Tim Berners Lee (the inventor of the World Wide Web) founded the open data initiative, which is why the answer is more complicated. According to the Open Definition from the Open Data Institute: “Open data refers to information that may be used, reused and redistributed with no restrictions and is accessible at no cost.” It also notes: “Universal participation must be enabled. This means it must not exclude specific fields of endeavour, persons or organisations and does not place restrictions on commercial use, nor restrict the intermixing of data sets.”
Accessibility to the format is another important aspect in making data useful. Datasets must be stored in a format that is easily accessible, can be downloaded and processed by computer programs wp development and updated automatically when new data is published. Additionally, they should be capable of being linked so that they can provide context and allow new analyses to be carried out.
A final key element of open data initiatives that are successful is that they should be focused on the most pressing issues facing your organization or the government. This is a good method to generate initial buy-in from the top management, and can help to ensure that any funds spent in open data is spent on initiatives with the most likelihood of achieving positive results and generating value that is sustainable. This could be in the form of increasing the creation of jobs, enhancing sustainability by increasing transparency or community engagement.
