Open Linked Data as Part of a Government Enterprise Architecture

Open Linked Data

A Key Element ofA Key Element ofPublic AdministrationPublic Administration

Information ManagementInformation Management

Political Mindset

Transparency Participation Collaboration

““My Administration is committed to creating anMy Administration is committed to creating anUnprecedented level of openness in Government.“Unprecedented level of openness in Government.“

Barack Obama, “Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies - Barack Obama, “Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies - Transparency and Open Government,” Jan. 2009.Transparency and Open Government,” Jan. 2009.

“Take the example of public sector information – possibly a €30 billion market in Europe. I have said it before, and I say it again: yes to open data!”

Neelie KroesNeelie KroesVice-President of the European CommissionVice-President of the European Commissionresponsible for the Digital Agendaresponsible for the Digital Agenda

““Lift-Off towards Open Government" conference, Brussels, 15 December 2010Lift-Off towards Open Government" conference, Brussels, 15 December 2010http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/10/752http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/10/752

Status Quo Austria

2 Initiativen der Zivilgesellschaft: ● http://gov.opendata.at● http://www.open3.at ● http://offenedaten.at/

Überblick am Reference-Serverhttp://reference.e-government.gv.at/Open-Government-Let-the-suns.opengovernment.0.html

E-Government-Vision 2020● „Bereitstellung von ausgewählten öffentlichen Rohdaten und Mashups mit

privaten Services“ ● http://www.bka.gv.at/site/6878/default.aspx

Im Regierungsprogramm Rot/Grün Wien

Thema des Kompetenzentrums Internetgesellschaft “KIG”

Applications & State of Affairs

Open Data Catalogues

data.gov datasf.org data.edmonton.ca/ data.gov.uk data.london.gov.uk digitaliser.dk geodata.gov.gr data.suomi.fi

data.worldbank.org/data-catalog

www.undata-api.org/wiki/datasets

gov.opendata.at data.reegle.info OpenBelgium.be opengovdata.ru

State / Federal Private

http://www.london.gov.uk/rents/http://www.london.gov.uk/rents/

http://afterschoolsf.org/http://afterschoolsf.org/

http://achievedc.mapkist.com/http://achievedc.mapkist.com/

http://www.parkitdc.com/

http://www.nycbigmaps.com/restaurant-inspections-heatmap.php

http://ubahnaufzug.at/http://ubahnaufzug.at/

http://www.open3.at/sparpakethttp://www.open3.at/sparpaket

http://treesnearyou.com/http://treesnearyou.com/ http://www.wayfindermobile.com/http://www.wayfindermobile.com/ http://www.cabsense.com/http://www.cabsense.com/

Why Open Data? More information might lead to more informed

and better decisions Higher degree of effectiveness & efficiency

● P. Weiss, "Borders in Cyberspace: Conflicting Public Sector Information Policies and their Economic Impacts," ed: U.S. Department of Commerce, 2004.

Strengthen trust in establishment● R. Marcella and G. Baxter, "Information need, information seeking behaviour and participation, with special reference to

needs related to citizenship: results of a national survey," Journal of Documentation, vol. 56, pp. 136-160, 2002.

Leverage benefits of peer production New business models “Peoples right to know”

Benefits for Citizens

Execution of controlling rights by the citizens Self-Determination Communication on equal information level Better Services – better Governance – better

Regulation

Drawbacks

Administration:Loss of control & power – undermining the statutory supremacy

Business: Loss of money by threatening established business models

Society: Discrimination by stigmatisation “The unknown” considered harmful

Challenges Beneficial for many but drawbacks for some others

● eg. changing value of real estate by transparency Media Literacy - “Data divide”

● Data journalism as a new role for the endangered traditional media

Access vs. effective use● Theoretical benefit – real utility

Beneficial for larger & educated states● Anyone for “Apps for Liechtenstein”? - “Apps for Somalia”?

Background image attribution http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SBB-CFF.JPG

Open Government DataDefinitions & Principles

Open Government Data

Open Government Data are data sets released by the government on public interest. Usage is unconstrained with the right to re-share and re-purpose

without further notice.

Explained Released by the government Data is following the open data principles Always non-personal Beneficiaries rights are regulated by

meaningful licences Usage is unconstrained Business usage is welcomed

Open Data Principles Complete Primary Timely Easily Accessible Machine Processable Non-Discriminating Using Open Standards Liberal Licencing Reliable Free of Charge OR Non-Discriminating fees

von Lucke and C.P. Geiger, “Open Government Data - Frei verfügbare Daten des öffentlichen Sektors,” Dec. 2010.

Open Government Data

Element of Public Administration Information Management

Information Management (EN)

Collection and management of information

Organization of and control over the structure, processing and delivery of information

Informationsmanagement (DE) Beschaffung und Bereitstellung von Information Planung, Beschaffung und Bereitstellung der

dafür erforderlichen Informations- und IT-Infrastruktur und notwendiger, personeller Ressourcen● Informationsmanagement wird in der

deutschsprachigen Literatur überwiegend als Informationsgenerierung und Informationsbeschaffung behandelt

Literature Research

[1] J. White, Managing information in the public sector, Armonk N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2007.[2] C.M. Shea and G.D. Garson, Handbook of public information systems, Taylor & Francis Group, 2010.[3] B. Rocheleau, Public management information systems, Hershey PA: Idea Group Pub., 2006.

