Comments on: Guardian Data Store: threat to ONS or its saviour?

By: Catherine

Catherine — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:12:02 +0000

Someone has to 'produce' the figures first. It is the collection and production of accurate data that is the more important role of ONS. I'm not bothered if someone views the figures via the Guardian website or the ONS one. When the Guardian starts collecting and compiling the figures then ONS will really have something to worry about.

By: The Guardian OpenPlatform DataStore – Just a Toy, or a Trusted Resource? « OUseful.Info, the blog…

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 09:35:26 +0000

[...] The Guardian OpenPlatform DataStore – Just a Toy, or a Trusted Resource? Published June 8, 2009 Data , Stirring , Thinkses 0 Comments Tags: datablog, datastore, openplatform When the Guardian launched their OpenPlatform DataStore, a collection of public data, curated by Guardian folk, hosted on Google Spreadsheets, it raised the question as to whether this initiative would influence the attitude of the Office of National Statistics, and in particular the way they publish their results (e.g. Guardian Data Store: threat to ONS or its saviour?). [...]

By: More coverage of the Guardian’s Open Platform API - paulcarvill.com

More coverage of the Guardian’s Open Platform API - paulcarvill.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:43:49 +0000

[...] Simon Dixon, former web chief of the Office for National Statistics, examines the Guardian’s D..., saying “I warned them [the ONS] that someone would come along, do a better job than they were doing, and supplant them as the ‘primary source’ .” [...]

By: Tony Hirst

Tony Hirst — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:50:22 +0000

"the actual mechanics are as basic as: uploading/copying existing Excel spreadsheets, converting/pasting them into Google Docs spreadsheets"
Google spreadsheets will actually import an XLS document that is linked to on the web if you give it a URL.
However, this import is a one-shot affair (I think) - once uploaded, that's the data you've got.
However, if you the data structure is simple enough to be published online as CSV, then you can use the =importData("URL") formula ( http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/09/google-spreadsheets-lets-you-import.html ) to keep the spreadsheet data synched (within an hour or two) with the original data. Okay - so you need to get the ONS data published (where possible) as CSV, but then the Google spreadsheet will offer a much richer API to the data on your behalf...

By: Simon

Simon — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:50:18 +0000

I'm not criticising the statisticians' devotion to their data, far from it. I'm in awe of it. No, when I think of the people I blamed for ONS's failure to deliver on the vision I was asked to develop, I think it's fair to say none of them were (still) front-line statisticians.

By: A Statistician

A Statistician — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:25:43 +0000

I think you're a little harsh on the "priesthood of statisticians". Many of them working on the ground with the data were (and are) desperate to improve their web offering to the public but have found that the top of the Office and those working in the web area of the office unwilling and/or unable to help them do it.

By: Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmuller — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:25:23 +0000

The more open information we have in this country, the better. This is a great first step, but ultimately we're going to have to revisit the whole Crown Copyright mess, which in many ways is holding UK government services back. Not only do we have to pay for the data, but government-funded organisations have to pay when they share the data between themselves ...

We've got an opportunity to lead the world in this, but it looks like we're going to be falling behind the US, as usual.

By: Links: Multi-lingual participation? (and UK data by the back door) « Spartakan

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:22:19 +0000

[...] Dickson has a good take on the implications for the official guardians of the data like the [...]

By: Steph Gray

Steph Gray — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:40:06 +0000

To be honest, I see this as a challenge to all Departments which publish useful stats (school league tables I suspect were top of the Guardian's mind, but also New Year's Honours, politicians' finances etc).

ONS information is certainly a massively useful collection of datasets, but public sector organisations are sitting on much simpler but potentially enormously useful spreadsheet content - lists of branches including postcodes, historical spend figures on X, satisfaction figures for Y - which could live quite happily in a Google spreadsheet. One of the barriers to greater reuse of public sector information is simply having way to publish it, and I think this demonstrates a simple, low cost way which doesn't necessitate special web publishing or a fancy API.

As we both know, ONS struggled for years with information architecture and user interface decisions about how to present its datasets in usable ways. As the Guardian Data Store grows, it will be interesting to see how they address that thorny question.