Data is a Product

Following on from my excited picture post last week, I've now digested the Government White Paper on Open Data: Unleashing the Potential. My thoughts are below and I'm sure they will be similar to the thoughts of many other people around the industry. For a nice run down, check out this article at the Guardian. In short, the White Paper gives an update on progress made so far and the plans for the future. One of the most significant things here is the apparent passion for the movement shown by Francis Maude MP. In fact, during his launch he spoke many times of his team of 'Guerrillas' and 'Zealots' who are running round Whitehall, encouraging their colleagues (apparently in many different ways) to get behind Transparency and take the risk. A few key points for you: Over 9,000 datasets have been made available on www.data.gov.uk . The site has been redesigned to make it easier to search for data and use it. Every department has now published it's Ope...

I'm here at PA Consulting this morning with Francis Maude and all of the great and the good in the open data movement. I'll give a complete run down of the event later but just wanted to point out the excellent use of the alphabet in the the attendee list.