Civic Switchboard Guide
  • Introduction
  • About
  • Context and Concepts
    • An incredibly condensed look at the development of open civic data in the United States
    • Ways of thinking about data: Open data, civic data
    • Defining a data intermediary
    • Where do libraries fit in?
    • Selected Resources
  • Engaging Partners
    • Building libraries into civic data partnerships
    • Finding partners in your ecosystem
    • Common barriers to getting started
    • Selected Resources
  • Understanding Your Ecosystem
    • Mapping your Ecosystem
    • Measuring Health and Capacity
    • Understanding Community Data Needs
    • Selected Resources
  • Library Roles
    • Connecting data users
    • Connecting data producers
    • Showing the importance of civic data
    • Developing civic data literacy
    • Advocating for ethical, responsible, and accessible civic data
    • Making civic data more usable
    • Providing expertise on data management
    • Creating civic data
    • Using civic data
    • Publishing civic data
    • Archiving civic data
    • Increasing the library's capacity to do all of the above
    • Selected Resources
  • Maintaining Momentum
    • Finding resources to support civic data work
    • Support networks and communities of practice
    • Institutionalizing
    • Selected Resources
  • Case Studies 2019
    • Alaska State Library, Juneau, AK
    • Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library, Charlotte, NC
    • Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, TX
    • Pioneer Library System, Ontario County, NY
    • Providence Public Library, Providence, RI
    • Queens Public Library, Queens, NY
    • Robert L. Bogomolny Library at the University of Baltimore, MD
    • Saint Paul Public Library, St. Paul, MN
    • Western New York Library Resources Council, Western NY
  • Case Studies 2020
    • The School of Library and Information Sciences Library at NCCU, Durham, NC
    • The University of Chicago Library’s Center for Digital Scholarship, Chicago, IL
    • Indianapolis Public Library, Indianapolis, IN
    • Spokane Public Library, Spokane, WA
    • St. Joseph County Public Library, South Bend, IN
  • Additional Resources
    • Civic Switchboard Workshop Materials
    • Open Data
    • Data Literacies
    • Partnerships and Community-Building
    • Library Roles in Civic Data Ecosystems
    • Guidelines for Creating Open Educational Resources
    • Archiving and Preservation of Civic and Government Data
    • Glossary
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  1. Context and Concepts

Ways of thinking about data: Open data, civic data

PreviousAn incredibly condensed look at the development of open civic data in the United StatesNextDefining a data intermediary

Last updated 4 years ago

We said in our introduction that our guide is not a primer on Open Data. That's true, and we recommend a number of that do a good job covering the nitty-gritty of Open Data. Here we offer just a little information about some terms that we that they represent slightly different concepts.

Open Data generally describes data that are free to access, use, and reuse by anybody for any purpose; are available in a usable, often machine-readable formats; and which can be modified and shared by others. The great accessibility and permissive use of open data make it very appealing. Substantial investments are often needed to prepare, describe, and reliably publish such data. Openness can conflict with privacy and ethical issues related to certain types of data.

Although we may assume that public data are electronic and web-accessible, much of it is not. There's plenty of data on paper, such as data published in print reports. And, in many cases when these kinds of publications are available digitally, the data is still contained in a table inside a PDF or may only be distributed on physical media such as DVD or CD. From a practical point of view, this is not and may have limited usefulness to the public.

Open data as a concept is not associated with any one domain. However, two of the most prominent categories of open data are 1) and , and 2) and .

So, let's move on to Civic Data, which is the focus of the Civic Switchboard project. We like the term civic data because it is information that describes our communities. Civic data can include not only data produced by governmental organizations, but also non-profits, civic institutions (like libraries!), and other community-based organizations. Data created by or about individuals are also in scope; such data can powerfully represent alternative perspectives and stories. Sometimes law or policy requires that certain civic data be open to the public. However, not all civic data is open data. Sometimes that's because of the need to legitimately protect privacy or confidential information. Other times, data owners don't have sufficient resources required to prepare, describe, and publish the data in a usable format.

other resources
truly web-accessible open data
research
science
government
civic data