5 ms·

French PM releases the G8 Open Data Charter Action Plan for France

73 points by rhl 13y ago

rhl 13y ago
At the last G8 Summit in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland this past June, the Chiefs of State had agreed on an Open Data Charter committing their respective governments to make efforts to bring more open data online in machine-readable formats. Today France releases its action plan for the implementation of the Charter, and specifically commits to releasing more governement datasets and APIs for hackers and startups to experiment with. Specifically, we're committing to: - progressing towards publishing data openly by default, - building an open platform to encourage innovation and transparency, - developing Open Data policy in consultation with citizensand civil society, - supporting open innovation in France and throughout the world. I'd be very interested in HN's feedback on how useful this can be for you, and what else you'd like to know about our Open Data policy and how we're trying to improve it!
- wrongc0ntinent 13y ago
  Could you point to the source of the "hackers and startups" quote? Didn't find it in the main article. (Edit: sorry if this is on a tangent) (Edit 2: well, I didn't think it was a downvote-worthy tangent, considering the word's connotations debate and this being an official govt url)
  - rhl 13y ago
    Our objective to support "hackers" and the startup ecosystem is mentioned under Commitment #4 (supporting open innovation in France and throughout the world).
    - wrongc0ntinent 13y ago
      Found it, thanks. Nice.
    - mackwic 13y ago
      I know that nicknames are here because of anonymity and so on, but can I ask you who are you to say that ? In the current context, I can hardly see any window for introducing disruptive innovation (I mean it, there is room for that) in France. Those who wants don't have money (mayors, univs, scientists), and those who have don't want it cause of so many reasons (employment would be the first). Stays the middle-size societies, where the entry ticket is damn so high and who are busy too think about the next tax that will be created/canceled/rebranded/transformed/increased/wasted.
      - rhl 13y ago
        Of course! My name is Romain Lacombe and I'm the head of innovation for the French Prime Minister's taskforce Etalab (data.gouv.fr) for Open Government Data, which was created in 2011 by the former government and was reinstated by the current one. Whether or not there is room for disruptive innovation for France, only the future will tell -- and those who build it. :) All I can say is that we're hard at work to make the most of the transformative power of open data and direct collaboration with hackers and startups, and this plan is a significant commitment from our government which I wanted to share with the HN community for constructive feedback. (PS for what it's worth: I'm an entrepreneur myself, launched a venture-backed startup in the Valley in 2008-2010 myself which was later acquired.)
samolang 13y ago
That's great, but with tax rates of 75-100% for the rich I have a hard time believing they'll attract a lot of serious entrepreneurs.
- aktiur 13y ago
  Here's what three researchers actually found regarding real tax rates in France two years ago : http://www.revolution-fiscale.fr/img/g1-1.pdf http://www.revolution-fiscale.fr/img/g1-1.pdf If you cannot understand French : on the horizontal axis you got the income percentile, and the real tax rate on the vertical axis. The real tax rates may seem high, but they are pretty average for Europe. The nominal tax rate is not enough to gauge the real tax pressure. The French system is well known for having many "tax niches" (as we call the tax loopholes) The three researchers are Camille Landais (Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research), Thomas Piketty (Paris school of Economics) and Emmanuel Saez (Berkeley). Edited to correct : wealth percentage --> income percentile
- vmarsy 13y ago
  I'm not sure there's a lot of entrepreneurs starting with an income greater than a million € though!
  - samolang 13y ago
    Nobody starts a company for the initial salary.
- mercurial 13y ago
  Cue trickle-down economics...
kh_hk 13y ago
Link to the license under which the data will / is being released. Pretty ok! http://ddata.over-blog.com/xxxyyy/4/37/99/26/licence/Licence-Ouverte-Open-Licence-ENG.pdf http://ddata.over-blog.com/xxxyyy/4/37/99/26/licence/Licence...
- rhl 13y ago
  Thank you! We developed the "Open Licence" in consultation with citizens, the Open Government Data community in France (Wikimedia Foundation, Regards Citoyens, etc.), and governments worldwide (the Transparency Team at the Cabinet office in London) during a series of more than 50 workshops and meetings in 2011. Glad you like it. Feel free to send feedback and/or <3 to my team mate Alexandre Quintard (@AlexandreQK) of Etalab (data.gouv.fr).
  - kh_hk 13y ago
    Using it on the recent public feed of data from JCDecaux on the latest iteration of my project [1], hope I am referencing the license accordingly! On the source I am referencing the link to the JCDecaux website, but could to etalab easily :) [1]: http://staging.citybik.es/networks/velib http://staging.citybik.es/networks/velib EDIT: Forgot to add, I should also release my data under a license and have contemplated using the "Open Licence", but I am not yet sure on what will suit best.
weddpros 13y ago
That's pure bs: www.data.gouv.fr is full of XLS and DOC documents. No raw data, only aggregated statistics. Useless. Documents and data are not the same... I'm french, and NOT proud of it
- marianoguerra 13y ago
  it's an action plan, that means that they are starting to work on it, not that it's already like that.
- rhl 13y ago
  Hi Weddpros -- thanks for the feedback. As it turns out, we agree with you. That's why we've been working on a complete overhaul of http://data.gouv.fr http://data.gouv.fr to be soft-launched soon, and we think you'll like it! If you've followed http://etalab.gouv.fr http://etalab.gouv.fr (mostly in French, sorry), you may have heard we launched an open and collaborative re-design process in the spring and summer, which lead to more than 60 substantial contributions and 9 events organized by our community of users throughout France. We then brought in a team of hackers to work inside of government -- believe it or not, this is most likely the first instance of this in the French government; unsurprisingly it worked very well -- and redevelop the whole stack based off of CKAN. Our code is live on http://www.github.com/etalab http://www.github.com/etalab if you'd like to check it out. Stay tuned!
  - mercurial 13y ago
    As a French expat, congratulations. There are a lot of things I'm not happy about France, but the role of open source in the public IT policy is definitely something to be proud of. Keep up the good work and keep us posted. Now, if Danish lawmakers would only take a hint...
  - weddpros 13y ago
    is there a hidden meaning ? http://imgur.com/34ui71g http://imgur.com/34ui71g
    - 13y ago
veganarchocap 13y ago
That's a nice ethos to adopt as a government, but he can't ignore the crippling taxes his government have instated since taking up office. I feel very sorry for business owners in France at the moment.
- jobigoud 13y ago
  Open data and open source encourage the commons and sharing. Taxes goal is to have everyone contribute to common good. I see more of an alignment than a contradiction. Remember that taxes are poured back in public transportation, hospitals, social security, etc. (Not measured by PIB). Also remember that what you read about in the media is biased by those that are unhappy.

