On 14/01/2011 08:30, Stefan Magdalinski wrote:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/news/public-data-corporation-free-public-data-and-drive-innovation How is this different from any of the previous initiatives from data.gov.uk to the e-envoy's office blah blah blah?
That's a good question. Reading between the lines a bit, I think it's intended primarily to address two specific points. Firstly, data.gov.uk and the e-envoy's office are currently under the remit of the Cabinet Office, which probably isn't the most appropriate long-term home for either of them. But, on the other hand, giving the responsibility to a department of state would rather miss the point that data management is supposed to be neutral between departments. Setting up an independent PDC will maintain departmental neutrality while relieving the Cabinet Office of the task.
Secondly, and a point that's explicitly referred to in the press release, is that the government wants to find a way to monetise all the data that's going to be given away for free. The suggestion seems to be that they want private sector investment, although it's not clear what form that will take. I can think of three possible routes this could take, which, from a user's perspective, are good, neutral and bad respectively.
Mark -- http://mark.goodge.co.uk _______________________________________________ developers-public mailing list [email protected] https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public Unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/options/developers-public/archive%40mail-archive.com
