7105.0.55.004 - National Agricultural Statistics Review - Final Report, 2015  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 29/07/2015  First Issue
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5. A CULTURE OF OPEN DATA

Best practice statistical systems aim to maximise the ability of stakeholders to find and use existing data sources, standards and methods This avoids duplication of effort and maximises the quality and coherence of the statistics available by ensuring they are developed using commonly agreed and best-practice standards, methods and tools. Internationally accepted principles of official statistics emphasise the importance of making statistics publicly available (within the constraints of confidentiality and privacy requirements), and in documenting and making accessible the associated concepts, definitions, classifications and quality information62.

In order to do this, many governments around the world are increasingly instituting a culture of ‘open data’ as an underlying principle, fostering greater accessibility and sharing of the outputs from their statistical systems, including statistical data, methods, tools, standards, and educational materials.

Open data is data that can be freely used, reused and redistributed by anyone - subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute the source of the data and share it widely. The key features of openness are63:

  • availability and access: the data must be available as a whole and at no more than a reasonable reproduction cost, preferably by downloading over the internet. The data must also be available in a convenient and modifiable form
  • reuse and redistribution: the data must be provided under terms that permit reuse and redistribution, including the intermixing with other datasets. The data must be machine-readable
  • universal participation: everyone must be able to use, reuse and redistribute — there should be no discrimination against fields of endeavour or against persons or groups. For example, ‘non-commercial’ restrictions that would prevent ‘commercial’ use, or restrictions of use for certain purposes (e.g. only in education), do not meet the requirements of open data
Australian governments at many levels have established open data initiatives to make public data and publicly-funded research data more accessible, discoverable and reusable. For example, data.gov.au provides an easy way to discover, access and reuse public datasets from the Australian Government.

An international example of open data relating to agriculture is the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition initiative, jointly led by the US Department of Agriculture and the UK Department for International Development. The initiative is the first global open data initiative spanning both public and private entities, including donors, international organisations and businesses. The initiative seeks to support global efforts to make agricultural and nutritionally relevant data available, accessible, and usable on an unrestricted basis worldwide, and to build collaboration and cooperation among existing agriculture and open data activities.

FOOTNOTES

62 See for example the following principles from the UN Statistics Division’s Principles Governing International Statistical Activities: ‘Principle 1: High quality international statistics, accessible for all, are a fundamental element of global information systems’ and ‘Principle 4: Concepts, definitions, classifications, sources, methods and procedures employed in the production of international statistics are chosen to meet professional scientific standards and are made transparent for the users.’
63 Open Knowledge Foundation 2012, Open Data Handbook Documentation, Release 1.0.0.