Peculiarities of Public Sector Information Management

Functional discrepancies● Private: Maximizing shareholder value● Public: Loss-making public transport

Conflicting targets, perceptions and interests in public & private sector information management● Risk, Accountability, Representativeness, Stakeholders, Openness;

Information management performance measure models complex due to conflicting targets

BUT: Literature recognizes information as a critical resource Conclusion: Information out-flow shall be treated as a core

element of public sector information management

B. Bozeman and S. Bretschneider, “Public management information systems: Theory and prescription,” Public Administration Review, vol. 46, 1986, pp. 475–487.

Information is a critical resource

Information flow is not considered to be bi-directional

Current literature does not describe an open data architecture model

Literature Review - Result

Open Government Data

Architecture Model

Architecture Model

Five level saturation model by Tim Berners-Lee

★ Available on the web (whatever format), but with an open licence★★ Available as machine-readable structured data (e.g. excel instead

of image scan of a table)★★★ as (2) plus non-proprietary format (e.g. CSV instead of excel)★★★★ All the above plus, Use open standards from W3C (RDF and SPARQL)

to identify things, so that people can point at your stuff★★★★★ All the above, plus: Link your data to other people’s data

to provide context

Everything gets an URI Data is encoded in RDF URIs are kept persistent by policies and PURLs Ontologies describe NON-Information Resources

● Data entities are self-described by these government ontologies

RESTFul APIs for data access Data gets federated to meta data register Data searchable à la swoogle

Architecture Model

Linking Concepts - BasicsLinking Concepts - Basics Connecting concepts across federal levels, spanning departments

Supports the automatic generation of new information

Common understanding about “things”, even across differentlanguages

Bundeshauptstadt Vienna

http://data.wien.gv.at/info.rdf

URIs for everything Naming scheme respects federal principle of

subsidiarity and autonomy http://{sector}.{federallevel}.data.gv.at/

{concept}/IDENTIFIKATION {.rdf|html}● http://bildung.krems.noe.data.gv.at/schule/4711

NON-Information resources require two additional URIs (“HttpRange-14”)● Associated information resource, eg. HTML-Page● Associated information resource as “303” resource,

eg. RDF-data

RDF Data Representation One format fits all Target representation by XSLT

transformation or (X)HTML render Plethora of public sector data in legacy or

non-conforming formats will require a transitional phase

TXT, CSV, HTML, XML are royalty free formats with strong open source backing

Trust by Reliability

Internet Addresses come and go URIs shall be reliable by organizational

consensus Fancy URIs remain invariant by means

of permanent Urls (PURL) PURLs interpretation of HTTP-Header

response values harmonize with Semantic Web Interpretation

PURL vs. SemWeb Interpretation

HTTP-Header Status Code

HTTP-Interpretation

PURL Interpretation

Semantic Web Interpretation

301 Moved permanently

Moved permanently to a target URL

302 Found Simple redirection to a target URL

303 Found See other URL A URI; likely an RDF-Document

Ontologies for Non-Information Resources (NIR)

Enable computer systems to reason about reality Automated service discovery Optimal resource allocation for processes Ontologies about NIRs classify Open Linked Data

about Information Resources (IR) SKOS as an alternative to the overly expressive OWL

for creating eg. Thesaurus of the public service portfolio

Open Data API Reduce server resources by optimal query strategy Querying data originator rather than local storage

prevents data inconsistencies Extern-facing API by means of RESTful serives

● Integrates seamlessly with web browsers● Well understood and supported standard technology● JSON serialization less verbose and more web friendly than

XML● “Simple” compared to wsdl:SOAP

Eliminates asymmetry of Open Data by enabling information in-flow

Open Government Data Register

Topic of research Do not repeat dead

end of UDDI!

C. Koumenides, M. Salvadores, H. Alani, and N. Shadbol, “Global integration of public sector information,” Raleigh, NC, USA: 2010.

Architecture (0)

data.gv.atapi.data.gv.at proxy.data.gv.at

RDF-Browser Javascript Libraries

Web Interface

1 23

URIService

DiscoveryService

0

[0] Identify an Open Data Set

Architecture (1)

data.gv.atapi.data.gv.at proxy.data.gv.at

RDF-Browser Javascript Libraries

Web Interface

1 23

URIService

DiscoveryService

0

[0] Identify an Open Data Set[1] Browse Url / Uri (eg. http://bildung.krems.noe.data.gv.at/schule/4711)

Architecture (2)

[0] Identify an Open Data Set[1] Browse Url / Uri (eg. http://bildung.krems.noe.data.gv.at/schule/4711)

[2] Transfer minimal Web Page with Javascript RDF-Browser

data.gv.atapi.data.gv.at proxy.data.gv.at

RDF-Browser Javascript Libraries

Web Interface

1 23

URIService

DiscoveryService

0

Architecture (3)

