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Open Data Certificates Beta

Jeni Tennison's picture Last updated Monday, 17th June 2013 at 9:13 AM by Jeni Tennison

For a few months now we have been working on a new tool that we hope will help improve the way in which people publish their open data. Today we're proud to announce the Open Data Certificates website beta.

The certificates, which are generated for free, give data publishers a way to:

  • show how well they are publishing open data
  • identify and prioritise areas that they could improve

There are three things that I wanted to highlight.

Jeni Tennison's picture Last updated Monday, 17th June 2013 at 9:13 AM by Jeni Tennison

Guest Blog: Where are the Armchair Auditors?

Ben Worthy's picture Last updated Monday, 3rd June 2013 at 12:37 PM by Ben Worthy

In this blog, Ben Worthy examines whether David Cameron's vision for a citizen army holding the public sector to account has materialised.

One of the most eye-catching ideas from the government’s Transparency Agenda is that of the ‘Armchair Auditor’. Armchair Audit is a form of ‘crowd sourced’ accountability where citizens use newly ‘opened up’ information on spending, contracts and crime to hold public bodies to account. But has it happened?

Ben Worthy's picture Last updated Monday, 3rd June 2013 at 12:37 PM by Ben Worthy

Tech Team Week Notes #34

James Smith's picture Last updated Thursday, 30th May 2013 at 8:28 PM by James Smith

Last week was fairly quiet, with Stuart off on holiday, no doubt swanning around full of the joys of spring.

At the same time, Tom was away most of the week in Luxembourg, full of the joys of EU research proposals; probably not quite as much swanning there though.

James Smith's picture Last updated Thursday, 30th May 2013 at 8:28 PM by James Smith

Guest blog: Hacking Public Services Better

Tim Perry's picture Last updated Wednesday, 5th June 2013 at 1:06 PM by Tim Perry

Tim Perry, winner of the Met's Hack the Police event gives his take on the true value of hackathons in improving public services. Hack the Police and BlueLightCamp ran alongside the start of the ODI's immersion programme - a new scheme which encourages new open data ideas from startups and developers to address key crime and justice challenges.

Tim Perry's picture Last updated Wednesday, 5th June 2013 at 1:06 PM by Tim Perry

Tech Team Week Notes #33

Ulrich Atz's picture Last updated Tuesday, 21st May 2013 at 6:04 PM by Ulrich Atz

OpenTech

Last week saw important progress on a few projects we're working on. It ended with a great conference on Saturday: Open Tech. Despite being on the weekend, you could find most of the ODI tech team there. It's safe to say that the conference was a great success with plenty of interesting and inspiring talks.

Ulrich Atz's picture Last updated Tuesday, 21st May 2013 at 6:04 PM by Ulrich Atz

Git for Data Publishing

James Smith's picture Last updated Tuesday, 28th May 2013 at 10:41 AM by James Smith

Over the last few years, open source software development has been revolutionised by the adoption of distributed version control systems. Using tools like git and particularly sites like GitHub, it's now incredibly easy to contribute to a project. This has lowered the bar for participation, and has had an incredible impact on the quality and range of open source output, and enabled fantastic service ecosystems and business models to build up.

James Smith's picture Last updated Tuesday, 28th May 2013 at 10:41 AM by James Smith

Tech Team Week Notes #31

Stuart Harrison's picture Last updated Friday, 10th May 2013 at 2:44 PM by Stuart Harrison

When we first convened as a tech team, and worked out our principles, one thing we committed to was the idea of 20% time, where we would commit one day a week to working on pet projects that while they might not be directly related to our work at the ODI, they help us stretch our skills and develop fun projects that may grow into something more useful.

Stuart Harrison's picture Last updated Friday, 10th May 2013 at 2:44 PM by Stuart Harrison

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