cool thanks. so like an index of structured, open, re-useable knowledge?
On Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 3:12 PM, John Bywater < [email protected]> wrote: > Jessy Kate wrote: > >> hmm, well with all the descriptions so far i'm actually still not really >> clear what "it" is :). >> >> maybe it's worth describing why someone would use it? (and why they would >> use it over other data repositories?) >> >> ie, would i used it to store arbitrary datasets? or would i use it to link >> to other datasets? could it be compared to, say, infochimps? they don't >> necessarily host all the data listed there. the unifying thing is that >> it's >> a place to index and store information about what other data is out there >> (and, of course, to optionally charge for it). >> >> is this like infochimps for free and open data? >> >> > FWIW, the original requirements for CKAN are recorded here: > http://desire.appropriatesoftware.net/products/30/ > > "Knowledge and data will increasingly be provided in packaged form to be > re-used combined in a manner similar to software. Need a registry to keep > track of what open knowledge projects and packages exist." > > The "Scope of the System" shows that CKAN was originally intended as a > central register of metadata. The main use case is recorded here: > http://desire.appropriatesoftware.net/stories/84/ > > "Create, read, update, or delete records of open knowledge projects or > packages" > > So the "archive network" part was always a bit of a misnomer. Obviously > enough, the issue with archiving the data (which Perl scripts mostly don't > suffer from) is that archiving data sets can require very large storage > capacity. So it makes sense to have the data decentralised. > > Of course the metadata can also be decentralised (that's how the Location > Information Infrastucture side of data.gov.uk will work) and as Rufus > points out Google does a pretty good job of indexing stuff. Nevertheless, > there appears to be a value in maintaining an inventory, particularly for > large organisations, and especially for large public organisations like > central governments. > > J. > > > > jessy >> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > okfn-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss > -- Jessy Cowan-Sharp http://jessykate.com
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