73 points by rhl 13y ago

rhl 13y ago

At the last G8 Summit in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland this past June, the Chiefs of State had agreed on an Open Data Charter committing their respective governments to make efforts to bring more open data online in machine-readable formats. Today France releases its action plan for the implementation of the Charter, and specifically commits to releasing more governement datasets and APIs for hackers and startups to experiment with. Specifically, we're committing to: - progressing towards publishing data openly by default, - building an open platform to encourage innovation and transparency, - developing Open Data policy in consultation with citizensand civil society, - supporting open innovation in France and throughout the world. I'd be very interested in HN's feedback on how useful this can be for you, and what else you'd like to know about our Open Data policy and how we're trying to improve it!

wrongc0ntinent 13y ago
Could you point to the source of the "hackers and startups" quote? Didn't find it in the main article. (Edit: sorry if this is on a tangent) (Edit 2: well, I didn't think it was a downvote-worthy tangent, considering the word's connotations debate and this being an official govt url)
- rhl 13y ago
  Our objective to support "hackers" and the startup ecosystem is mentioned under Commitment #4 (supporting open innovation in France and throughout the world).
  - wrongc0ntinent 13y ago
    Found it, thanks. Nice.
  - mackwic 13y ago
    I know that nicknames are here because of anonymity and so on, but can I ask you who are you to say that ? In the current context, I can hardly see any window for introducing disruptive innovation (I mean it, there is room for that) in France. Those who wants don't have money (mayors, univs, scientists), and those who have don't want it cause of so many reasons (employment would be the first). Stays the middle-size societies, where the entry ticket is damn so high and who are busy too think about the next tax that will be created/canceled/rebranded/transformed/increased/wasted.
    - rhl 13y ago
      Of course! My name is Romain Lacombe and I'm the head of innovation for the French Prime Minister's taskforce Etalab (data.gouv.fr) for Open Government Data, which was created in 2011 by the former government and was reinstated by the current one. Whether or not there is room for disruptive innovation for France, only the future will tell -- and those who build it. :) All I can say is that we're hard at work to make the most of the transformative power of open data and direct collaboration with hackers and startups, and this plan is a significant commitment from our government which I wanted to share with the HN community for constructive feedback. (PS for what it's worth: I'm an entrepreneur myself, launched a venture-backed startup in the Valley in 2008-2010 myself which was later acquired.)

