After catching wind of the datalibre.ca project via Jon Udell, whose aim it is to (from the website):
[urge] governments to make data about canada and canadians free and accessible to citizens.
I made some parallels between encouraging making data about citizens available to citizens and that of making data about an open source software community and users of freely available open source software to that same group of people. I've attempted to analyze various possibilities of such an arrangement before but I felt like the datalibre.ca mission statement really did a good job of revealing the concise essence of open data. Yet, just as open source code is a different subject from open standards, open data deserves is its own topic. It seems intuitive that citizens of virtually collected communities would have just as much to gain from being able to conceptualize the composition of that group as much as possible...this would seemingly provide more feel to the experience of interacting with the entirety.
However, based on personal experience analyzing the technical/social/business relevance of open source software I'm lead to wonder how much overlap is there between it and open data. I do know that the value proposition for a great deal of open source software would be only strengthened by making data (entire subsets, pieces, etc.) about the community (who uses it, in what environments, etc.) freely accessible. But I am also intimately familiar with the delicate intricacies of collecting data from the typical open source software community member, whose anonymity is often held quite tightly and viewed an additional favor bestowed upon him/her by the open source powers-that-be. As a result, giving up information about use of a freely available open source software asset definitely doesn't top too many people's to-do list. Still, I'm of the opinion that there is plenty room with regard to gaining a better picture of the composition of open source software communities from/for members of them.
Aside from the analysts/press, open data does well to expose a better view of just how a community consists of. There is a plethora of applications and tools for such manipulating, presenting and massaging the data...especially considering the preponderance of mash-up approaches to data/information management. When some of the best analysis of patterns, data and so forth are sprouting forth from corners of the web, it remains a best practice to give open publishing into the public a try before making a premature call about its feasibility. If the value in advocating for keeping access to data about the public transparent to the public itself within the government has been identified as a cause worth discussing, I'm surprised open source software communities haven't already walked that path. It would undoubtedly be an effort that's at least worth evaluating or perhaps I'm the one missing something?
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