The use of modern information technologies has become commonplace. Technology is changing society. The release of a new technical device to the level of mass consumption, the widespread use of new social technology changes people's behavior, changes the structure of social problems.

The volume of annually generated digital information has already exceeded zettabytes (approximately 10 to the 21st bytes), i.e. in 1 hour, as much information is created as is stored in the US Library of Congress.

The phenomenon of data openness became possible thanks to the development of information technologies, which greatly facilitated access to Internet resources for a wide range of users. The concept of open data goes far beyond the transparency and accountability of public structures. Open data can become a tool for social change. This opens up new opportunities for using open data for the benefit of non-profit organizations. However, as Dan Sutch (Nominet Trust) writes in the introduction to the review titled Open Data and Charities, understanding, using and publishing open data in the third sector is still in its infancy.

Below is a review prepared on the basis of international publications and foreign practice. It gives an idea of ​​what open data is, what is its value and impact on society, and how exactly to open data.

Open data concept

Open data is data that is easily accessible, adapted for use by a computer, and that can be freely used and distributed. Formally, the following types of data are defined as open:

• available online;
• presented in a commonly used machine-readable format;
• do not require special permission to use.

Sometimes they add "free" to this.

Despite the simplicity of the formulated requirements, behind each of them there are well-defined, strictly formalized provisions.

"Available Online" practically means that access to data should not depend on the permission of any subject. As in a library, you do not choose a book from the shelf yourself, but depend on the employee who brings this book to you.

"machine readable format" means that there is no need to specially invent means when using the data, it is enough to use some publicly available computer program. Here it is necessary to add: it is the computer that must be able to use the data. Common formats such as pictures (graphic files) or pdf files are not suitable for this. These formats are convenient for displaying data to the user on a computer screen, i.e. for visualization, but their processing requires the use of special algorithms and programs.

Paragraph " Special permission to use" has its own nuances. Complete freedom to use open data is provided by the so-called. under a Creative Commons license. But she's not the only one. Other options impose restrictions on the user's right to distribute the data or use it only for their own needs or distribute transformed data.

What does it mean to open data?

Opening data is not as easy as it might seem. Putting data on the Internet is easy and accessible to almost any organization, but that doesn't make the data public.

And if you seriously think about how to do it with maximum social effect, you will need professional help. At a minimum, you will need to decide on the structure and format, restructure and reformat the existing data.

And in order to improve the secondary use of data, to make it automatically discovered and processed by other applications, you will need to involve a web programmer, which is difficult for small organizations. In this regard, now there are not only software products that facilitate this process, but also specialized NGOs and commercial organizations that provide such a service.

There are many tutorials, examples, and recommendations on the web. For example, the Open Knowledge Foundation systematically promotes the topic of open data (in the broadest sense), and you can find many useful resources on its website.

Actually, when planning data collection, you already need to know - are you going to make them open? And if yes, then provide for this in subsequent procedures.

Organizations that expose data face a number of technological problems:

1. Using suitable tools for storing, accessing and processing data. Large data arrays or complexly structured sets are inconvenient to process with such popular office programs as Word and Excel.
2. The quality of data description and verification of sources requires special effort and experience. Otherwise, the end user will not receive the data that he expected (sometimes without even noticing it).
3. Data quality and data management – ​​any publication of data implies responsibility.

Opening data imposes increased requirements on the organization that publishes open data, and, accordingly, is associated with a number of organizational difficulties:

1. Data culture: a specific attitude towards data as an important and actually used resource, and not a side effect or ancillary effect of activity.
2. Organizational development and literacy: The level of development of an organization can be measured by its work with data. There is no need to think that all employees are ready to work with data in a quality manner.
3. Strategy, leadership and management: Data discovery is not just an additional service to society, but a separate activity that is consistent with the mission of the organization.
4. The management of the data discovery process must be thought out, planned, and provided with all the necessary resources.
5. Licensing: a clear understanding of how legitimate it is to use other people's data and designate the rights to use the data you publish, especially if there are restrictions.
6. The use and provision of data imposes additional responsibilities. By opening the data, you become the subject of additional legal relations.

Certain topics - ensuring legal data protection, personal data protection and technical data protection - require the technical and organizational readiness and maturity of the NPO.

These complexities can be confusing for those who are not accustomed to working with data. Nevertheless, following some simple guidelines is necessary to prevent the Internet from becoming a useful repository of data into a data dump.

Tim Berners-Lee proposed a data openness rating scale. Arrays posted on the Internet are evaluated on a 5-point scale - from simply, somehow posted, but quite usable data to systems that allow other users to connect their data so that they become part of a common array with a convenient user interface. Characteristically, the proposed qualitative characteristics do not mean at all that one should strive for the highest (fifth) degree of openness. All levels have their pros and cons. The created system should be such as to effectively solve the tasks that are addressed to it. Those. you need to choose not the most developed, but the most suitable tool for you.

How open is the data and how important is the value of openness?

This is not to say that the data is not open enough or organizations do not use open data. There are many examples of using open data. But most authors no, no, and even mention that we are far from exhausting the existing potential. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the world would be different if for the last ten years everyone who controls at least some data had made it open, easily accessible to others.

In the non-profit sector, the picture is much poorer than in others, as noted by many observers and researchers.

The figure below shows the ratio of all available data, according to McKinsey's research.

At the same time, the governments of more than 40 countries of the world have created specialized open data portals. In the United States alone, there are 90,000 open data sets published by governments, and in all countries there are more than a million.

As great as these figures are, they show that “open data” is not widely used. For example, open data is published by no more than a fifth of national governments, and traffic to such sites is several times lower than the number of views posted on the Internet videos.

There are no data for the non-profit sector, but they are minuscule of what governments are doing.

Estimates of the economic impact of opening data do not appear to be very inspiring to data holders. Incentives for data discovery are weak in societies where actors do not experience enough external “pressure” to act more effectively. This applies both to power structures (in developed democracies they experience constant public control and strong political pressure), and to non-profit organizations (control of donors, including authorities, independent public groups). And this applies not only to the openness of data, but also to any new technologies and innovations. "Open data" is one of the ways to increase the efficiency of activities through the use of modern information technologies.

