讓資料可被尋獲。¶
:term:`開放資料`無法自外於使用者。你必須確保使用者能夠找到來源素材。這一節將會談到如何著手。
最重要的是提供中立的空間，客服局處室之間的政治以及預算週期所造成的困擾。不論是部門上或是地理上的司法管轄範圍，都會對合作造成困擾。但是，但團結合作還是有明顯好處。資料越容易讓外界人找到，那麼新的好用的工具也就越快出現。
現有工具¶
There are a number of tools which are live on the web that are specifically designed to make data more discoverable.
One of the most prominent is the DataHub and is a catalog and data store for datasets from around the world. The site makes it easy for individuals and organizations to publish material and for data users to find material they need.
In addition, there are dozens of specialist catalogs for different sectors and places. Many scientific communities have created a catalog system for their fields, as data are often required for publication.
For government¶
As it has emerged, orthodox practice is for a lead agency to create a catalog for the government’s data. When establishing a catalog, try to create some structure which allows many departments to easily keep their own information current.
Resist the urge to build the software to support the catalog from scratch. There are free and open source software solutions (such as CKAN) which have been adopted by many governments already. As such, investing in another platform may not be needed.
There are a few things that most open data catalogs miss. Your programme could consider the following:
- Providing an avenue to allow the private and community sectors to add their data. It may be worthwhile to think of the catalog as the region’s catalog, rather than the regional government’s.
- Facilitating improvement of the data by allowing derivatives of datasets to be cataloged. For example, someone may geocode addresses and may wish to share those results with everybody. If you only allow single versions of datasets, these improvements remain hidden.
- Be tolerant of your data appearing elsewhere. That is, content is likely to be duplicated to communities of interest. If you have river level monitoring data available, then your data may appear in a catalog for hydrologists.
- Ensure that access is equitable. Try to avoid creating a privileged level of access for officials or tenured researchers as this will undermine community participation and engagement.
For civil society¶
Be willing to create a supplementary catalog for non-official data.
It is very rare for governments to associate with unofficial or non-authoritative sources. Officials have often gone to great expense to ensure that there will not be political embarrassment or other harm caused from misuse or overreliance on data.
Moreover, governments are unlikely to be willing to support activities that mesh their information with information from businesses. Governments are rightfully skeptical of profit motives. Therefore, an independent catalog for community groups, businesses and others may be warranted.
