68 What is Open Data?
Previous Lesson
Lesson 4 of 16
The Open Knowledge Foundation (n.d.) describes open data as: data that is accessible, usable, and freely shared.
Open data can be re-used, recombined, and redistributed by anyone. It may be subject to a requirement to give attribution and/or to share under the same terms (e.g., use the same CC license as the original).
The Government of Canada (2020) outlines three key aspects to remember, which are related to open data:
- Availability and access: the data must be available as a whole and at no more than a reasonable reproduction cost, preferably by downloading over the internet. The data must also be available in a convenient and modifiable form.
- Re-use and redistribution: the data must be provided under terms that permit re-use and redistribution including the intermixing with other datasets.
- Universal participation: everyone must be able to use, re-use and redistribute. There should be no discrimination against fields of endeavour or against persons or groups. For example, ‘non-commercial’ restrictions that would prevent ‘commercial’ use, or restrictions of use for certain purposes (e.g. only in education), are not allowed. (Government of Canada, 2020, n.p.).
It is important to note that not all data can be made fully open. There may be ethical, legal, or other compliance reasons not to do so. For example, if you are working with a community or industry partner, they may retain ownership and control of the data. Sensitive data also may be held securely in a repository and made available only upon request to researchers who meet the necessary requirements to be granted access. Module 2 reviewed considerations for sharing data collected from human participants.