Main advantages that are created through the use of open data:

1. Greater awareness and transparency, better understanding of individual consumer and business choices, making fraud more difficult and less risky.
2. Providing information for comparison when testing and validating new features and setting standards.
3. Targeted provision of consumers through a more accurate understanding of their preferences and segmentation.
4. Improving efficiency and quality, expanding choice and deepening understanding in decision-making processes.
5. Promoting innovation and process optimization by improving the evaluation of options.

For non-profit organizations, the following arguments in favor of open data are quite suitable:

1. Better understanding of what's going on, what are the needs of the community.
2. Improving the efficiency of activities.
3. Improved understanding of social outcomes and remote effects.

To this we can add some more considerations regarding the importance of discovering data in the modern world.

The first is connected with such concepts as "knowledge economy" and "creative economy". Nowadays, knowledge and ideas have become the subject of market relations. More recently, interested parties were chasing information - the more you know, the more advantageous you are in any business. To a large extent, this is still true today. Both people and corporations have many reasons to hide data, not to share it. But already now one can see a shift: not awareness, but ideas, an understanding of how to solve this or that problem is of increasing value. Those. it is not the data itself that is being monetized, but the innovation, synergy and collaboration based on access to data. By not agreeing on the discovery of data with others, the whole society and each one individually loses. It is more profitable to open data in free access. It also works because there are many sources of data, and they will become public anyway, while hiding the data does not provide benefits. It's much better to open data in a meaningful way so that you can benefit from it, rather than from the fact that you know more than others.

The expansion of the public movement for open data is not only a coalition of civil and non-profit organizations, it is gaining support due to the fact that market structures that “make money” on open data are increasingly interested in this.

Open data and community

The development of the information space is connected not only with its saturation with data and mass access. The most important development factor is that each participant becomes a source of data. The “network of users” has long since become a “network of data”. This is the essence of what is called Web 2.0. It turns out that the more participants, the more data, in turn, this attracts even more participants. According to the well-known Matcalfe's law, the utility of a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants in this network. We are now in a new stage of development: the software created for the Internet automatically organizes any information entering the network into structured data. The available collections of texts are no longer just a "bunch of content". Any message (for example, in Wikipedia) is included in the database and can be easily connected to other resources. Those. the incoming stream of texts turns into open data, regardless of the participants.

Combining individual data arrays into a common array, with the right approach, gives a synergistic effect - each participant receives from the combined array much more than what he puts into it. However, it doesn't work by itself. The creation of a combined array needs to be planned, it needs to be negotiated, it needs to be organized, and it is necessary to reach a “critical mass”, after which the increase in utility occurs automatically and more than justifies the initial investment.

The creation of unified open data systems is a special challenge that combines the solution of technical issues and the solution of community consolidation problems. And these tasks are inseparable. If there is a community, then one can expect success (in the sense that the system created will generate high public data utility) in building a common data system.

On the other hand, having a good open source dataset contributes greatly to building a community, i.e. the social significance of the information resource attracts more participants. In order to properly plan both processes, and so that they complement each other, it is necessary to analyze the situation specifically.

An open data system is compared to an ecosystem. There are also many heterogeneous players here with their own needs, interests, opportunities and connections between them. The task of opening data is not limited to uploading data to some site on the Internet. The task is to first model the ecosystem itself (in particular, “calculate” the network effect) and, on the basis of this model, solve all technical issues. Only in this case, the data really works for the community, generates added social value.

The role of standards is especially noted. They are important when choosing data formats and their descriptions. Following standards reduces the user's path to published data, does not require much time to figure out how the data is arranged and how to use it with the tools at his disposal.

At the same time, standards have not yet been developed on many issues, which complicates the task.

Like any other social phenomenon, open data carries some threats and risks for the community. This is especially evident now, when sufficient experience has not yet been accumulated for regulation and standardization. Of course, the most critical and constantly disturbing issue in public opinion is the balance of using available data in the interests of ensuring public safety and at the same time limiting it in the interests of protecting the individual. While the promotion goes from scandal to scandal in search of a "golden mean". Most likely, intelligence agencies will gradually expand their rights to use data, and more and more restrictions will be introduced for citizens.

The main risks of open data for people are as follows:

• violation of the right to privacy when opening personal information;
• personal security related to insufficient data protection;
• security in public places, while open data can also be used for anti-social purposes.

For organizations, there are also 3 types of risks:

• violation of confidentiality when operating in conditions of greater transparency;
• increasing liability and punishment in case of leaks and other violations due to ineffective data protection;
• commercial losses due to infringement of intellectual property rights due to the lack of adequate regulation and system to prevent illegal use of data.

The problems here are only growing, forcing both private actors and governments to increase the cost of security in the virtual space.

Opening government data to NGOs

Research data and government data are traditionally seen as prime candidates for discovery. First of all, this is due to the fact that these data are generated using budget funds, therefore they “belong to everyone”. Now this postulate is supported by economic benefits, usefulness for social progress, because in recent years the possibilities for providing access to data have significantly expanded and become cheaper, there are a lot of them and it is easier to derive public benefit from them.

The pressure on governments is also determined by the demand for transparency. The disclosure of data is an important element in ensuring the transparency of power, guaranteeing the soundness and effectiveness of public policy. In this sense, of greatest interest are precisely those data that not only inform about the situation, but which allow us to evaluate the activities of the authorities. Those. "Open Government" data and "Government Open Data" are distinguished. The former are important for evaluating the government itself. The second - for the knowledge economy, as a public resource.

Dedicated data discovery efforts by governments are relatively recent history. For example, in the US and UK, special portals appeared only in 2009 and 2010.

For example, in Israel, the process of open budgeting began in 2010, after a skirmish between the government and the fire department. After another major forest fire, firefighters attributed their helplessness to chronic underfunding. The government did not agree with this. The public could not understand this issue due to the unavailability of clear budget information. Putting the budget information in order for the current financial year alone took a lot of effort. But this openness immediately revealed that the original budget, due to numerous amendments, changed by 13% over the year. It became clear that not everything is in order with the management of budgetary resources. Then the government requested budget information for several previous years. But then it turned out that it is available only in a format that is completely unsuitable for analysis. Then a special Internet platform was created, through which the government turned to citizens to help digitize budget data. All this led to the appearance in 2014 of a good site where budget data is visualized.

This is not to say that budget information was closed to Israelis before. But it was available in an "inconvenient to understand" form, and therefore was not discussed. Opening data engages citizens in discussion and decision-making on a completely different level.

