UKGov Open Standards

Peter Winstanleypeter.winstanley@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

#OKFN Glasgow 2013-08-27

A standard based on the way things are – de factohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2scissors-clean.jpg

A standard based on a regulation – de jurehttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Drive-on-the-left-kent-1b.jpg

“A standard on the shop is not licensed to be copied or shared,…”

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Standard as overhead, not as enabler

Are ISO 2602:1980 compliant ? Only 50 Swiss Francs for the PDF

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-standards-principles/open-standards-principles

“Government IT must be open - open to the people and organisations that use our services and open to any provider, regardless of their size. “

“The publication of the Open Standards Principles is a fundamental step towards achieving a level playing field for open source and proprietary software and breaking our IT into smaller, more manageable components. “

http://standards.data.gov.uk/open-standards-engagement-process

What the Board will do1. consider open standards recommendations that relate to software

interoperability, data and document formats for use within government

2. make decisions on whether standards recommendations :• meet user need and business outcomes• enable a level playing field for open source and proprietary

software • are implementable, mature and supported by the market • are adequately researched, impact of adoption is understood• support open data • aligned with the Open Standards Principles

3. consider whether a recommended standard should be adopted and/or made compulsory across government.

4. influence the work of standards developers to avoid the creation of standards where there is no unique need.

Based on http://standards.data.gov.uk/meeting/open-standards-board-terms-reference

http://standards.data.gov.uk/

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/idabc-camss/images/9/9c/CAMSS_-_High-Level_Process.jpg

The CAMSS Process – a high level view

Common Assessment Method for Standards and Specifications (CAMSS)

Assessment Criteria

Applicability

Openness & Rights

Maturity

Potential

Market Support

Some Examples

Challenge: Describing and sharing our information

If the Government is to make maximum use of the information we hold we must be able to find it, share it responsibly, trust it, know what we publish and allow users to locate and consume that information.

We require rules to make sure we describe our information in a standardised way to support sharing and re-use, and to enable us to understand the information created by others.

http://standards.data.gov.uk/challenge/describing-and-sharing-our-information

Challenge: Persistent resolvable identifiers

Data re-users want to be able to identify things using identifiers that continue to mean the same thing over time, and that can be used to find out information about those things, so that they can easily understand and combine data from different sources about the same thing.

Government currently uses a lot of codes and identifiers that can be opaque to people who want to understand the information government produces (including government itself).

http://standards.data.gov.uk/challenge/persistent-resolvable-identifiers

Thank You