---
title: "UK Government Opens Data: A Cautionary Tale"
date: 2010-07-12T15:01:48Z
modified: 2010-07-12T15:01:48Z
permalink: "https://redmonk.com/jgovernor/uk-government-opens-data-a-cautionary-tale/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 2828
categories:
  - Uncategorized
tags:
  - Uncategorized
  - opendata
  - opengov
  - UK
timestamp: 2010-07-12T15:01:48Z
---

[![Internal view of one of the clock faces](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3261/2588184456_60f484c1a0.jpg)

](http://www.flickr.com/photos/uk_parliament/2588184456/ "Internal view of one of the clock faces by UK Parliament, on Flickr")

Some of [Coté](../../../cote/ "People Over Process")‘s link comments are better than my blog posts. Like the one I lift wholesale below, for your perusal and delectation.

> [Data.gov.uk troupe gets shirty about standards](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/06/data_gov_uk_standards/)
> A nice cautionary tale of governments opening up data. Part one: don’t over-rotate on the perfect format to have the data in, just put it up on the web and evolve it. Part two: make sure the government understands what “open” means, a hint is that it doesn’t mean using a third-party contractor to gate who gets access to the data. Another interesting note is that while we in the software world love the idea of “release early, release often” or “fail to success,” we have zero tolerance for that approach when it comes to the government. “Beta” and “government” don’t mix well.

There you have it – follow [Coté.](../../../cote/ "People Over Process")