DATA SUPPORT OPEN Training Module 2.2
Open Data &
Metadata Quality
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This presentation has been created by PwC
Authors:
Makx Dekkers, Nikolaos Loutas, Michiel De Keyzer
and Stijn Goedertier
Presentation metadata Slide 2 Open Data Support is funded by the European Commission under SMART 2012/0107 ‘Lot 2: Provision of services for the Publication, Access and Reuse of Open Public Data across the European Union, through existing open data portals’(Contract No. 30-CE- 0530965/00-17).
© 2014 European Commission Disclaimers 1. The views expressed in this presentation are purely those of the authors and may not, in any circumstances, be interpreted as stating an official position of the European Commission. The European Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of the information included in this presentation, nor does it accept any responsibility for any use thereof. Reference herein to any specific products, specifications, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favouring by the European Commission. All care has been taken by the author to ensure that s/he has obtained, where necessary, permission to use any parts of manuscripts including illustrations, maps, and graphs, on which intellectual property rights already exist from the titular holder(s) of such rights or from her/his or their legal representative. 2. This presentation has been carefully compiled by PwC, but no representation is made or warranty given (either express or implied) as to the completeness or accuracy of the information it contains. PwC is not liable for the information in this presentation or any decision or consequence based on the use of it.. PwC will not be liable for any damages arising from the use of the information contained in this presentation. The information contained in this presentation is of a general nature and is solely for guidance on matters of general interest. This presentation is not a substitute for professional advice on any particular matter. No reader should act on the basis of any matter contained in this publication without considering appropriate professional advice.
DATASUPPORT OPEN Learning objectives By the end of this training module you should have an understanding of: • What (open) data quality means. • The open data quality determinants and criteria. • Good practices for publishing high-quality (linked) open data.
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Content
This modules contains...
• A definition of data quality;
• An overview of the dimensions of data and metadata quality;
• A selection of best practices for publishing good quality data and
metadata.
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DATASUPPORT OPEN What is data (and metadata) quality? Data is of high quality "if they are fit for their intended uses in operations, decision making and planning."
Or more specifically:
“High quality data are accurate, available, complete, conformant, consistent, credible, processable, relevant and timely.”
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Metadata is data about data…
“Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, locates,
or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage an
information resource. Metadata is often called data about data”
-- National Information Standards Organization
• We observe that metadata is a type of data.
• The same quality considerations apply to data and metadata alike.
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DATASUPPORT OPEN The data quality dimensions What are the main dimensions to be taken into account for delivering good quality (meta)data? Slide 7
DATASUPPORT OPEN Data quality dimensions • Accuracy: is the data correctly representing the real-world entity or event? • Consistency: Is the data not containing contradictions? • Availability: Can the data be accessed now and over time? • Completeness: Does the data include all data items representing the entity or event? • Conformance: Is the data following accepted standards? • Credibility: Is the data based on trustworthy sources? • Processability: Is the data machine-readable? • Relevance : Does the data include an appropriate amount of data? • Timeliness: Is the data representing the actual situation and is it published soon enough?
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DATASUPPORT OPEN Accuracy The accuracy of data is the extent to which it correctly represents the characteristics of the real-world object, situation or event. For example: • Correct measurement of weather conditions (temperature, precipitation). • Correct indication of re-use conditions of the dataset.
Recommendations: • Balance the accuracy of your data against the cost in the context of the application; it needs to be good enough for the intended use. • Make sure that there is organisational commitment and investment in procedures and tools to maintain accuracy . Slide 9
DATASUPPORT OPEN Accuracy by example Slide 10 Higher accuracy
Less accuracy
OpenStreetMap, City of Utrecht, The Netherlands (2011 vs. 2007)
DATASUPPORT OPEN Consistency The consistency of data is the extent to which it does not contain contradictions that would make its use difficult or impossible. For example: • A dataset that combines data from different sources that has been processed to detect conflicting statements which have been resolved. • A description of a dataset that does not contain multiple licence statements or where the data of last modification is not before the creation date.
Recommendations: • Process all data before publication to detect conflicting statements and other errors (in particular if data is aggregated from different sources). Slide 11
DATASUPPORT OPEN Consistency by example
High consistency
Less consistency Slide 12
DATASUPPORT OPEN Availability The availability of data is the extent to which it can be accessed; this also includes the long-term persistence of data. For example: • A Dataset that is identified by a http: URI that resolves persistently to the right resource (and does not give back 404 Not found). • A description of the dataset that is included in the search engine of a data portal.
Recommendations: • Follow best practices for the assignment and maintenance of URIs. • Make sure that responsibility for the maintenance of data is clearly assigned in the organisation.
