about open government has to have moderators approve all the comments - how do we know you're not just censoring anything close to disagreeing that the current government is in no way open at all?

Open data is an important step, but after that? What specific support will be provided to organizations who want to analyze or present the data in some way? A variety of measures can be anticipated. Priorities may be useful, such as certain themes or subjects. It may be useful to distinguish between profit and not for profit organizations. Potential measures could be grants for projects, or matching funds. Seed projects will be important to allow people to understand what open data is all about.

Establish government programs that promote the usability, accessibility, and innovation with the given open data sets. Integrate the new, innovative applications being produced regarding the open data into data.gc.ca. Keep the data more rigorously complete and up-to-date, while optimising the format for usability in software and data models. Optimise searching in data.gc.ca to be more contextually organised. One such example would be through the use of tags (e.g. 'law', or 'mining').

Make the data accessible, both for humans and machines alike. Think API's as well as platforms to help visualize and utilize the data in ways that make it useful. @rUv

Gov of Canada to take lead and fund establishment of common purpose open data sets, standards, and platform. Key areas could be a national GIS platform, citizen registry, and employment openings /data.