User:Centralamerica/sandbox/Wikipedia OpenData Project

=Wikipedia OpenData Project= Proposal: We propose to use Wikipedia as a subject index which points to the many external data sources available. This will allow us to close the distance between the interested user and the data thus popularising the use of data. The data that we link to may come under many different licences. We are taking the basic model of the maps page that is already in use on Wikipedia. Click on Coordinates top right to see the example.

Outline
With a vast and varied selection of data available,the challenge of getting people to interact with that data in a meaningful way is proving very difficult for data managers everywhere. By creating a "data" page on Wikipedia we are using a format that is familiar to the user and can be used as a window on external data which eventually links down to the more complex and less used data on that subject. Wikipedia gains a new tool for presenting multiple data sets.

The data page will be for links to data. Wikipedia will not host any data. The data page is not for in article references or further reading. The data page is separate from Wikidata which is for hosting data under a wikipedia license only. As the data page evolves we are likely to see it being used to point to raw statistics,visualized statistic, a portal page to multiple data sets, links to data silo main pages and occasionally links to raw data if we know that the data page is going to be consistent or updated.

The project we are doing will focus on the Glasgow page. There are multiple reasons for doing this.


 * The Glasgow page will involve multiple complex subjects
 * The data sets will be hosted by varied organisations and they will need to be contacted so they can present their data in the a manner which is suitable to wikipedia and themselves.
 * The Data on Glasgow may include geographical or non geographical data
 * Replication of the page for any other City/Town would be highly beneficial, possibly evolving into a standard method of presenting the data for cities.
 * The licensing of the data is up to the external hosts
 * Bringing together multiple agencies with a single focus will help encourage the exploration of multiple solutions without restricting those agencies
 * Exploring the fact that some agencies would not benefit from this Data page. Example would the Environment Agencies be better comming from the 'Scotland' data page
 * Recognition that if the page is overpopulated by links it becomes meaningless therefore each agency/group is limited to one link and a page may be limited to a fixed number by Wikipedian editors

Example
Example OpenData for Glasgow

Going Forward

 * This example project is being used to test if the project has value
 * Possibility of a catalogue of databases
 * Presentation of the concept at Wikimania 2014

Original Idea
This idea was originally presented and created by Bob Kerr (aka Centralamerica --Centralamerica (talk) 10:31, 28 February 2014 (UTC))