Or is it. I like data hugging way more than "semantic web" if we are talking about data presenting affinities though human searching. But data hugging is apparently bad:
Traditionally authorities foster a "data hugging mentality", which is wrong argues Prof Shadbolt. "A public body has a duty to publish unless there is a significant reason not to," he said. He cited the census, the land registry and Ordnance Survey data as among the publicly collected information that should be freely available. "What you find if you deal with people in government departments is that they hug their database, hold it really close, so that they can build a beautiful website to present it," said Sir Tim Berners-Lee earlier this year. "I would like to suggest: sure, make a beautiful website, but first, give us - all of us - the unadulterated data. We have to ask for raw data now."
Data hugger? Tree hugger? Is that the slur on hugs?
Comments
Renee - October 22, 2009 10:39 AM
I prefer the term withholder, myself.
At the government's propaganda site actionplan.gc.ca they make the Google Maps data available and explain how to use the connector to get the data via third-party software, so that you can make your own pretty maps. It's a great idea (except insofar as the data the provide is incomplete and doesn't include project status or amount of funding... but hey, they actually sort of have part of the right idea, at least.) Gone are the days when GIS knowledge was limited to a few Geography grad students.
Renee Stephen - October 22, 2009 10:43 AM
Oh, by the way, I encountered so much shock when I wanted to make our research data available online - FOR FREE?? You're just going to GIVE IT AWAY?? Data is valuable, and the private sector loves to collect it. Part of the government mentality is because the software is designed for the private sector and it is NOT designed to be shared, by default at least.
The other part is that there are security implications for letting the public access your systems beyond a very limited number of ways, especially as the syndication and connection software has proliferated - you don't have nearly the same kind of trusted source or secure intranet anymore when you're sharing your working data, and that scares the crap out of sysadmins. For good reason.