The story of the discovery of budget data in Israel is also interesting in the conclusion that the chief specialist of this process, Mushon Zer-Aviv, formulated: “The more you expand access, the deeper the rabbit hole becomes.” The discovery of data increases the demand for new data. The discovery of data answers many questions, but raises even more new ones. When planning the discovery of data, you need to be aware that it will not be limited to one action.

Publishing data in a user-friendly format also allows the government to correct errors in its data. They are found almost always when any data is opened.

The 4 main functions of power in promoting open data are:

1. As a political subject and legislator, the government regulates the use of data, sets standards for data quality and formats, ensures ownership and protection of personal information.
2. As a data provider, authorities collect information, publish data electronically (i.e. make them open), contribute to improving the quality of data.
3. As a user, the authorities use open data in decision-making and reporting processes, public resource management.
4. as an influential entity, power fosters a culture of data, exemplifies and incentivizes other social actors.

There is no doubt that the government is the largest consumer and supplier of public data. The authorities are constantly under strong political pressure, and the disclosure of data is a very convenient tool for substantiating their policy.

The main motive for the disclosure of data by the authorities is the reduction of budget expenditures. If it is not possible to help the society through budget financing, then data can be provided. It is cheaper, but it gives no less effect if it is expressed in money. Budget savings due to open data is also possible because in countries with a relatively small share of the state in the social sphere, authorities act not as providers of services to the population, but as customers. For the most part, non-profit organizations are the final executors. The authorities are interested in reducing the price of the order without reducing the quality and volume of services, so they are interested in raising their awareness (as consumers). In turn, NGOs are interested in having data in order to receive government orders. Both parties are interested in proving their effectiveness.

Here is an example from British life - how data from the Ministry of Justice is used by the non-profit sector. This is the case when both parties are interested.

The NPO works with offenders to reduce recidivism rates. The NPO provides the Ministry with lists of its programs' beneficiaries, and the Ministry, using its closed database, calculates some statistical characteristics based on a sample close to that specified by the NPO. In this way, the NPO can compare its results with the national average.

The Ministry cannot open the data itself, but these data are important for calculating the effectiveness of NPO services. Most NGOs are funded from the budget, so both parties are interested. In order not to provide confidential information, the ministry created a department - Justice Data Lab - which performs the necessary calculations at the request of NGOs. NGOs do not receive data, but the results of calculations. The service is free.

This example can only be conditionally referred to as “open data”, rather, the open data mechanism is replaced by another service, but it performs almost the same function. Usually, the data consumer does not need the data itself, but the results of some analysis of it. The example shows that in this way it is possible to overcome the situation “we cannot open the data because it contains confidential personal information”.

It is also interesting that when communicating with the authorities, NGOs must use a special e-mail address, which is endowed with an increased level of security.

When processing data, the main thing is the statistical significance of the information provided by the ministry, so it can be assumed that specialists in mathematical statistics work in the corresponding department of the ministry.

The mere fact that open data is good for society is not enough for the data to be actively published in a usable form. The direct interest (if not benefit) of all parties on which depends what to open is required.

The second argument in favor of the disclosure of data by the authorities boils down to the fact that democratic societies have long been developing mechanisms for civic participation in decision-making. This is stimulated by the need to justify the policy, as well as the understanding that this really improves decisions, increases efficiency at the implementation stage. In this regard, efforts are also being made to ensure that the active and interested part of the public is informed no worse than the government itself.

The third motive is the understanding that freedom of information is an important factor in social progress. This is one of those cases where human rights affect well-being. In liberal socio-political systems, the main role of power is to create conditions for society to effectively cope with social problems without government intervention. To do this, it is necessary to raise awareness, remove any restrictions as much as possible. Until recently, the dissemination of socially important information was the lot of only the media. With the development of the Internet and means of communication, the tools for delivering information have expanded.

The cooperation of the authorities with the non-profit sector on open data issues is primarily related to the development of standards for quality, accessibility, safe use, as well as the promotion and financing of advanced training for various subjects working with data.

Although the authorities in all countries have the largest volumes of potentially publicly useful information, it is necessary to think about the policy (strategy) for the release of this data, which cannot be done overnight and which also requires resources. Most importantly, no one can guarantee that the data accumulated in previous political generations are accurate enough. There is always a fear that the publication of these "fictitious" data will harm society. After all, officially published data are the most trusted.

Active and competent actions of the authorities to disclose data are based on a combination of the economic usefulness of the data being opened, the social effect and political motivation. This provides grounds for assessing both a specific array of open data and for the formation of an opening policy.

In countries with developed democracies, the policy and actions of the authorities are in any case determined by conditions of high dependence on public interest groups. This extends to the development of open data systems. In countries where civil participation mechanisms are weak, government efforts to open data will be shifted in favor of solving political problems. In this case, the government will be inclined to report "gross" indicators - how many datasets and in what volumes are open. Where political fortunes are highly dependent on the well-being of citizens, data discovery is built on the basis of solving public problems, and the assessment and planning of data discovery by public entities is determined by the public good.

In developed countries, priority is given to those data, the discovery of which has the greatest socio-economic potential. Simple estimation algorithms for this are not that hard to develop. In less developed countries, governments publish what is most ready (because it is not very costly) and what does not threaten the authorities either politically or economically. In this regard, it would be correct and fair to indicate in catalogs the planned economic and social effects of the publication on government open data portals, and then evaluate the real effect.

But the most important source for the formation of such priorities should be the society itself. Civil society organizations and associations representing the interests of social groups could form a clear and reasonable request for what data should be disclosed in the first place, which would most help the social effectiveness of the relevant public institutions.

In Russia, governments and authorities publish a lot of useful information, but, as observers point out, this is not open data. Computer access to them is complicated.

Official policy deserves special consideration and discussion. In official papers and statements, you can see what is being opened and how, but it is impossible to immediately understand why this is and how decisions are made on this issue. The plan and activities are clear, but the policy in this area is not.

Russian expert Ivan Begtin explains the difference in approaches to building this policy. An effective approach is when the government makes the data open (which is not very expensive), and the interface is made by private companies. They make applications, thanks to which open data becomes massively used data, and therefore their openness acquires a social dimension, utility. The data begins to “work”, and not just “be open”.

By the way, this is a useful basis for evaluation - we should strive not for the openness of data, but for the fact that they work for society. And evaluate not by the number and volume of open arrays, but because of the social effect, added value they produce.

Another approach, which is typical for Russia, is to spend money (government order) on the production of applications. This does not allow the market to develop, and free applications are not used.