samolang 13y ago

That's great, but with tax rates of 75-100% for the rich I have a hard time believing they'll attract a lot of serious entrepreneurs.

aktiur 13y ago
Here's what three researchers actually found regarding real tax rates in France two years ago : http://www.revolution-fiscale.fr/img/g1-1.pdf http://www.revolution-fiscale.fr/img/g1-1.pdf If you cannot understand French : on the horizontal axis you got the income percentile, and the real tax rate on the vertical axis. The real tax rates may seem high, but they are pretty average for Europe. The nominal tax rate is not enough to gauge the real tax pressure. The French system is well known for having many "tax niches" (as we call the tax loopholes) The three researchers are Camille Landais (Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research), Thomas Piketty (Paris school of Economics) and Emmanuel Saez (Berkeley). Edited to correct : wealth percentage --> income percentile
vmarsy 13y ago
I'm not sure there's a lot of entrepreneurs starting with an income greater than a million € though!
- samolang 13y ago
  Nobody starts a company for the initial salary.
mercurial 13y ago
Cue trickle-down economics...

kh_hk 13y ago

Link to the license under which the data will / is being released. Pretty ok! http://ddata.over-blog.com/xxxyyy/4/37/99/26/licence/Licence-Ouverte-Open-Licence-ENG.pdf http://ddata.over-blog.com/xxxyyy/4/37/99/26/licence/Licence...

rhl 13y ago
Thank you! We developed the "Open Licence" in consultation with citizens, the Open Government Data community in France (Wikimedia Foundation, Regards Citoyens, etc.), and governments worldwide (the Transparency Team at the Cabinet office in London) during a series of more than 50 workshops and meetings in 2011. Glad you like it. Feel free to send feedback and/or <3 to my team mate Alexandre Quintard (@AlexandreQK) of Etalab (data.gouv.fr).
- kh_hk 13y ago
  Using it on the recent public feed of data from JCDecaux on the latest iteration of my project [1], hope I am referencing the license accordingly! On the source I am referencing the link to the JCDecaux website, but could to etalab easily :) [1]: http://staging.citybik.es/networks/velib http://staging.citybik.es/networks/velib EDIT: Forgot to add, I should also release my data under a license and have contemplated using the "Open Licence", but I am not yet sure on what will suit best.

weddpros 13y ago

That's pure bs: www.data.gouv.fr is full of XLS and DOC documents. No raw data, only aggregated statistics. Useless. Documents and data are not the same... I'm french, and NOT proud of it

marianoguerra 13y ago
it's an action plan, that means that they are starting to work on it, not that it's already like that.
rhl 13y ago
Hi Weddpros -- thanks for the feedback. As it turns out, we agree with you. That's why we've been working on a complete overhaul of http://data.gouv.fr http://data.gouv.fr to be soft-launched soon, and we think you'll like it! If you've followed http://etalab.gouv.fr http://etalab.gouv.fr (mostly in French, sorry), you may have heard we launched an open and collaborative re-design process in the spring and summer, which lead to more than 60 substantial contributions and 9 events organized by our community of users throughout France. We then brought in a team of hackers to work inside of government -- believe it or not, this is most likely the first instance of this in the French government; unsurprisingly it worked very well -- and redevelop the whole stack based off of CKAN. Our code is live on http://www.github.com/etalab http://www.github.com/etalab if you'd like to check it out. Stay tuned!
- mercurial 13y ago
  As a French expat, congratulations. There are a lot of things I'm not happy about France, but the role of open source in the public IT policy is definitely something to be proud of. Keep up the good work and keep us posted. Now, if Danish lawmakers would only take a hint...
- weddpros 13y ago
  is there a hidden meaning ? http://imgur.com/34ui71g http://imgur.com/34ui71g
  - 13y ago

veganarchocap 13y ago

That's a nice ethos to adopt as a government, but he can't ignore the crippling taxes his government have instated since taking up office. I feel very sorry for business owners in France at the moment.

jobigoud 13y ago
Open data and open source encourage the commons and sharing. Taxes goal is to have everyone contribute to common good. I see more of an alignment than a contradiction. Remember that taxes are poured back in public transportation, hospitals, social security, etc. (Not measured by PIB). Also remember that what you read about in the media is biased by those that are unhappy.