Open Data in the Netherlands- opportunities for innovation

Bob Coret

Gaenovium – 7 October 2014

Open data defined- http://opendefinition.org/

Open data can be freely used, modified, and shared by anyone for any purpose

The value of open data- Neelie Kroes  

Opening up data that is already collected, that taxpayers have already paid for, is

right for transparency, and is the cheapest way we know to unlock

innovation potential. It’s the best way we know to help Europeans create the jobs

and economic growth that we so desperately need."

Rijksmuseum- the open data example in cultural heritage

Open data from archives- big diversity

Contents

• Info / news• Archive descriptions• Meta-data of records• Images (photo’s / maps / records)

Methods

• Download (link/e-mail/WeTransfer)

• Harvesting (OAI-PMH)• API (REST/SPARQL)

Formats• MS Access/Excel• CSV, TSV• JSON• XML

Standards• EAD, ESE• OpenSearch / DublinCore• A2A

Open data - 5 stars

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Web and Linked Data initiator, suggested a 5 star deployment scheme for Open Data

http://5stardata.info/

Open data hurdles not technical, but between the ears- why not?

• We already publish it on our website…• “Our gold”• Costs (configuration)• Number of website visitors still important• Fear of lack of source citation • Quality of our data is not good enough• Ownership of content (VOC example)• What will happen with our data?• Will they make money with our data?• What’s in it for us? (more usages, more visitors, better quality)

• Role of suppliers / commercial players?

www.openarch.nl- proof-of-concept / show-case / user-service

Supplier Source types Repository Data format ScansReg.archive Leiden DTB,BS,BR,NA,BB Reg.archive Leiden OAI-PMH (A2A) Reg.archive Leiden

Reg.archive Tilburg DTB,BS,BR,NA,RA,BP Reg.archive Tilburg OAI-PMH (A2A) Reg.archive Tilburg

National Archives Japanese Internment Cards National Archives CSV National Archives

National Archives East India Company (VOC) National Archives CSV -

Mun.archive Ede Gerecon. PK Mun.archive Ede CSV -

Mun.archive Ede Militia registers Mun.archive Ede CSV Militieregisters.nl

Mun.archive Schouwen-Duiveland Civil registry (BS) Mun.archive

Schouwen-Duiveland OAI-PMH (A2A) Mun.archive Schouwen-Duiveland

Mun.archive Enschede Civil registry (BS) Mun.archive Enschede CSV FamilySearch

SA L. Heusden Altena Population register (BR) SA L. Heusden Altena XML SA L. Heusden Altena

Mun.archive Tholen Population register (BR) Mun.archive Tholen XML Mun.archive Tholen

Mun.archive Wassenaar

Church + Civil registry (BS+DTB)

Mun.archive Wassenaar XML FamilySearch

IISH Residentlists RHC Eindhoven MS Access DS Eindhoven

IISH Residentlists Zeeuws Archief MS Access -

IISH Residentlists Stadsarchief Goes MS Access -

IISH Residentlists RA Tilburg MS Access -

BHIC Refugees BHIC XLS -

Jos van Rijn Civil registry (DTB) SA Rijnlands Midden XLS Nationaal Archief

Jos Glasbergen Population register (BR) Reg.archive Leiden XLS FamilySearch

Kees Kooij Civil registry (DTB) RHC Vecht en Venen XLS FamilySearch

Hogenda Civil registry (BS) Noord-Hollands Archief XLS FamilySearch

Ivo Beckers Civil registry (DTB) Reg.archive Alkmaar XLS VPND

Open Data coverage- still a long way to go

Experimenting with rich visualizations- from label/value to pedigree

Experimenting with rich visualizations- from label/value to timeline

Linking records- by phonetic search of parents or name and birthdate

Linking children- By phonetic search of parents

Linking related persons- but how to visualize

Linking online trees, biographies, online cemeteries- by name/date

Linking census information- by place/date

Linking the weather- by place/date

Linking the map- by street/place/date

Linking scans- source of original, meta-data and scan can be different

Linked Open Data – the future

Historical-data.org- genealogical extensions on schema.org

Historical-data.org- added microdata to HTML output

Spiders understand my content- Historical Data microdata markup

Semantics is important- Historical Data microdata markup

Open in, open out (1)- provide API!

Open in, open out (2)- provide standardized open data

Open data- conclusion

• Ask for archives for open data!• Use open data!

• Not a lot of technical problems (some effort though), a lot of opportunities: data invites to experiments which leads to innovation

• Build beautiful, smart, handy tools or extensions!

Open data- questions

• What about open data from archives in other countries?