Turning raw FOI data into usable information
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Posted in Benefits of open data, Informing Decision-making, Posts from feeds, Transparency
This post was created automatically via an RSS feed and was originally published at http://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/blog/2012/may/04/turning-foi-data-usable-information
Public authorities are now required to release data in a standard format – and this should make it easier to use
The government is releasing ever more data for public use, routinely through data.gov.uk and in response to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests but, as we’ve said here before, making the data available is only the beginning of the story, and a good one.
This raw data is just that – raw and unformed (and not to be confused with statistics: the organised and analysed information for which datasets provide the unprocessed material).