In general, we can conclude that the official structures are not yet specifically concerned with "serving" the non-profit sector. They open the data either mechanically, following some plan set for the agency. Or they seek to provide as much data as possible to solve some social problem, then the published data is addressed to all those involved in it.

It has also been noted that the main users of government open data are government officials themselves.

Open data exchange between NGOs

For NGOs, open data is part of the information space in which their activities are carried out. Here they act both as consumers of open information resources and as potential providers of open access data. Regardless of the desire of the organization, they find themselves in a new reality that cannot be avoided. The most advanced organizations will actively use these new opportunities and, thereby, strengthen their leadership positions. The refusal to use open data does not yet greatly affect the potential of the organization, but very soon it will be noticeable, and they themselves will feel lagging behind in many important parameters of the quality of services and resource provision.

The main interest of NGOs in open data is determined by the fact that open data provides additional opportunities to generate social value.

Another important factor stems from the characteristic features of the non-profit sector, the very existence of which is explained by information asymmetry, the impossibility in a number of circumstances to establish a fair market price, and limited opportunities to involve in decision-making precisely representatives of those social groups for which social projects are carried out (for example, various kinds of marginal groups). The filled information space allows solving precisely these problems, open data is an effective tool that justifies the activities of the non-profit sector and ensures the effective mobilization of public resources to solve common problems.

It is also noted that small NGOs are primarily interested in open data. Perhaps the third sector would be more active in promoting this topic if all organizations were large. Large organizations have the resources to independently provide themselves with the necessary data and justify their activities to donors and society. For small organizations, which are the majority even in those countries where the non-profit sector is considered to be well developed, high-quality information support and justification require prohibitive costs. Open data compensates for the lack of resources.

Order of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications Russian Federation(Ministry of Communications of Russia) dated June 27, 2013 N 149 Moscow "On approval of the Requirements for technological, software and linguistic means necessary for posting information by state bodies and local governments on the Internet in the form of open data, as well as for ensure its use"

In accordance with part 5 of article 10 of the Federal Law of February 9, 2009 N 8-FZ "On providing access to information on the activities of state bodies and local governments" (Sobranie Zakonodatelstva Rossiyskoy Federatsii, 2009, N 7, art. 776; 2011 , N 29, art. 4291), as well as the Regulations on the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of June 2, 2008 N 418 (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 2008, N 23, art. 2708; N 42, item 4825; N 46, item 5337; 2009, N 3, item 378; N 6, item 738; N 33, item 4088; 2010, N 13, item 1502; N 26, item 3350; N 30, item 4099; N 31, item 4251; 2011, N 2, item 338; N3, item 542; N6, item 888; N14, item 1935; N21, item 2965; N 44, item 6272; N 49, item 7283; 2012, N 20, item 2540; N 37, item 5001; N 39, item 5270; N 46, item 6347; 2013, N 13, item 1568), I order:

• 1. Approve the attached Requirements for technological, software and linguistic means necessary for posting information by state bodies and local governments on the network "" in the form, as well as to ensure its use.
• 2. Send this order for state registration to the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.

Minister N. Nikiforov

Requirements for technological, software and linguistic means necessary for posting information by state bodies and local governments on the Internet in the form of open data, as well as to ensure its use

1. Public information posted by state bodies and local governments in the information and telecommunication network Internet (hereinafter referred to as the Internet) in the form of open data must have a format that allows its automated processing without prior changes by a person for the purpose of reuse.

2. Publicly available information in the form of open data is posted on a website on the Internet, including on the website of a state body and local government body (hereinafter referred to as the website), in CSV or XML format or in another format that allows for automated processing of information that complies with national and international standards for structuring information.

3. To post publicly available information in the form of open data, a special open data page (hereinafter referred to as the special page) must be created on the site, as well as separate pages for posting sets of open data (systematized collections of localized information in the form of open data, consisting of individual elements, characterized by a set of attributes, and allowing automated systems to identify, interpret and process such elements without human intervention).

4. When posting publicly available information in the form of open data, the frequency of posting information established by the lists provided for in Article 14 of Federal Law No. 8-FZ of February 9, 2009 "On Providing Access to Information on the Activities of State Bodies and Local Self-Government Bodies" is taken into account (Meeting Legislation of the Russian Federation, 2009, N7, item 776; 2011, N29, item 4291).

5. The state body (local government) ensures the site's performance (including the operation of a special page) under a load determined by the number of hits to the site, twice the maximum daily number of hits to the site registered over the last 6 months of the site's operation; a newly created or functioning site for less than 6 months - under a load of at least 100,000 hits to the site per month.

6. Requirements for information security tools that provide access to publicly available information in the form of open data are determined by state bodies and local governments, taking into account the provisions of the order of the Ministry of Communications of Russia dated August 25, 2009 N 104 "On approval of the Requirements for ensuring the integrity, stability of operation and security of public information systems" (registered with the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on September 25, 2009, registration N 14874) and the order of the FSB of Russia and the FSTEC of Russia of August 31, 2010 N489 "On approval of the requirements for the protection of information contained in information systems of general use" (registered with the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on October 13, 2010 N 18704).

7. A special page should contain a register of open data, which contains a list of names of open data sets. The names of the open data sets are in the form of hyperlinks providing direct access to the pages of the open data sets.

8. When describing data, as well as information about data, their composition, structure and content, it is necessary to adhere to the specifications contained in paragraphs two to four of paragraph 6 of the Technical Requirements for the interaction of information systems in a unified system of interdepartmental electronic interaction, approved by order of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation dated December 27, 2010 N 190 (registered with the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 2010 N 19425).

9. The state body (local self-government body) provides the conditions for free access of users to publicly available information posted on a special page of the website in the form of open data.

The organization of free access to public information in the form of open data is carried out in accordance with the requirements of:

a) access to publicly available information in the form of open data does not require registration and authorization, unless otherwise provided by resolutions of the Government of the Russian Federation;

b) the use of publicly available information in the form of open data cannot be conditioned by the requirement that users use certain web browsers or install special software on the technical means of users.

10. To organize a free search and obtain publicly available information in the form of open data, a state body (local government body) must create the following conditions:

a) a special page should have its own name "Open data";

b) on the main page of the site there should be a hyperlink providing access to a special page called "Open data";

c) a special page should have a hyperlink to the metadata catalog;

d) the open data registry should contain hyperlinks to the pages of open data sets;

e) the open data set passport must contain a hyperlink to the contents of the open data set.

