Open Cultural Data (NO0057)

Implementing a strategy for open cultural data
1 March 2018 to 31 December 2019
Responsible body Ministry of Culture
Description
What problem for the general public
is the commitment aimed to solve?
Open cultural data will be able to contribute to
better services, richer experiences and greater
efficiency and value creation. The prerequisite here
is that the data exists, is readily available to both
humans and machines, and that it can easily be
reused and compiled with other data in new contexts. The most important contribution of cultural
institutions would be to contribute more data and
better data, i.e. more consistent and standardised
data, and to make the data openly available. In the
cultural area, intellectual property rights limit making
data with more recent cultural content publicly
available, such as digital photos, digital books, etc.
Privacy protection considerations also set limits for
making data publicly available, and this is particularly
relevant in the archival area.
What is the commitment? The cultural sector should have a culture of transparency and openness, in which data is generally
actively made publicly available. Priority data sets in
the cultural sector shall be identified, documented
and made available as open data. Standards and
authority registers shall be identified and implemented.
How will the commitment contribute
to solving the problem?
Prioritised cultural data will be made available for
use – both for developing services, providing richer
experiences and increasing efficiency and value
creation.
How is this commitment relevant to
the OGP’s fundamental values?
The value of open data and access to information.
Additional information
24
Milestones Start date End date
Relevant standards have been
surveyed and identified
1 March 2018 31 December 2019
Recommendations for making cultural
data publicly available have been formulated and published.
1 March 2018 31 December 2019
Relevant authority registers have
been surveyed and identified.
1 March 2018 31 December 2019
Contact information
Person responsible from the
implementing body
Inger Lise Kurseth
Entity Ministry of Culture
E-mail/Telephone Inger-Lise.Kurseth@kud.dep.no / +47 22 24 78 31
Other public participants National Archival Services of Norway, National
Library of Norway and Norwegian Council for
Cultural Affairs
Collaborative civil society
organisations, cross-sectoral
working groups, etc.

4. Implementing a strategy for open cultural data

Main Objective

"Open cultural data will be able to contribute to better services, richer experiences and greater efficiency and value creation. The prerequisite here is that the data exists, is readily available to both humans and machines, and that it can easily be reused and compiled with other data in new contexts. The most important contribution of cultural institutions would be to contribute more data and better data, i.e. more consistent and adastered data, and to make the data openly available. In the cultural area, intellectual property rights limit making data with more recent cultural content publicly available, such as digital photos, digital books, etc. Privacy protection considerations also set limits for making data publicly available, and this is particularly relevant in the archival area.

The cultural sector should have a culture of transparency and openness, in which data is generally actively made publicly available. Priority data sets in the cultural sector shall be identified, documented and made available as open data. Standards and authority registers shall be identified and implemented.

Prioritised cultural data will be made available for use – both for developing services, providing richer experiences and increasing efficiency and value creation."

Milestones

• Relevant standards have been surveyed and identified (1 March 2018 – 31 December 2019)
• Recommendations for making cultural data publicly available have been formulated and published (1 March 2018 – 31 December 2019)
• Relevant authority registers have been surveyed and identified (1 March 2018- 31 December 2019)

Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, please see Norway's action plan at https://www.regjeringen.no/en/dokumenter/norges-handlingsplan-4---open-government-partnership-ogp/id2638814/

Commitment Analysis
Under this commitment, the Ministry of Culture aims to coordinate with public authorities in identifying and publishing in open format priority datasets in the culture sector. Currently, a broad range of cultural datasets exists, including databases of photographers, [16] protocols on emigration, [17] a database on Soviet prisoners of war in Norway, [18] and the Norwegian Language Bank. [19] However, not all of this data is currently available in open format and the datasets are scattered among a variety of sources.

In addition to identifying priority datasets in consultation with other public authorities, the commitment also calls for developing recommendations for making cultural data more publicly available, as well as surveying "authority registers". This work will be mainly carried out by the National Archives of Norway, the National Library of Norway, the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage, and the Arts Council Norway, which together have formed a cooperative forum. [20]

The identification and publication of priority cultural datasets in open format makes the commitment relevant to the OGP value of access to information. If implemented fully, this commitment could be a first step towards better standardised and more open cultural datasets in Norway. In February 2020, the Arts Council Norway published recommendations on behalf of the working group for making cultural data publicly available. [21] Moving forward, the Ministry of Culture and the working group could consider collaborating with CSOs active in the field of culture, such as the National Trust of Norway, to help identify priority and promote high-value data.

Commitment 4. Implementing a strategy for open cultural data

· Verifiable: Yes

· Relevant: Access to information

· Potential impact: Minor

· Completion: Limited

· Did it open government? No early results to report yet

Under this commitment, the Ministry of Culture and Equality pledged to coordinate with other relevant public authorities to identify and publish priority datasets in an open format as well as develop recommendations for making cultural data more publicly available. As outlined in the Design Report, [27] Arts Council Norway in February 2020 submitted to the Ministry of Culture and Equality its recommendations on behalf of the working group for making cultural data publicly available. The IRM could not find evidence of further follow-up work or that the recommendations were taken up. A representative of the Ministry of Culture and Equality reported that one result of this initiative was that it broadened the knowledge and understanding of ongoing work in this field. Steps were taken towards coordinated work with administrations to make open data available, but significant work remains. [28] An interviewee from the OGP Council highlighted that the commitment had limited ambition and that data available now were generally already accessible. [29]