Hi Feargal, Michael Cross is a freelance journalist. He's very good. He used to write for Guardian Society's public sector supplement.
He was a co-founder (with Charles Arthur) of Technology Guardian's Free our Data campaign. There's a summary of his work here. All the best, Mel. Mel Poluck Freelance copywriter & journalist Communications manager Tel: (00 44) 1273 279231 Mob: (00 44) 7903 957173 Email: [email protected] http://melpoluck.wordpress.com/copywriting LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/melpoluck Twitter: @melpoluck --- On Wed, 7/9/11, Feargal Hogan <[email protected]> wrote: From: Feargal Hogan <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [mySociety:public] Public Data Corporation update To: "mySociety public, general purpose discussion list" <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, 7 September, 2011, 15:59 Hi all I don't know who Michael Cross actually is. Can anyone fill me in? I'm part of a working group of commercial publishers looking at the OpenData issue and I have to say that, in general, commercial publishers are not very happy about the PDC either. And I think that Michael Cross is attacking the wrong person here. Francis Maude is very pro=transparency and opendata. The driver for the PDC commerciality is coming from the Treasury and from the Shareholder Executive who hold and manage the shares in the trading funds on behalf of us tax payers. I think Francis Maude has a real fight on his hands to try and keep the transparency agenda alive, despite all the bluff and bustle in the press releases. I also think that many in the public service see the PDC as ripe for privatisation - especially with a blue-ish govt in power - and see that there may be some of the senior bods in these trading funds suddenly becoming CEOs etc of shiny newly privatised companies with excellent executive remuneration and compensation packages. Thats the big driver to making the PDC a success. Perhaps what we need is a "coalition-of-the-willing" to oppose these initiatives, i.e. business, the opendata community, and anyone else interested, coming together to say that this is not a good idea. Feargal Hogan On 7 Sep 2011, at 11:32, Mark Goodge wrote: > On 07/09/2011 11:07, Francis Irving wrote: >> Back in January the Public Data Corporation was announced. >> >> Mark Goodge and Tom Steinberg gave trenchant analyses on this list: >> https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/pipermail/developers-public/2011-January/007119.html >> https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/pipermail/developers-public/2011-January/007122.html >> >> Today, Michael Cross writes in the Telegraph, implying that we know a >> lot more about the PDC now. >> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8742476/Public-data-Government-should-get-out-of-the-way-of-innovation.html >> >> What's the list's view now? How did the "finely balanced" fight go? > > I think this paragraph is the key one: > > "The idea seems to be that the PDC will take over the trading activities of > the Land Registry, the Met Office and Ordnance Survey, pumping out two types > of product. The first will be “public task” raw data, available free on an > open licence. The second will be value-added products, chargeable to users. > The consultation seems to lean towards a “freemium” business model, where > users get a “lite” version for free, but have to buy a licence when they want > more data volume, features, or usage." > > From an open data perspective, what matters here is the raw data. "Value > added" packages are nice for end users, but the developer community needs raw > data, and needs it under a licence that allows them to create their own value > added services to meet the needs of those who aren't provided for by the > official versions. > > That being the case, the real weasel words here are the definition of "public > task". Does that mean we'll only get the data which the PDC, in its infinite > wisdom, decides is suited to public release, or does it mean that raw data > is, by definition, considered "public task"? > > If the latter, then that's fine by me, and I really don't have a problem > (unlike Michael Cross, it seems) with the PDC also packaging the raw data for > sale as a value added product. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that there > are still some things for which an "official" premium product is desirable. > For things which have legal implications, for example, the needs of > non-technical end users (ie, those who cannot process the raw data > themselves) are best met by a product of guaranteed reliability from a > government source rather than possibly inaccurate independent sources - just > because anyone can take the raw data and package it for end-user consumption > doesn't mean that they'll all do so equally well! Provided the raw data is > freely available, therefore, I'm not concerned with what the PDC's commercial > arm does with it. > > If, on the other hand, the government is planning to let the PDC itself > decide which raw datasets qualify as "public" rather than making them public > by default, then there's clearly a conflict of interest here which is very > likely to be detrimental to the developer community. That's an issue which > needs to be addressed, and I'd really like to know more about what the > current thinking is in that respect. > > Mark > -- > Sent from my Babbage Difference Engine > http://mark.goodge.co.uk > http://www.ratemysupermarket.com > > _______________________________________________ > developers-public mailing list > [email protected] > https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public > > Unsubscribe: > https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/options/developers-public/feargal%40thehoganfamily.info _______________________________________________ developers-public mailing list [email protected] https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public Unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/options/developers-public/mel_poluck%40yahoo.co.uk
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