Prime minister’s special envoy ‘disappointed’ with open data use by Derek du Preez.
From the post:
Prime Minister David Cameron’s special envoy on the UN’s post-2015 development goals has said that he is ‘disappointed’ by how much the government’s open datasets have been used so far.
Speaking at a Reform event in London this week on open government and data transparency, Anderson said he recognises that the public sector needs to improve the way it pushes out the data so that it is easier to use.
“I am going to be really honest with you. As an official in a government department that has worked really hard to get a lot of data out in the last two years, I have been pretty disappointed by how much it has been used,” he said.
Easier to use data is one issue.
But the expectation that effort making data open = people interested in using it is another.
The article later reports there are 9,000 datasets available at data.gov.uk.
How relevant to every day concerns are those 9,000 datasets?
When the government starts disclosing the financial relationships between members of government, their families and contributors, I suspect interest in open data will go up.