Open data readiness
This checklist is for the open data lead and site administrator of a public body that publishes datasets on its Exponential site. Exponential is a content management system, not a data portal: datasets are published as content with attached files, and the site offers feeds and a REST API. There is no built-in export in the DCAT vocabulary; if you need one, plan it as custom work or use a separate catalog.
Note This page describes features and common practice; it is not legal advice. In the EU see the Open Data Directive; check the rules that apply to you with your legal counsel.
Contents
Decide
- To do: Which datasets you publish, who owns each, and how often it is updated.
- To do: The license, preferably one that meets the Open Definition.
- To do: Personal data removed or aggregated before publication.
Content model
- To do: A content class for datasets, with fields for title, description, publisher, license, update frequency, coverage and the data files (Designing your content model, Choosing datatypes).
- To do: Field names that map to a catalog vocabulary such as DCAT 3, so a later export is simple.
- To do: Tags for themes (Tagging with eztags).
Files and formats
- To do: Data in open, machine-readable formats (CSV, JSON), not only PDF (Files and downloads).
- To do: Downloads served through
content/download, which checks read access (Security standards). - To do: File sizes within the upload limits of the server (PHP settings for Exponential).
- To do: A data dictionary for each dataset explaining columns and units.
Discovery
- To do: A catalog page listing every dataset (Site search).
- To do: Stable, readable addresses that do not change when a file is updated (URL aliases and nice URLs).
- To do: Sitemaps include the dataset pages (Sitemaps).
- To do: Metadata for search engines and sharing (Metadata and social sharing).
Machine access
- To do: An RSS feed of new and changed datasets (RSS feeds).
- To do: The REST API documented for reusers, with read access for anonymous users only where intended (REST API v1 and v2).
- To do: Rate limits or caching in front of the API decided with the host (Caching layers).
Maintenance
- To do: Each dataset shows its last update date.
- To do: Old versions kept or archived as your records rules say (Records checklist).
- To do: Links checked regularly (Content checks).
- To do: Feedback from reusers has a contact.
Related pages
- Government checklists
- FOI readiness
- The open data section of this government help (written by another author)
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
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