From:
Julian Carver
Date:
2009 Jun 18 11:38 NZST
Short link
Forwarding this message from Isabella at MoRST about an environmental
metadata repository initiative they're about to launch soon.
Not sure how this and opengovt.org.nz/cat/ can synchronize/collaborate/work
together with this in some way, but I'll follow up with her on this.
MoRST have really gotten this data sharing stuff (it's even in their
Statement of Intent this year):
http://www.morst.govt.nz/publications/corporate-reports/soi/SoI-2009-2012/
"Technological advances are changing the way science itself is carried out.
We advise on the new
data management and infrastructure needs required to keep New Zealand RS&T
in pace with global
developments."
"Improve environmental data-sharing among research organisations and
government by encouraging the
adoption of best practice for data access and management."
Julian
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <email obscured>>
Date: Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 10:36 AM
Subject: [dataversity public discussion] "Free" data
To: <email obscured>
Morning gentlemen!
Jim - thanks for the lead-in - and of course I am not grumbling into my
beard about the little poniards therein!
I am delighted to inform you all that the NZGO and MoRST's live geospatial
and environmental data inventory is (a) scheduled to be finished by
mid-August, and (b) will be a "yellow pages" for data.
There seems to be surprisingly persistent confusion that the NZGO / MoRST
service is going to be a portal that provides access to data.
It's not.
(At least initially.)
It's a catalogue only - providing metadata - a Yellow Pages for datasets.
I guess people keep thinking it's going to be a portal because that's what
people *want* -but we're not being that ambitious!
I completely agree that an all-singing, all-dancing web service that
provides beautifully standardised metadata and one-click access to New
Zealand's large and diverse data bodies is the Holy Grail. (National
One-Land, anyone? Jim?) *However* what NZGO and MoRST are providing is a
web-based *metadata catalogue*, as we saw an overlap in what our agencies
wanted and an opportunity to be a bit joined-up in government.
Here are the specifications for the service that we're providing to the
web-builder:
(a) provide - as a minimum - basic discovery metadata, ANZLIC-consistent,
plus full contact details for the dataset-holder
(b) where a dataset is available online, have any and all links to click on
to access it
(c) be searchable by tags and a by basic spatial reference
(d) have a comments / feedback facility for every metatdata page
(e) two choices for submitting metadata: either filling in a basic set of
ANZLIC-derived fields, or uploading a full XML file from the ANZLIC metadata
tool you've got on your PC - which presumably will also make it possible to
get metadata from the federated sources you mention, Jerry.
We want it to be sufficiently simple that (for example) councils can submit
as much metadata on their datasets as they can, which will let prospective
users know whether they want to get access to it, plus contact details so
they can then contact the data-holder. This will apparently be sufficient
to let researchers know about many of the smaller and lower-profile datasets
that are out there, and while it leaves the whole issue of access aside as a
different (and much more complicated) kettle of fish, apparently this will
be a significant improvement on what we've got. If it's reasonably
well-used (see below) it will also provide central government bods with a
good case for getting it more funding and expanding it to do more of the
things we want.
MoRST and the NZGO are sharply aware (not least because knowledgeable people
keep reminding us) that this service will be but a small step towards the
coordinated and integrated and standardised service that New Zealand's
data-using and data-providing communities need.
We're also aware that even this limited Yellow Pages facility will die in
the water without (firstly) a major promotion and publicity effort just to
make people aware it exists, and (secondly) ongoing facilitation that makes
it seem interesting and engaging for prospective users. There's no funding
for this stuff yet, just for building the web-service, but we know this is
essential to make it work so we're planning this as we speak.
Any questions, drop me a line.
-----------------------------------------
Full text of this topic in Dataversity Public Discussion:
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From:
Mike Pearson
Date:
2009 Jun 18 12:05 NZST
Short link
Danger Will Robinson! Warning, Warning.
This model of build a repository and get people to populate it, was tried
for the NZ government portal, which was a services link repository.
Portal v1: The lessons learnt were: agencies dont have any incentive to
enter data a 2nd time. They often do a minimal job of tagging/describing,
often not from the customer view point. Agencies bear the cost of double
entry. Scaleable.
Portal v2: The next thing tried, was to centralise the data entry, to create
a standard. But then agencies had no incentive to talk to the data entry
people. Expensive, a single central agency bears the cost of double entry.
Not scaleable.
Portal v3: The NZ govt portal now uses a public search index built from the
original agency web pages, overlaying it with some Vivisimo smarts about
clustering. Cheaper and fully automated. Scaleable.
When microformats started gaining popularity in 2006, I started promoting
the following concept:
- To what degree are your website pages usable by people or machines?
- Appropriately marked up HTML pages, designed for people first and
machines second, make information more accessible.
- Government web pages are not brochure ware, they are well-assembled
data structures for information exchange.
Matthew Ross's work about a semantic web publishing standard, builds on that
concept. Potentially agencies using a good CMS can publish a web page, with
sufficient meta data to allow anyone to build a "virtual" data repository on
the fly.
