open data: a new tool for government
DESCRIPTION
The strategists say that open data from high quality APIs has the potential to transform public services. One example where this is proving to be the case is legislation.gov.uk, the official UK legislation website, operated by The National Archives. With legislation.gov.uk we aimed to open-up access to the government’s legislation database, by creating an API first. The legislation.gov.uk API allows anyone to access the data we hold in the database, or to use the services we have built. We wanted to show that government could create a high-quality, technically sophisticated API, following the principles of both REST and Linked Data. We also wanted our API to be fully open, with no restrictions on use, and no need to register before using it. The API is enabling us to develop an entirely new approach to updating legislation, inspired by the open source software movement – our Expert Participation Programme. We are inviting people from outside The National Archives to work with us, to apply changes to the legislation in the database. Quality is maintained through our editorial practice and a stringent process of review. This is an exciting new operating model for maintaining open government data.TRANSCRIPT
Open Data:A New Tool for GovernmentJohn SheridanHead of Legislation Services, The National Archives
Jeni TennisonTechnical Architect legislation.gov.uk
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If we can do it with legislation ...
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Work of many
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Open Legislation Data• available under Open Government License• data underlies user interface
• /data.xml• /data.rdf• /data.feed
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Reusers
Intermediary
Consumer
dataservice
payment
Publisher
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Reusers
Intermediary
Consumer
dataservice
payment
Publisher
- links- snippets- dumps- searches- updates
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Reusers
Intermediary
Consumer
dataservice
payment
Publisher
- links- snippets- dumps- searches- updates
- provision- integration- analysis- visualisation- interpretation
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Reusers
Intermediary
Consumer
dataservice
payment
Publisher
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Benefits of reuse• innovation by intermediaries• new products and services for customers• economic growth
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Reusers
Intermediary
Consumer
dataservice
payment
Publisher
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Reusers
Intermediary
Consumer
dataservice
payment
Publisher
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Reusers
Intermediary
Consumer
dataservice
payment
Publisher
provenance
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Reusers
Intermediary
Consumer
dataservice
payment
Publisher audience
provenance
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Benefits• improved reach• intermediaries deliver to other channels• for legislation.gov.uk
• iPhone / iPad applications• eBooks• tailored value added products for specific audiences
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Dependents
Intermediary
Consumer
service
payment
Publisherdata
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information
customisation
Dependents
Intermediary
Consumer
service
payment
Publisherdata
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information
customisation
Dependents
Intermediary
Consumer
service
payment
Publisherdata
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information
customisationdata
Dependents
Intermediary
Consumer
service
payment
Publisher
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information
customisation
guarantees
data
Dependents
Intermediary
Consumer
service
payment
Publisher
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information
customisation
guarantees
data
Dependents
Intermediary
Consumer
service
payment
Publisher
- accurate- reliable- timely
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Where is the benefit to the publisher?
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Maintaining legislation data• for primary legislation we identify and apply
• textual & non-textual amendments• extents & commencements• savings & provisos
• we create point in time versions with annotations• we extract structured data from legislation
• editors use the data to create new versions showing the changes
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The challenge• primary legislation
• in-house team applies ~10,000 effects per annum• parliaments and assemblies now make ~15,000 new effects• there is a 100,000 “debt” of unapplied effects
• secondary legislation• required to produce tables of effects for annual bound volumes• no updated versions
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guarantees
Partners
Intermediary
Consumer
data service
payment
Publisher
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guarantees
maintenance
Partners
Intermediary
Consumer
data service
payment
Publisher
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guarantees
maintenance
Partners
Intermediary
Consumer
data service
payment
Publisher
- collection- correction- expertise
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guarantees
maintenance
Partners
Intermediary
Consumer
data service
payment
Publisher
- collection- correction- expertise
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Expert Participation Programme• primary and secondary legislation
• publicly available - official - free - open - up-to-date
• we invite others to work with us under MoU• new processes and tools to support collaboration• The National Archives provides tools and training
• guardians and arbiters of editorial practice and quality
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Technical architecture
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New requirements• new types of information
• effects & research• tasks & workflows• participants & permissions & messages• priority lists to update
• new levels of interactivity• read/write platform• dynamic, native web interface
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other formats are better for other things
HTML JSON
RDFXML
lingua franca
hard to get wrongconcise
application-native data
single source format
flexible
web-native data
graph model
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new architecture XML and RDF data
CDN
XML database
pipeline engine
web server
cache
caching & delivery
caching
static files
transformation
documents triplestore data
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displays driven by RDF transformed by XSLT
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displays driven by RDF transformed by XSLT
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displays driven by RDF transformed by XSLT
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URIs are the keys weak, flexible links
HTML JSON
RDFXMLURIs
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User and re-user focus• integrated API and UIs
• guarantees relevance• help re-users understand information• help developers debug
• URIs are key• addressability• sharability• understanding of underlying resource model
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Agility• native XML eases development
• provides flexible access into documents• avoids data model mismatches
• native RDF eases development too!• ease of combining information from different sources• querying with SPARQL
• schema-free & extensible aids agility
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Open data as operating model• private sector values high quality public data
• value official status, processes and controls• willing to collaborate and invest resources in open government data
• Expert Participation shows how open data• helps to deliver services• helps to reach new audiences or existing audiences through new channels• underpins feedback loops, improving quality of both data and service
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Summary• complex documents and data
• added value for publishers and consumers from having them on the web
• layered architecture with web standards• make the most of single-source publishing providing long-term flexibility
• open data as a tool• enabling us to bring legislation up to date for the first time
• if we can do it with legislation ...
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Questions
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