[0] Identify an Open Data Set[1] Browse Url / Uri (eg. http://bildung.krems.noe.data.gv.at/schule/4711)

[2] Transfer minimal Web Page with Javascript RDF-Browser

[3] Retrieve Data using OGD API

data.gv.atapi.data.gv.at proxy.data.gv.at

RDF-Browser Javascript Libraries

Web Interface

1 23

URIService

DiscoveryService

0

Architecture (4)

[4] Query RDF-Database

Interne Sicht

Externe Sicht

RDFDatenbank

data.gv.atapi.data.gv.at proxy.data.gv.at

RDF-Browser Javascript Libraries

Web Interface

1 23

URIService

DiscoveryService

4

0

Org 2

RDFDB

DB2

DB1

Org 3

RDFDB

4'5

Organisation

Architecture (4')

[4] Query RDF-Database[4'] Use HTTP-Proxy to Query Databases

outside Internet Domain

Interne Sicht

Externe Sicht

RDFDatenbank

data.gv.atapi.data.gv.at proxy.data.gv.at

RDF-Browser Javascript Libraries

Web Interface

13

URIService

DiscoveryService

4

0

Org 2

RDFDB

DB2

DB1

Org 3

RDFDB

4'

Organisation

Big picture

Interne Sicht

Externe Sicht

RDFDatenbank

data.gv.atapi.data.gv.at proxy.data.gv.at

RDF-Browser Javascript Libraries

Web Interface

1 23

URIService

DiscoveryService

4

0

Org 2

RDFDB

DB2

DB1

Org 3

RDFDB

45

Organisation

Next steps Identify already released data or uncritical data sets;

grab for the low hanging fruits Release as XML, CSV Create an online-catalogue of Open Data Go semantic: Enrich with meta data, create URI

infrastructure, identify open source components Extend government enterprise architecture with

Linked Data elements

Thank you – Contact

Johann Höchtl

Center for E-GovernmentDanube University Krems, Austria

johann.hoechtl@donau-uni.ac.at

Links and further readingPapers & Literature:C. Koumenides, M. Salvadores, H. Alani, and N. Shadbol, “Global integration of public sector information,” Raleigh, NC, USA: 2010.F. Ortiz-Rodríguez, J.C. Pelaez, and F.J. Pascual, “Semantic model approach for eGovernment to improve sharing, retrieving and exchanging documentation across back-office,” Proceedings of the 10th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research: Social Networks: Making Connections between Citizens, Data and Government, Digital Government Society of North America, 2009, pp. 319–320.S.K. Goudos, V. Peristeras, and K. Tarabanis, “Reengineering Public Administration through Semantic Technologies and a Reference Domain Ontology,” Semantic Web for eGovernment 2006, p. 25.C. Koumenides, M. Salvadores, H. Alani, and N. Shadbol, “Global integration of public sector information,” Raleigh, NC, USA: 2010.P. Salhofer, “Ontology Driven E-Government,” eGovernment Review, Jan. 2009, pp. 22-23.J. Sheridan and J. Tennison, “Linking UK government data,” Proc. of the WWW Workshop on Linked Data on the Web, 2010.D. Wood, Linking Enterprise Data, Springer, 2010.F. Servant, “Linking Enterprise Data,” CEUR Workshop Proceedings, Bejing: 2008.F. Maali, R. Cyganiak, and V. Peristeras, “Enabling Interoperability of Government Data Catalogues,” Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Lausanne, Switzerland: Springer, 2010, pp. 339-350.P.N. Weiss, “Borders in Cyberspace: Conflicting Public Sector Information Policies and their Economic Impacts,” Public sector information in the digital age: between markets, public management and citizens' rights, 2004, p. 137.E. Hornes, A. Jansen, and Ø. Langeland, “How to Develop an Open and Flexible Information Infrastructure for the Public Sector,” Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Lausanne, Switzerland: Springer, 2010, pp. 301-314.. von Lucke and C.P. Geiger, “Open Government Data - Frei verfügbare Daten des öffentlichen Sektors,” Dec. 2010.

Web Links:Empowering the empowered: http://gurstein.wordpress.com/2010/09/02/open-data-empowering-the-empowered-or-effective-data-use-for-everyone/Cool URIs for the semantic web: http://www.w3.org/TR/cooluris/Re-use HTTP-Header Response Codes for the Semantic Web: http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/doc/httpRange-14/2007-05-31/HttpRange-14 Licenses: http://www.opendatacommons.org/CKAN Semantic Web Software: http://ckan.org/Tabulator Library to render RDF as (X)HTML: http://semanticweb.org/wiki/TabulatorAPIs: http://open311.org/, http://www.odata.org/ http://services.sunlightlabs.com/docs/Sunlight_Congress_API/ SKOS recommendation to create thesauri: http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/ Tools and Software recommended by the W3C to deal with RDF and the Semantic Web: http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/wiki/Tools

http://gov.opendata.at/http://gov.opendata.at/

http://offener.datenkatalog.at/http://offener.datenkatalog.at/