More on Open Data
April 15, 2008
More people like Bret Taylor are talking about the need for Open Data to spur innovation.
The interesting thing is, almost every internet company would benefit if this data were freely available. Most internet companies have embraced open source operating systems because every company needs an operating system, and no company wants their OS to be a competitive advantage - they just want it to work. I would argue we are all in the same boat with these factual data sources. No one really wants factual data accuracy and completeness to be their competitive advantage; we all want the best data possible to build the best products possible, and discrepancies in data quality are artifacts of the extremely inefficient economy of buying and selling data we currently live in. If everyone had the same, high quality data, all of our products would be better for it.
He's exactly right. I made this exact point about music in February, as well as on Fred Wilson's post on a new music economy. I also pointed out that the stable structure of these organizations need to be as a functioning non-profit (for clarity that is not a charity).
Bret's post title "we need a wikipedia for data" is exactly correct. We need timely (meaning easy to update), rich (a wealth of content), and accurate data (natch). That is Wikipedia. Open alone is not sufficient.
We are putting our money where our mouth is and trying to build this for music, we are keen to work with anyone who has similar interests - money or bodies are welcome. We've made amazing progress, and will be demoing where we are at SanFran MusicTech Summit
Open Data
Hi, Dave. Found my way over here from a Twitter @reply. Strange world sometimes. I wanted to point you to another excellent article on Open Data by Jeremy Keith of Clearleft in the UK:
http://adactio.com/articles/1450/
Cheers!
James in Toronto
Excellent post
Thanks James.