Dear Ilario, dear all, With Open Government Data, we are increasingly moving from the secrecy principle that was the rule before all the Freedom of Information legislations were put in place (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_information_laws_by_country) towards an openness principle with regard to government information.
This means that public authorities need to re-design all their internal processes in order to adapt to this. They will probably move more and more in a direction where they separate clearly between secret, copyrighted, and personal data on one hand, and potential "open data" on the other hand, in an early stage of their internal information management processes. - Right now, they may still have a lot of databases where potentially "public" information is mixed with information that - for one reason or the other - should maybe better kept secret (Ilario cited a few examples). This means that you have to "cleanse" the data before publication, which can be quite a painstaking task. So, often, it might be easier for them to keep the entire datasets shut away from the public. But in the end, I'm quite confident that we'll reach a situation where most "public" information will actually be publicly available as open data or even linked open data. But this just needs time; in some cases even a lot of time. So I would suggest that we keep asking, seek the dialogue with the institutions, show understanding for their situation, and show the necessary patience. I'm sure there are enough potential quick wins around that could keep us busy for years if we keep our eyes open. Kind regards, Beat From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ilario Valdelli Sent: Freitag, 21. Juni 2013 16:55 To: Wikimedians in Switzerland Subject: Re: [Wikimediach-l] Public Art Database (Blog-Post from Sweden) Give me the possibility to be more detailed. The post indicates a situation like that of Italy. In Italy the list of monuments is fragmented and the minister of the cultural heritage has an old lists or has no list in some regions. In this case Sweden is building the list: the aim is perfect with that of Wikipedia because people contributes to list the cultural heritage. In Switzerland the list of monuments is present, is complete and there is the opposite problem there are several lists and also the smaller objects are scheduled and described. When I was in the Office of the cultural heritage of Canton Ticino, I was astonished by the detail of this database and only a partial list of monuments and objects are public or because they are not protected by an official document of the municipalities or because some details are secret for security reason. Honestly I proposed them at least to work with the community to document these objects with photos... but it will be a different stuff. Regards On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 1:54 PM, Patrick Kenel <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: It's good to mention a security aspect but precious objects in churches have less to do with this initiative from Sweden. Based on this blog post and other Information, I'm convinced that they are collecting data of new forms of public art like fountain sculptures or objects in the middle of a roundabout. These things obviously lack an inventory, and deserve the attention of crowdsourcers. But sometimes these art installations are fragile and on temporary display for just a season or so, and not permanent as is the case of protected cultural goods. What confuses me a bit: the first picture of the blog post shows the old statue of a Swedish king, the kind of monument which is typically in the scope of Wiki Loves Monuments. I'm confident that we will somedays see Swiss lists of recent artworks on public ground as part of open data initiatives, financed for example by lottery funds and with the help of various crowdsourcers. In the meantime there is still enough material for contests about protected buildings or folklore (the topic of Living Traditions) where Freedom of Panorama is in general guaranteed and no copyright issues might arise like in this examplary case: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diskussion:Claes_Oldenburg. Patrick Kenel ~~~~ Wikimedia CH - Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens www.wikimedia.ch<http://www.wikimedia.ch> ________________________________ Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 11:10:43 +0200 From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Wikimediach-l] Public Art Database (Blog-Post from Sweden) The main problem of this kind of project is the security. This is the main concern of the cantonal office of arts of Ticino, for instance. They would not make public the position of important objects that may be stolen (pictures, vestments, altar cloths and holy vessels) mainly in the churches. Some places are not protected by security systems and the public position may be a way to define what is precious and what is not. I think that the simple replication would be not possible. Regards On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 8:17 AM, Estermann Beat <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Dear all, I would like to point you to an interesting blog post on creating a Public Art Database in Sweden: http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/06/05/database-public-art-sweden/ I guess there is food for thought for all those of you who might consider supporting a Wiki Loves Public Art contest in Switzerland in the future... Kind regards, Beat _____________________________________________________ Beat Estermann Research Associate Berne University of Applied Sciences E-Government Institute Morgartenstrasse 2a Postfach 305 CH-3000 Bern 22 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> www.e-government.bfh.ch<http://www.e-government.bfh.ch> Phone +41 31 848 34 30 Phone (direct number) +41 31 848 34 38 Fax +41 31 848 34 31 _______________________________________________ http://wikimedia.ch Wikimedia CH website Wikimediach-l mailing list https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediach-l -- Ilario Valdelli Wikimedia CH Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens Association pour l'avancement des connaissances libre Associazione per il sostegno alla conoscenza libera Switzerland - 8008 Zürich Tel: +41764821371 http://www.wikimedia.ch<http://www.wikimedia.ch/> _______________________________________________ http://wikimedia.ch Wikimedia CH website Wikimediach-l mailing list https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediach-l _______________________________________________ http://wikimedia.ch Wikimedia CH website Wikimediach-l mailing list https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediach-l -- Ilario Valdelli Wikimedia CH Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens Association pour l'avancement des connaissances libre Associazione per il sostegno alla conoscenza libera Switzerland - 8008 Zürich Tel: +41764821371 http://www.wikimedia.ch<http://www.wikimedia.ch/>
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