Open Data: How Not to Cock it Up

For those of you who do not know Tom Steinberg, now is the time to become acquainted. He has posted the text of a speech he prepared for the Open Government DataCamp held recently in London. Here's an excerpt to entice you, but please read it in its entirety.

After setting out four of the five ways in which make mistakes the result "… in the flow of data we think is so valuable either drying up, or never starting in the first place …" , he ends the list with

… cock-up avoidance technique number 5, which in my mind is the most important, but which I accept many of you might find controversial. This mistake is the mistaking of insisting that Government really should be in the business of publishing everything non-private it can.

"What heresy is this?" I hear you cry, "Aren't you in favour of as much open data as possible?" My answer is simple: No, not at the moment - I don't think any government anywhere is really up to it yet. In fact, right now, I think it is a rather dangerous idea. …

The preceding set of 'mistakes' is great, but what he goes on to say in the rest of the speech is … well, why don't you read it for yourselves.