11. In order to protect publicly available information posted on the site in the form of open data, the following must be ensured:

use of means of enhanced qualified electronic signature in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation;

the use of certified in the manner prescribed by the legislation of the Russian Federation, means of protecting information from illegal actions, including means of cryptographic protection of information;

the use of software and hardware protection systems certified in the manner prescribed by the legislation of the Russian Federation, protection against distributed attacks on the site in order to create conditions under which users of the site will not be able to access it or access will be difficult, filtering and blocking network traffic;

maintenance of electronic logs of transactions performed using software and technological tools used for publication, updating, deletion, provision of information in the form of open data, allowing to record all actions, record the exact time, content of changes and information about the authorized person of the relevant state body (local government);

daily copying of all information posted on the site in the form of open data, as well as data from electronic journals of operations on a backup material medium, which makes it possible to restore them;

Information in the form of open data from destruction, modification, blocking, as well as from other illegal actions in relation to such information;

storage of information for at least 10 years in accordance with the terms of the site.

12. Public information in the form of open data should be posted in Russian.

It is allowed to indicate the names of foreign legal entities, surnames and names individuals using letters of the Latin alphabet.

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the principle of comprehensibility - the presentation of the goals, objectives, plans and results of the activities of the federal executive authorities in a form that ensures a simple and accessible perception by the public of information about the activities of these authorities;

the principle of the involvement of civil society - ensuring the possibility of participation of citizens of the Russian Federation, public associations and the business community in the development and implementation of management decisions in order to take into account their opinions and priorities, as well as create a system of constant information and dialogue;

the principle of accountability - the disclosure by federal executive bodies of information about their activities, taking into account the requests and priorities of civil society, providing an opportunity for citizens, public associations and the business community to exercise control over the activities of federal executive bodies.

To comply with the principles of openness, federal executive authorities need to solve the following tasks:

ensure the provision in an understandable and accessible form of complete and reliable information about the goals, objectives, plans for the activities of federal executive bodies for 2013-2018 and the progress of their implementation;

ensure the completeness, reliability, objectivity and timeliness of providing information about their activities, subject to mandatory disclosure in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation, provided at the request of citizens of the Russian Federation, public associations and the business community;

improve technologies for providing and explaining information by expanding the ways and forms of obtaining it by different users and user groups, while ensuring the possibility of choosing a convenient format, accessibility, simplicity, understandability and visualization of the information provided;

increase the availability of open government data for use by citizens, public associations and the business community, including for reuse, providing free access in the information and telecommunication network "Internet" (hereinafter referred to as the "Internet") to open data contained in information systems of federal executive authorities, without any restrictions on their safe use;

improve publishing processes and data discovery infrastructure, prioritizing data generation and disclosure based on their value to society and costs of discovery, including based on user feedback, identifying and disseminating best practices in public data disclosure, improving the quality of published data, translating them into more convenient formats by adding descriptions (classification) and integrating (linking) data from different sets;

implement processes and infrastructure, including electronic services and services, for conducting public online consultations with citizens and organizations, as well as provide online information, maintenance and provision of information about the activities of the federal executive body, while simplifying ways to interact with civil society;

ensure the objectivity, impartiality and publicity of the procedures for the formation of public, expert and advisory councils (commissions, working groups) created under the federal executive bodies, give them the necessary powers, take into account the opinion of these councils when making decisions;

to form and develop effective mechanisms for prompt response to appeals from citizens of the Russian Federation, public associations and the business community on the merits of the issues raised in the appeals;

improve the forms, methods and ways of working with the media, social networks and forums on the Internet.

IV. Mechanisms (tools) for implementing the principles of openness

Implementation of the principles of openness is carried out by applying the relevant basic mechanisms (instruments), the continuous improvement of which will make it possible to implement a progressive movement towards ensuring the openness of federal executive bodies. The main mechanisms (tools) for implementing the principles of openness of federal executive bodies (hereinafter - the main mechanisms (tools) of openness) include:

implementation of the principle of information openness of the federal executive body;

ensuring work with open data;

ensuring the clarity of legal regulation, state policy and programs developed (implemented) by federal executive authorities;

adoption of the action plan and the annual public declaration of the goals and objectives of the federal executive authorities, their public discussion and expert support;

formation of public reporting of the federal executive body;

informing about work with appeals of citizens and organizations;

organization of work with reference groups;

interaction of the federal executive body with the public council;

organizing the work of the press service of the federal executive body;

organization of independent anti-corruption expertise and public monitoring of law enforcement.

Mechanisms (tools) of openness are implemented by the federal executive authorities, taking into account the methodological recommendations for the implementation of the principles of openness in the federal executive authorities, approved on December 26, 2013 by the Government Commission for Coordinating the Activities of Open Government (hereinafter referred to as the Commission).

The list of mechanisms (instruments) of openness is not exhaustive and can be supplemented in the prescribed manner based on the results of summarizing the best practices in the field of ensuring the openness of public administration, as well as at the discretion of the federal executive authorities when implementing the principles of openness in their activities.

In order to ensure the effective implementation of the principles of openness and the fulfillment of tasks to increase the level of openness provided for by the Concept, the federal executive authorities, taking into account the adopted regulatory legal acts and decisions of the Commission, will approve departmental plans for the implementation of the Concept (hereinafter referred to as the departmental plan).

The departmental plans will define the main directions in the field of increasing the level of openness of federal executive bodies, measures aimed at improving the mechanisms (instruments) of openness, specific target indicators for the effectiveness of their implementation, as well as responsible officials.

Departmental plans will be approved by the heads of federal executive bodies and posted on official websites on the Internet. The development of a departmental plan is carried out taking into account the results of monitoring the current state of the level of openness, carried out in accordance with the methodology for monitoring and evaluating the openness of federal executive bodies, approved by the Commission on December 26, 2013, and, if necessary, with the involvement of the public council, interested reference groups and experts.

V. System for monitoring and evaluating the openness of federal executive bodies

In order to inform federal executive authorities, the Government of the Russian Federation and civil society about the progress of the implementation of the Concept, it is planned to create a system for monitoring and evaluating the openness of federal executive authorities, including:

self-examination (self-analysis) by the federal executive authorities of the results achieved in the implementation and development of mechanisms (instruments) of openness;

expert assessment of the effectiveness of the implementation by federal executive bodies of mechanisms (instruments) of openness and compliance of their activities with the principles, goals and objectives provided for by the Concept;

sociological research to study the satisfaction of citizens and (or) reference groups with the level of openness of federal executive bodies.