Mike
On Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 11:38 AM, Julian Carver <
<email obscured>> wrote:
> Forwarding this message from Isabella at MoRST about an environmental
metadata
> repository initiative they're about to launch soon.
> Not sure how this and opengovt.org.nz/cat/ can
> synchronize/collaborate/work
> together with this in some way, but I'll follow up with her on this.
>
> MoRST have really gotten this data sharing stuff (it's even in their
> Statement of Intent this year):
> http://www.morst.govt.nz/publications/corporate-reports/soi/SoI-2009-2012/
>
> "Technological advances are changing the way science itself is carried out.
> We advise on the new
> data management and infrastructure needs required to keep New Zealand RS&T
> in pace with global
> developments."
>
> "Improve environmental data-sharing among research organisations and
> government by encouraging the
> adoption of best practice for data access and management."
>
>
> Julian
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: <email obscured>>
> Date: Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 10:36 AM
> Subject: [dataversity public discussion] "Free" data
> To: <email obscured>
>
>
> Morning gentlemen!
>
> Jim - thanks for the lead-in - and of course I am not grumbling into my
> beard about the little poniards therein!
>
> I am delighted to inform you all that the NZGO and MoRST's live geospatial
> and environmental data inventory is (a) scheduled to be finished by
> mid-August, and (b) will be a "yellow pages" for data.
>
> There seems to be surprisingly persistent confusion that the NZGO / MoRST
> service is going to be a portal that provides access to data.
>
> It's not.
> (At least initially.)
> It's a catalogue only - providing metadata - a Yellow Pages for datasets.
> I guess people keep thinking it's going to be a portal because that's what
> people *want* -but we're not being that ambitious!
>
> I completely agree that an all-singing, all-dancing web service that
> provides beautifully standardised metadata and one-click access to New
> Zealand's large and diverse data bodies is the Holy Grail. (National
> One-Land, anyone? Jim?) *However* what NZGO and MoRST are providing is a
> web-based *metadata catalogue*, as we saw an overlap in what our agencies
> wanted and an opportunity to be a bit joined-up in government.
>
> Here are the specifications for the service that we're providing to the
> web-builder:
> (a) provide - as a minimum - basic discovery metadata, ANZLIC-consistent,
> plus full contact details for the dataset-holder
>
> (b) where a dataset is available online, have any and all links to click on
> to access it
> (c) be searchable by tags and a by basic spatial reference
> (d) have a comments / feedback facility for every metatdata page
> (e) two choices for submitting metadata: either filling in a basic set of
> ANZLIC-derived fields, or uploading a full XML file from the ANZLIC
> metadata
> tool you've got on your PC - which presumably will also make it possible to
> get metadata from the federated sources you mention, Jerry.
>
> We want it to be sufficiently simple that (for example) councils can submit
> as much metadata on their datasets as they can, which will let prospective
> users know whether they want to get access to it, plus contact details so
> they can then contact the data-holder. This will apparently be sufficient
> to let researchers know about many of the smaller and lower-profile
> datasets
> that are out there, and while it leaves the whole issue of access aside as
> a
> different (and much more complicated) kettle of fish, apparently this will
> be a significant improvement on what we've got. If it's reasonably
> well-used (see below) it will also provide central government bods with a
> good case for getting it more funding and expanding it to do more of the
> things we want.
>
> MoRST and the NZGO are sharply aware (not least because knowledgeable
> people
> keep reminding us) that this service will be but a small step towards the
> coordinated and integrated and standardised service that New Zealand's
> data-using and data-providing communities need.
>
> We're also aware that even this limited Yellow Pages facility will die in
> the water without (firstly) a major promotion and publicity effort just to
> make people aware it exists, and (secondly) ongoing facilitation that makes
> it seem interesting and engaging for prospective users. There's no funding
> for this stuff yet, just for building the web-service, but we know this is
> essential to make it work so we're planning this as we speak.
>
> Any questions, drop me a line.
>
> -----------------------------------------
> Full text of this topic in Dataversity Public Discussion:
> http://dataversity.org.nz/r/topic/31TIHohlP2GJTaFgkpSafz
>
> To leave Dataversity Public Discussion, email
> <email obscured>?Subject=unsubscribe
>
> Start your own free groups and site with
> OnlineGroups.Net http://onlinegroups.net
>
> Host your own online groups site with
> GroupServer http://groupserver.org
>
> -----------------------------------------
> Full text of this topic in The Open Government Ninjas:
> https://groups.opengovt.org.nz/r/topic/6EWfvzH2Mr0G9yiId7Vvms
>
> To leave The Open Government Ninjas, email
> <email obscured>?Subject=unsubscribe
>
> Start your own free groups and site with
> OnlineGroups.Net http://onlinegroups.net
>
> Host your own online groups site with
> GroupServer http://groupserver.org
>
>
--
Mike Pearson
mobile: +64 (21) 631 731
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikepearsonnz
From:
Glen Barnes
Date:
2009 Jun 18 14:43 NZST
Short link
As long as their catalogue can be published in a machine readable
format we should be fine. It looks as though their goals are similar
to ours in that we want this to be a jumping off point to the real data.