Slide 13 See also: http://www.slideshare.net/OpenDataSupport/de sign-and-manage-persitent-uris
DATASUPPORT OPEN Availability by example High availability Less availability Slide 14
DATASUPPORT OPEN Completeness The completeness of data is the extent to which it includes the data items or data points that are necessary to support the application for which it is intended. For example: • A Dataset that includes spending data for all ministries enables a complete overview of government spending. • A description of data that is generated in real time that includes the date and time of last modification. Recommendations: • Design the capture and publication process to include the necessary data points. • Monitor the update mechanisms on a continuous basis. Slide 15
DATASUPPORT OPEN Completeness by example High completeness
Less completeness Slide 16
DATASUPPORT OPEN Conformance The conformance of data is the extent to which it follows a set of explicit rules or standards for capture, publication and description For example: • A Dataset that expresses coordinates in WGS84 and statistics in SDMX. • A description of a dataset according to the DCAT Application Profile.
Recommendations: • Apply the most used standards in the domain that is most relevant for the data or metadata. • Define local vocabularies if no standard is available, but publish your vocabularies according to best practice (e.g. dereferenceable URIs).
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DATASUPPORT OPEN Conformance by example High conformance
Less conformance Slide 18 See also: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/asset/adms_foss/ne ws/just-released-admssw-validator-verify-and- visualise-rdf-software-metadata
DATASUPPORT OPEN Credibility The credibility of data is the extent to which it is based on trustworthy sources or delivered by trusted organisations. For example: • A dataset that contains data from processes that can be independently verified, e.g. election results or parliamentary proceedings. • A description of a dataset that is published by a government agency.
Recommendations: • Base data on sources that can be trusted or on explicit Service Level Agreements where possible and appropriate. • Make appropriate attributions so that re-users can determine whether or not they can trust the data. Slide 19
DATASUPPORT OPEN Credibility by example High credibility Data coming from the Publications Office of the EU:
Less credibility Data coming from Lexvo:
Slide 20 Lingvoj/Lexvo data may not be of less quality than Publications Office data, but the Publications Office is an authoritative source, while Linvoj and Lexvo are initiatives of individuals.
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Processability
The processability of data is the extent to which it can be understood
and handled by automated processes.
For example:
•
A dataset that contains coded information based on publicly available
controlled vocabularies and code lists.
•
A description of a dataset that expresses dates in W3C Date and Time Format
(e.g. 2013-06-01) rather than as text (e.g. 1 June 2013).
Recommendations:
•
Identify the source of terminology and codes used in the data in
machine-readable manner.
•
Apply recommendations for syntax of data given in common standards
and application profiles.
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DATASUPPORT OPEN Processability by example Higher processability Less processability Slide 22
DATASUPPORT OPEN Relevance The relevance of data is the extent to which it contains the necessary information to support the application. For example: • A Dataset that contains temperature measurements rounded to degrees Celsius for climate calculations; a dataset with precision of a thousandth of a degree for chemical reactions. • A description of a dataset that only contains temporal coverage data if necessary for its processing . Recommendations: • Match coverage and granularity of data to its intended use within constraints of available time and money. • However, also consider potential future usages of the data.
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DATASUPPORT OPEN Relevance by example High relevance
Less relevance Slide 24
DATASUPPORT OPEN Timeliness The timeliness of data is the extent to which it correctly reflects the current state of the entity or event and the extent to which the data (in its latest version) is made available without unnecessary delay For example: • A dataset that contains real-time traffic data that is refreshed every few minutes. • A description of a dataset containing annual crime statistics that is made available within days of publication of the dataset. Recommendations: • Adapt the update frequency of data to the nature of the data and its intended use. • Make sure that processes and tools are in place to support the updating. Slide 25
DATASUPPORT OPEN Timeliness: examples High timeliness
Less timeliness Slide 26
DATASUPPORT OPEN Best practices Best practices for publishing high-quality data and metadata. Slide 27
DATASUPPORT OPEN W3C: Best practices for publishing Linked Open Data Slide 28 See also: http://www.slideshare.net/OpenDataSupport/th e-linked-open-government-data-lifecycle
DATASUPPORT OPEN Opquast: 72 Open data good practices Some examples Slide 29 See also: http://checklists.opquast.com/en/opendata
DATASUPPORT OPEN What are the common elements in the best practices • Provide appropriate descriptions of data (i.e. metadata). • Use standard vocabularies for metadata and data whenever such vocabularies exist. • Specify the license under which the data may be re-used. • Adhere to legal requirements concerning protection of personal and other sensitive data. • Represent metadata and data according to the Linked Data principles using persistent URIs for identifying things. • Provide information about the source of the data.
Maintenance of metadata and data is critical!
Slide 30 See also: http://www.slideshare.net/OpenDataSupport /introduction-to-metadata-management
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Conclusions
• The quality of data is determined by its fitness for (re-)use by data
consumers.
• Metadata is “data about data”, i.e. metadata is a type of data.
The same quality considerations apply to data and metadata alike.
• Data quality has multiple dimensions and is about more than the
correctness of data.
Accuracy, availability, completeness, conformance, consistency,
credibility, processability, relevance, timeliness.
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Group questions
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In your opinion, which factors contribute the most to metadata
quality?
Improving quality can require time and resources. To which extent would your organisation be willing to invest in metadata quality?
Could you provide an example of high quality metadata description for a dataset using the DCAT Application Profile? http://www.visualpharm.com http://www.visualpharm.com http://www.visualpharm.com Take also the online test here!