Monitoring of the openness of federal executive bodies will be carried out by the Commission at least once a year in accordance with the methodology for monitoring and evaluating the openness of federal executive bodies.

Based on the results of such monitoring, the Minister of the Russian Federation, Deputy Chairman of the Commission will submit to the Government of the Russian Federation an annual report on the openness of federal executive bodies.

VI. Resource support for the implementation of the Concept

Resource support for the implementation of the Concept includes measures for regulatory, methodological, informational, analytical and personnel support for its implementation, as well as work to improve the legal framework in the field of forming the "Open Government" system.

Regulatory and methodological support involves the development and adoption of regulatory and methodological and information and reference documents, including within the framework of the Commission's activities.

Information and analytical support includes:

organization and implementation of measures for public discussion, expert support, exchange of best practices for increasing the level of openness of federal executive bodies within the framework of the Commission's activities;

formation and development on the official website of the open government of information and analytical resources for the interactive presentation of reports by federal executive bodies based on the results of self-examination (self-analysis), as well as the creation of a "library of best practice of openness of federal executive bodies".

Staffing provides:

the formation of a culture of openness of federal executive bodies, which means that any action taken by them in the framework of their daily activities is in line with the principles of openness as much as possible;

determination in the federal executive bodies of the deputy head of the federal executive body responsible for the implementation of the departmental plan and activities provided for by the Concept.

The implementation of the Concept will be carried out by the federal executive authorities within the established powers and budget allocations provided for by the federal law on the federal budget for the next financial year and planning period for management and management in the area of ​​established functions.

Coordination of the activities of the federal executive authorities in the implementation of the principles of openness will be carried out by the Commission.

open data(OD) in a broad sense is that part of the information disclosed by public authorities and local self-government that meets the requirements:

• freedom of access;
• freedom of use;
• automatic processing (machine readability).

Implementation mechanism OA in the practice of public work in Russia is the eponymous project "Open Data" ("OD"), carried out under the auspices of the Open Government. As an important element, this project is built into the mechanism for ensuring the general principle open government and, more broadly, the entire state.

The aim of the project"OD" is the realization of the economic and social potential of open data at the disposal of the state, by involving them in the circulation of the non-state sector. Essentially, it is about helping to create information society and knowledge economy .

Complex of tasks, which is solved within the framework of the project:

• help business see the source of your growth in open data;
• reconcile officials with the need to open data;
• involve the IT community in the development of applications based on OA;
• to interest citizens in using these applications.

Economic effect from the involvement of money laundering in circulation in Russia is still being assessed on the basis of single examples. Thus, according to the calculations of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, the cumulative economic effect from the use of OA-based applications in the public transport sector in Moscow can be more than 58 billion rubles a year.

At the same time, the direct and indirect annual effect of the spread of ML in the European Union is estimated by 2020 at 1.9% of its GDP, or 200 billion euros . And the potential economic effect at the global level is estimated by McKinsey Global Institute analysts at $3,2–5.5 trillion per year .

Social effect partly related to the economic: of the above-mentioned 58 billion rubles. 8.9 billion are obtained by reducing the travel time on public transport, 41.5 billion - on personal transport, and almost 12 billion - by reducing the waiting time at stops. However, its main component is that the openness of data works on increasing confidence in the state from the population.

Open data creates a win-win environment in which all related parties benefit: citizens get more quality services, business - a promising market, the state - trust from society and diversification of the economy. And everyone wins as decision making , which directly depends on the degree of awareness.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ITS REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

The OD project is one of the mechanisms for implementing the Standard for openness of federal executive bodies, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation (N 93-r of January 30, 2014). The standard includes the Concept, as well as methodological recommendations for the implementation of the principles of openness and a methodology for assessing the level of openness.

In addition to the OD project, the openness mechanisms laid down in the Standard include:

• work with target audiences of a particular ministry or department;
• adoption of action plans for 2013–2018 and an annual public declaration of goals and objectives with a report on their implementation;
• placement of information about activities on the Internet;
• public reporting;
• independent anti-corruption expertise and public monitoring of law enforcement;
• ensuring clarity of legal regulation and government policies;
• interaction with public councils at federal executive authorities;
• interaction with the media;
• work with appeals from citizens, public associations and the business community.

Project coordinator"OD" is created within the framework of the Government Commission for Coordinating the Activities of the Open Government (headed by D.A. Medvedev) (headed by M.A. Abyzov), which includes representatives of both state and non-state structures - subjects of the Russian Federation, ministries and departments, expert community, Internet companies. This tip:

• develops mechanisms for opening data and proposals for solving the organizational, legal and technical problems associated with this process;
• provides communication with citizens, business, the expert community, helping to choose priorities in the disclosure of government information;
• popularizes the idea of ​​open government data, identifies and promotes best practices and opportunities for business development;
• is a feedback mechanism for assessing the overall economic and social impact of the disclosure of government databases.

The scope of ML is mainly regulated by:

• Decree of the President of the Russian Federation (No. 601 of May 7, 2012) “On the main directions for improving the public administration system”;
• Federal Law (No. 149-FZ, entered into force on July 27, 2006) "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection";
• Federal Law (No. 8-FZ, entered into force on February 9, 2009) "On ensuring access to information on the activities of state bodies and local governments";
• Federal Law (No. 112-FZ, entered into force on July 1, 2013) “On Amendments to the Federal Law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection” and the Federal Law “On Providing Access to Information on the Activities of State Bodies and Local Self-Government Bodies "";
• Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation (No. 1187-r dated July 10, 2013), which approved the list of publicly available information that must be disclosed in the form of open data. This list includes seven sets:

1. Names of territorial bodies and representative offices (representatives) of the federal executive body abroad (if any).

2. Names of subordinate organizations (if any).

3. Plan for inspections of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs for the next year.

4. The results of scheduled and unscheduled inspections conducted by the federal executive body and its territorial bodies within their powers, as well as the results of inspections conducted in the federal executive body, its territorial bodies and subordinate organizations.

5. Statistical information compiled by the federal executive body in accordance with the federal plan for statistical work, as well as statistical information based on the results of scheduled and unscheduled inspections.

