Björn Fleischer, Thore Fechner and Marc Kleemann
Open Government Data - the open publication of administrative data by governments - is no longer in its infancy. While many governments and subnational regions around the world are beginning to publish their data in open formats, many aspects of the process can be improved. Specific data is usually hard to find and it remains a challenge to link and connect the information already available. As a result, the extent to which the available data is reused remains limited. Hence, governments have turned to the potential of linked open data. Currently, the EU prescribes DCAT-AP as the European Standard to describing open government data and national governments - such as Germany - are in the process of implementing the new standard. Such a shift raises new challenges and opportunities: how can the quality of linked metadata be improved? Specifically, is it possible and feasible to link existing open data provided by governments with other data and information infrastructures - such as Wikidata - to maximize the availability, usefulness, and reuse of open government data? What are the prerequisites? As representatives of the Open Data Team of the federal state of North-Rhine Westphalia, these are among our key questions as we prepare for the implementation of Open Linked (Meta)Data in Germany. Thus, in this workshop we would like to: give a brief overview of the current state of open data in Germany and North Rhine-Westphalia present our current plans for implementing the Linked Open Metadata standard DCAT-AP.DE in North Rhine-Westphalia request comments and feedback for improvement receive participants’ input on further possibilities for linking Wikidata and Open Government Data in the future
