Resource Center of Open Data Charter

The international network, Open Data Charter, launched on its website a Digital Resource Center, a set of interactive tools that enable governments around the world to implement the principles of the International Charter.

Still under construction, this platform will not be only a complete list of standards or metrics for Public Administrations to follow, but a repository of useful documents, links, studies and policies that will help countries release the public sector information while the materials produced and developed by the working group of the Open Data Charter are shown and made available to users.

While information is being collected for the Resource Center, two documents are already available on the website for public consultation. These materials have been designed to fully understand the Open Data Charter, support the growth of the open culture and the adoption of its principles.

The first of them -Open Data Terms to define- is a list of the most important open data concepts, where each of them is defined to make users, experts or not on open data, understand the terms used in the Charter. Secondly, the Annotated Open Data Charter is a document in which the principles and subsections of the Charter are discussed in order to clarify the meaning and objectives of the agreement.

Available in three languages ​​(English, French and Spanish) the two documents have been exposed to the opinion of the international open data community, which has been able, through their comments and contributions, to enrich and improve them until last July 29th, deadline for the submission of feedbacks.

Along with the above files, the Resource Center also includes DATA4SDBS, a set of tools and methodologies that help countries develop and implement a roadmap to meet the sustainable development goals through the data.

The Open Data Charter, in collaboration with other international organizations such as the Open Data Institute or the World Bank, has participated in the development of the open data module of this toolkit, which, still in beta, attempts to explain the potential of the open data  to promote economic growth and job creation; improve the efficiency of public services; increase transparency and citizen participation.

Thus, this module offers a test model to measure how open data contributes to achieve the seventeen sustainable development goals through examples and real case studies from different parts of the world. It also includes a number of resources such as guides, publishing software, platforms, reports, impact studies and initiatives to help countries maximise the open data potential.

Gradually, the Resource Center of the Open Data Charter will include new materials, files and documents to create a robust ecosystem around open data to provide effective tools for every aspect of an initiative or policy of openness of public sector information.