6. Information about vacancies in the state civil service available in the federal executive body and its territorial bodies.

7. Registers of licenses for specific types of activities, the licensing of which is carried out by federal executive authorities.

Opening other datasets is optional.

The Open Data Council (ODC) prepares and submits to the Government Commission (PC) recommendations for the development of the entire open data ecosystem. At the PC level, various points of view and interests are coordinated, as well as expert opinions are taken into account. Recommendations are drawn up by government orders and resolutions or recorded by the protocols of the PC itself. Thus, the current action plan (“road map”) “Open Data of the Russian Federation” for 2015–2016 was formalized by the protocol.

ROAD MAP

The first systemic “approach to the projectile” in the field of OA was carried out in 2012-2014, when the Open Data Concept of the Russian Federation was adopted and implemented, which laid the institutional, legal and technological foundations of the OA system, including:

• development of methodological and regulatory documentation;
• adoption of the main tools for certification, registration and publication of open data;
• adoption of the first plans for the disclosure of state and municipal data;
• commissioning of the Unified Open Data Portal of the Russian Federation http://data.gov.ru/.

According to the current "road map" 2015-2016:

• in 2015–2016, the federal executive authorities (FOIV) must, according to a certain schedule, disclose about 300 priority socially significant data sets, grouped into 27 thematic areas (this task is being solved significantly ahead of schedule: by September 2015, more than 5,000 sets have been published at the federal level ); in particular, we are talking about the results of the Unified State Examination, statistics on the labor market and average levels of remuneration by areas of employment, monitoring real estate prices, remuneration and property of civil servants, etc.
• in 2015, all federal executive authorities must create sections of open data on their Internet resources (there were 90% of them by the beginning of the year) and disclose priority sets (it was 80%);
• Amendments to the legislation should be prepared in terms of:

Classification of activities in the field of OA as socially oriented, subsidized by the state (FZ "On Personal Data", "On Commercial Organizations");

Introduction of the presumption of public availability of primary statistical data (FZ "On official statistical accounting and the system of state statistics in the Russian Federation").

All federal executive authorities must submit reports on the implementation of the road map measures to the Russian Ministry of Economic Development (MED) on a quarterly basis. In turn, the MED, together with the SOD, should monitor the quality and timeliness of the implementation of the plan, and submit a summary report to the PC.

DISCLOSURE TOOLS

The main working tool of the project "OD" are (MR).

With the help of MR, data owners (state and municipal employees) and their publishers (specialists from internal IT departments or companies engaged on the basis of a contract) are informed about:

• requirements for the content of information resources;
• technical requirements to OD presentation formats;
• composition and principles of interaction between the elements of the national infrastructure for ML.

The requirements for the MRs themselves are formulated as follows:

• relevance;
• structuredness;
• targeting;
• compliance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, correct and sufficiently detailed explanation of the rules of law;
• compliance with the best domestic organizational practices;
• compliance with current national and international technical standards;
• illustrative and illustrative examples.

Constantly updated MRs are developed by the Ministry of Economic Development and approved by the Government Commission and the Open Data Council.

Also within the framework of the project "OD" are carried out:

• competitions for developers of applications based on OA (including the All-Russian competition "Open Data of the Russian Federation");
• open meetings of the ODS (and other types of public activity promoting the popularization of the idea of ​​using OA);
• online training courses on data disclosure for officials of various levels.

The data being opened is concentrated on the Unified OA Portal, and is also presented on the portals of individual federal ones (for example, http://mkrf.ru/opendata/, http://www.rosminzdrav.ru/opendata, http://www.rosmintrud.ru /opendata/) and regional/municipal authorities (Moscow and Tatarstan have become generally recognized leaders at the regional and municipal level) .

The developer of the Unified Portal, as well as the methodology for working with it, is the Ministry of Economic Development, and the Ministry of Communications is responsible for its technical implementation. The Government Commission and the Open Data Council are responsible for coordinating the project and editing the information.

EXPERT ASSESSMENT OF THE PROSPECTS FOR OA IN RUSSIA AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THEIR ACHIEVEMENT

A survey of experts conducted by the Russian Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC) in January 2013 (a sample of participants in various industry events) showed:

• 75% of respondents are confident in the usefulness of opening data and a significant increase in its value when reduced to a comparable format (the so-called linked data, equally perceived by different information systems);
• 46% noted the positive economic effect of using OA (these experts believe that the creation of new businesses based on this data can provide a significant increase in value added and the number of jobs);
• 18% expressed their own interest in creating non-commercial services based on OA;
• more than 50% consider it necessary to popularize open data among both officials and developers;
• 84% of those experts who had to deal with ML complained of difficulties in processing them due to the diversity of formats and the lack of uniform standards for data exchange.

In general, according to experts, the introduction of the OA system in Russia should lead to:

• increase the transparency of public authorities and the implementation of the concept of "open government";
• formation of the market of applications and services;
• improving the investment climate;
• increasing the degree of participation of civil society in the formation and creation of socio-political institutions;
• improving the quality of life of the population by increasing the availability of information.

• make data disclosure an even higher priority than the creation of public services;
• form a list of data that authorities are required to disclose in the form of OD;
• determine the responsibility of civil servants for untimely or incomplete publication of mandatory OD;
• organize educational work in the field of OA among civil servants;
• to include ML in the mandatory terms of reference for state
• Information Systems;
• to form legislation on open licenses;
• contribute to the formation of an active demand for information in the form of open data on the part of society, to disseminate best practices (Russian and foreign).

Together with members of the Open Data Council, RAEC experts also formulated industry needs, the satisfaction of which creates additional opportunities for the growth of the Internet economy based on the use of OA:

• determination of the economic potential of the market;
• identifying market demand for specific types of data;
• setting priorities in opening;
• sustainable functioning of already existing services and businesses built on the use of OA;
• stimulation of start-ups in this area.

DEMAND FOR DATA

An analysis of international experience shows that the following types of OD are most in demand on the market:

1. Habitat (geographical, ecological, geological, hydrological and meteorological data).

2. Information about federal and municipal institutions and organizations.

3. Transport (information about routes and timetables).

4. State statistics data.

5. Finance (financial and insurance markets).

6. Medicine (health care and sanitary protection).

7. Scientific data.

A survey initiated by the Open Government, which was conducted on the Ekho Moskvy website in February 2013, revealed a slightly different cut of data disclosure priorities. First of all, according to more than four thousand speakers, these include:

• law enforcement statistics;
• execution of federal, regional and municipal budgets;
• civil servants fined for violating the rules for placing government orders;
• official declarations;
• data of management companies;
• data on the results of the exam;
• information about the inspections.

