open data - Page number 7

When I was approached nearly five years ago now and asked to put together an edited work on how libraries can use mashups to improve services, I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed that the topic wasn't going to be open source software instead. Before the ink had even dried on my mashups book though I was offered the opportunity I wanted, a book on open source software for libraries. Now when I'm asked to speak at conferences and events the topic of interest is either open source or mashups, but never both. While there are of course differences in these two types of technologies, there are also similarities. » Read more

So much took place in the realm of open source public policy this year, that there was plenty to write about.  Some of the government channel's first posts were about the U.S. Department of Defense's clarifications on the procurement of open source software, Forge.mil's project to bring together software developers and military leaders to create and share software, and the IIPA's recommendation that the U.S. blacklist certain countries that use open source.

But opensource.com and the government channel isn't just about software being used by governments.  It's about » Read more

Recognizing the role of open source and open standards in innovation, the European Commission released yesterday its long-awaited “European Interoperability Framework.” This official policy (the “EIF”) » Read more

Last week, an article in the Wall Street Journal talked about the Open Data Partnership, which “will allow consumers to edit the interests, demographics and other profile information collected about them. It also will allow people to choose to not be tracked at all.” The article goes on to discuss data mining and privacy issues, which are hot topics in today’s digital world, where we all wonder just how much of our personal data is out there and how it’s being used. » Read more

A few weeks ago, after a happy hour in Rome, people started spontaneously to share links on Italian open data and tools to crunch them with. With a few others, I thought it would be nice to collect these links in one place, a sort of one stop shop for people interested in transparency not just in theory, but in the practice of extracting information from public data. » Read more

"As a city that values openness and innovation, Portland is proud to host GOSCON this year." - Mayor Sam Adams

Editors' Note: This article was originally posted on the GOSCON (Government Open Source Conference) website » Read more

Facebook has been the proverbial talk of the town lately. From the new film about the creator, Mark Zuckerberg, and his company's rise to fame, the incredible donation given by Zuckerberg to public schools in Newark, all the way to concerns over privacy issues regarding user accounts on Facebook itself. » Read more

The Open World Forum began this morning in Paris with several keynotes that were universally optimistic about the future of open source and the importance of openness.

Jean-Louis Missika, the deputy mayor of Paris in charge of research, innovation and universities, gave his vision of a more democratic world where information is shared more freely. He spoke at length about how openness and open innovation are changing the city of Paris. » Read more

When the open source way starts finding its way to the likes of the pharmaceutical industry, it turns a few heads. A combination of free access and open data has started changing the medical research model, beginning with drug companies collaborating on research for Alzheimer's disease.

Dana Blankenhorn from ZDNet was dead on when he said » Read more

The following article is largely based on a talk by Andy Pethan and Colin Zwiebel, "State of Open Data in Education," at the LinuxCon 2010 education mini-summit.

What happens when you open data?

Six months ago, the MTA in New York released a dataset under GTFS, a format for transporation timetables. Timetables themselves aren't very interesting. What is interesting is what you can do with the data. » Read more