"Open Data" on Wikipedia. Bloat and NOR?

Latest report on the Open Data entry on Wikipedia – we are starting to get contributions. Remember always that WP is ours, not mine. And that it”s an encyclopedia, not a platform. This post is just to show how things develop – it’s not judgemental in any way.
I added a section on Relation to Other Open Activities. This was not specifically about Open Data but things that were similar but different or at least distinct. So Open Access is not Open Data although the BOAI implies part of it (that data in fulltext should be Open); however it says little or nothing about non-fulltext. Open Source may have similar ideals but is not really about data. And so on. After a robust real-life discussion with Rufus Pollock (founder of the Open Knowledge Foundation) I included a short link to the OKFN (making it clear that I believe that OK is not the same as OD).
Shortly afterwards Jean-Claude Bradley added an entry to Open Notebook Science in WP and edited the OD entry to point to it. Then a Wikipedian tagged the Open Notebook Science as a neologism. This is tough, but I think fair. I believe that J-C has an important, courageous, approach and I support him. However the actual term is only a month or two old and so is probably unsuitable for WP. It also comes close to NOR (no original research) which deprecates the development of new ideas on Wikipedia.
Because of NOR I have tried to cut down any personal ideas in the OD entry. Obviously since I have started it there is a lot of emphasis from me, but I have tried to address the objective aspects (history, definition, current usage, etc.). I have tried to keep the material related to the actual term “Open Data” or at least the co-occurrence of Data and Open in the same sentence. I have mentioned my own use of the term and given references (as I must), but not elaborated any details.
After J-C was tagged, he moved the definition of Open Notebook Science to OD. At the same time a significant amount of extra definitive material on Open Knowledge was added. At this stage the “Relation to Other Open Activities” was becoming larger than most other sections, and could invite more contributions, perhaps violating NOR.
So I thought it was a good idea to prune this section. I reiterate that I am not a special editor and that anyone can re-edit this. The Open Data page (like all pages) has a Talk page, so I left messages with my thoughts there.
I’ll keep you up to date with progress. I’m hoping that some of the Open Data mailing list will start helping with definitions.

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One Response to "Open Data" on Wikipedia. Bloat and NOR?

  1. This experience just reminded me of how important it is to be able to bypass gatekeepers to communicate effectively in a rapidly changing environment. The important thing is that anyone who wants to understand the concept of Open Notebook Science can just Google it, quickly learn then contribute their own ideas using some type of social software. Since only established terms are eligible and no new research allowed, this will limit the usefulness of Wikipedia for clarifying evolving concepts surrounding Open Data and Open Science.

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