In general, identifying needs and setting appropriate priorities in data disclosure is one of the main objectives of the OA project.

WORLD EXPERIENCE

The ideology of open data is supported largest states the world and international organizations.

In many countries, Internet resources have been created containing unified databases of public authorities. For example, in Norway, data.norge.no hosts a registry of mobile applications, as well as a news alert and mailing system. The Canadian resource open.gc.ca has a consultation and discussion platform, as well as methodological recommendations for using it to increase the openness of government agencies. The UK's data.gov.uk includes, along with databases, a section on blogs and voting ideas. Indian india.gov.in is structured depending on the audience (government agencies, society, tourists, business) and contains information on government tenders. The data.gov resource in the USA includes interactive databases, classification of databases by states, cities, government agencies, as well as international databases (UN, OECD, etc.).

Internationally recognized projects - leaders in the field of OA are:

• a project to open map data and positioning systems in Australia;
• public spending, labor market and real estate in the UK;
• data from the financial, insurance and construction sectors in Denmark;
• Kenyan services, including mobile ones, for farmers: information about free medical care, sources of drinking water, etc.;
• geographic and meteorological data, and stimulating non-commercial open data initiatives in the US.

Among the international organizations and associations most involved in the process of opening data and their subsequent use, one should single out the Open Government Partnership, International Budget Partnership, W3C, the World Bank, the OECD, the Open Knowledge Foundation.

In 2013, the corresponding “Open Data Charter” was adopted by the countries participating in the “Big Eight”. “People today expect to be able to access information when and how they want. Increasingly, this concerns government data. We have come to a turning point - it's time to declare a new era,” reads the text of the Charter. And the final communique of the summit says: “Transparency gives people the opportunity to control the activities of governments and companies. We have agreed on a founding Open Data Charter to provide the public with access to budget and other government information in an easily accessible form.”

PROSPECTS OF PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

The OD project is very dynamic in its development, constantly updated with new solutions. Today, a number of ideas are being discussed that could add a new quality to the project.

open by default- the idea of ​​​​open data "by default", when everything is open, but closed only for an important reason (for example, in the regime of state secrets). All data held by government agencies is, by definition, produced or purchased with taxpayer money. In addition, potential users of OA, including businessmen and IT developers, know exactly what they need, better than the state.

Spreading the ideology of open data to all government data. The concept of state data in this case includes data from state and departmental information systems (GIS and VIS, respectively), including, in particular, data from the Accounts Chamber, the Prosecutor General's Office, and arbitration courts. In addition, these processes should also affect large national infrastructure projects: SMEV, ESIA, State Services, EU NSI, etc.

Creation public directory data and public plans their discoveries. This instrumental solution would greatly help the implementation of both ideas presented above.

Another useful tool is linking funding departmental programs informatization with the implementation of plans for the discovery of data, including the creation of an appropriate infrastructure. In particular, this is important for preserving content that is in technologically obsolete information systems and requires a lot of labor for retrospective translation into a machine-readable form. It is assumed that the adoption and funding of the 2016 programs will already be based on this principle.

Formation of a national quality assessment standard sets of OD, the absence of which complicates the creation of guidelines (“rubber ruler”). One possible way to create such a standard is to adapt the "5 stars" model developed by the "inventor of the Web" Tim Berners-Lee, in which one star means web publishing of data in any format, and five stars means publishing open linked data.

In itself, the transition from open data to open linked data(open linked data) is also an important direction for the development of the project. This enables developers to create new software applications at the interdepartmental, intersectoral and even interstate level.

Linked Data is a great tool to add to the GtB model (Government-to-Business) GtG models(Government-to-Government, the state for the state). In this case, the main beneficiary of the discovery of data is the state apparatus itself, which receives more complete and adequate information about what is happening in its “economy” and, accordingly, the possibility of optimizing decisions.

This guide is dedicated open data, but what exactly is it? In particular, what does open open data, and what kind of data are we talking about.

What does openness mean?

This guide is about open data - but what exactly is open data? Open data in our case describes the definition of open_:

Open data is information that anyone can freely use and distribute. Only requirements to indicate the source of the data and distribute them under the same conditions as the original ones are permissible.

The full definition of openness goes into detail what it means. Let's highlight the most important:

• Accessibility and Readability: the data must be available in its entirety for no more than the reasonable cost of reproduction; preferably via the internet. The data format should be easy to read and change.
• Reuse and distribution: data must be provided under conditions that allow their reuse and dissemination, including in combination with other datasets.
• Universal Participation: everyone should be able to use and share the data. There should be no discrimination between areas of application, people or groups. For example, a "non-commercial use only" restriction that prohibits "commercial" use, or a restriction on possible uses (eg, education only) are not allowed.

If you are wondering why it is important to clearly define what openness means and why such a definition is used, there is a simple answer: interoperability.

Interoperability means the ability of different systems and organizations to work together (English inter-operate). In this case, we are talking about the ability to interact - or "mix" different data sets.

Interoperability is important because it allows different components to work together. The ability to isolate components and "assemble" them into a single whole is key to building large and complex systems. Without interoperability, this is practically impossible - let's remember the well-known legend about the Tower of Babel, when the (in)ability to communicate (interact) ruined the construction.

Something similar happens with data. The essence of "common" in data or code is that the "open" material contained in them can be freely mixed with other "open" material. Such interaction is, of course, a key factor in achieving the main practical advantage of “openness”: significant improvements in combining different data sets and, as a result, the ability to develop more high-quality products and services (these advantages are discussed in detail in the Why Open Data section). ).

Thanks to a clear definition of openness, you can be sure that given two sets of open data from two different sources, you can combine them. This means that we will avoid our “Tower of Babel”: many data sets that are impossible (or almost impossible) to connect into a large, truly useful system.

What information are you talking about?

Readers have already seen examples of all kinds of data that are already open or may become open - and below we will give more examples. However, it is useful to dwell briefly on what data is or may become open - and, just as importantly, what will not be open.

The main thing is that when we open data, we are interested in anonymized data, that is, not containing information about individual people.

The use of government data is also sometimes restricted for reasons of national security.