Open Data Manual › About this site

About this site

The Open Data Manual is an independent reference on the legal, social and technical sides of open data. It has two parts.

The manual

The chapters linked from the home page, from the Introduction to the Appendix and the Glossary, are the text of the Open Data Manual written in 2010 and 2011 by the authors listed on the Credits and Copyright page and first published by the Open Knowledge Foundation. That text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence, which permits reproduction with attribution. It is kept here as written; some examples, organisations and links it mentions have changed since.

The practical guides

The practical guides are written by the Open Data Manual editors. They expand on topics the manual introduces and reflect current standards and licences, such as DCAT 3, CC BY 4.0 and the FAIR principles.

Editorial standard

• Primary sources first. We cite the standard, the licence text, the legislation or the official guidance itself: for example W3C and IETF specifications, Creative Commons and Open Data Commons legal codes, EUR-Lex, GOV.UK and resources.data.gov. Secondary commentary is used only to point readers to further reading.
• No invented figures. We do not publish statistics we cannot attribute to a named source.
• Neutral and practical. Guides explain options and trade-offs rather than promoting a product, platform or organisation. We do not accept payment for coverage or links.
• Dated and corrected. Each guide shows when it was published. When we find or are told about an error, we correct it and update the date.
• Not legal advice. Guides on licences and database rights are general information. For decisions with legal consequences, consult a qualified adviser.

Independence

This site is not the website of, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by, the Open Knowledge Foundation, Creative Commons, Open Data Commons, the W3C, or any government data portal. Names of organisations and standards are used only to identify them.

Corrections

To report an error or suggest a source, see the Contact page.