Glen
On 18/06/2009, at 11:38 AM, Julian Carver wrote:
> Forwarding this message from Isabella at MoRST about an environmental
> metadata repository initiative they're about to launch soon.
> Not sure how this and opengovt.org.nz/cat/ can synchronize/
> collaborate/work
> together with this in some way, but I'll follow up with her on this.
>
> MoRST have really gotten this data sharing stuff (it's even in their
> Statement of Intent this year):
> http://www.morst.govt.nz/publications/corporate-reports/soi/SoI-2009-2012/
>
> "Technological advances are changing the way science itself is
> carried out.
> We advise on the new
> data management and infrastructure needs required to keep New
> Zealand RS&T
> in pace with global
> developments."
>
> "Improve environmental data-sharing among research organisations and
> government by encouraging the
> adoption of best practice for data access and management."
>
>
> Julian
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: <email obscured>>
> Date: Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 10:36 AM
> Subject: [dataversity public discussion] "Free" data
> To: <email obscured>
>
>
> Morning gentlemen!
>
> Jim - thanks for the lead-in - and of course I am not grumbling into
> my
> beard about the little poniards therein!
>
> I am delighted to inform you all that the NZGO and MoRST's live
> geospatial
> and environmental data inventory is (a) scheduled to be finished by
> mid-August, and (b) will be a "yellow pages" for data.
>
> There seems to be surprisingly persistent confusion that the NZGO /
> MoRST
> service is going to be a portal that provides access to data.
>
> It's not.
> (At least initially.)
> It's a catalogue only - providing metadata - a Yellow Pages for
> datasets.
> I guess people keep thinking it's going to be a portal because
> that's what
> people *want* -but we're not being that ambitious!
>
> I completely agree that an all-singing, all-dancing web service that
> provides beautifully standardised metadata and one-click access to New
> Zealand's large and diverse data bodies is the Holy Grail. (National
> One-Land, anyone? Jim?) *However* what NZGO and MoRST are providing
> is a
> web-based *metadata catalogue*, as we saw an overlap in what our
> agencies
> wanted and an opportunity to be a bit joined-up in government.
>
> Here are the specifications for the service that we're providing to
> the
> web-builder:
> (a) provide - as a minimum - basic discovery metadata, ANZLIC-
> consistent,
> plus full contact details for the dataset-holder
>
> (b) where a dataset is available online, have any and all links to
> click on
> to access it
> (c) be searchable by tags and a by basic spatial reference
> (d) have a comments / feedback facility for every metatdata page
> (e) two choices for submitting metadata: either filling in a basic
> set of
> ANZLIC-derived fields, or uploading a full XML file from the ANZLIC
> metadata
> tool you've got on your PC - which presumably will also make it
> possible to
> get metadata from the federated sources you mention, Jerry.
>
> We want it to be sufficiently simple that (for example) councils can
> submit
> as much metadata on their datasets as they can, which will let
> prospective
> users know whether they want to get access to it, plus contact
> details so
> they can then contact the data-holder. This will apparently be
> sufficient
> to let researchers know about many of the smaller and lower-profile
> datasets
> that are out there, and while it leaves the whole issue of access
> aside as a
> different (and much more complicated) kettle of fish, apparently
> this will
> be a significant improvement on what we've got. If it's reasonably
> well-used (see below) it will also provide central government bods
> with a
> good case for getting it more funding and expanding it to do more of
> the
> things we want.
>
> MoRST and the NZGO are sharply aware (not least because
> knowledgeable people
> keep reminding us) that this service will be but a small step
> towards the
> coordinated and integrated and standardised service that New Zealand's
> data-using and data-providing communities need.
>
> We're also aware that even this limited Yellow Pages facility will
> die in
> the water without (firstly) a major promotion and publicity effort
> just to
> make people aware it exists, and (secondly) ongoing facilitation
> that makes
> it seem interesting and engaging for prospective users. There's no
> funding
> for this stuff yet, just for building the web-service, but we know
> this is
> essential to make it work so we're planning this as we speak.
>
> Any questions, drop me a line.
>
> -----------------------------------------
> Full text of this topic in Dataversity Public Discussion:
> http://dataversity.org.nz/r/topic/31TIHohlP2GJTaFgkpSafz
>
> To leave Dataversity Public Discussion, email
> <email obscured>?Subject=unsubscribe
>
> Start your own free groups and site with
> OnlineGroups.Net http://onlinegroups.net
>
> Host your own online groups site with
> GroupServer http://groupserver.org
>
> -----------------------------------------
> Full text of this topic in The Open Government Ninjas:
> https://groups.opengovt.org.nz/r/topic/6EWfvzH2Mr0G9yiId7Vvms
>
> To leave The Open Government Ninjas, email
> <email obscured>?Subject=unsubscribe
>
> Start your own free groups and site with
> OnlineGroups.Net http://onlinegroups.net
>
> Host your own online groups site with
> GroupServer http://groupserver.org