Re: CityCampCO, OpenColorado, CfA Brigade Connections

[Kevin Curry]

CC opendataca...@googlegroups.com, briga...@codeforamerica.org

 

 Up to this point, the Open Knowledge Foundation/CKAN folks have been helpful in providing a free hosted solution to our catalog.  However, that solution is no longer scalable or ideal.  So we are seeking partnerships and other opportunities to sustain our efforts and grow.

Very interesting and timely, indeed, Brian. We had some discussion about this on a Google Hangout for opendatacatalog-user group last night. Jason was in IRC. The group's position was that standards should matter more than applications. Use what works. Meet the standards, or at least drive toward them. The standard referenced was CS-W (http://live.osgeo.org/en/standards/csw_overview.html), which ODC does not currently meet. So there's a current trade-off between standards and effectiveness.

I'm sure everyone would like to know more about where CKAN failed. Can you elaborate? (Note: You may have to join one or more groups to reply all.) If you reply only the original distribution then I will share.

On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 10:57 AM, Brian Gryth <brian...@opencolorado.org> wrote:

Kevin,

Thanks for the e-mail.  I actually ran into Jason Lally last night at a tech meetup.  We will be getting together in the next couple of weeks. 

I would also like to connect with Joanne and find out more about what she is looking to do.

This connection is good time because we are in the process of determining the long term sustainability of Open Colorado.  We are at the point where Open Colorado needs to find a scalable solution for our data catalog.  Up to this point, the Open Knowledge Foundation/CKAN folks have been helpful in providing a free hosted solution to our catalog.  However, that solution is no longer scalable or ideal.  So we are seeking partnerships and other opportunities to sustain our efforts and grow.

Best wishes,
Brian Peltola Gryth

Founder & President

Open Colorado

http://opencolorado.org

Twitter: @CSClabs

On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 6:40 PM, Kevin Curry <ke...@codeforamerica.org> wrote:

Brian, Scott, & Sean:

I hope you have been well. Are your ears burning? I've been talking you guys up a lot in Brigade circles. I'd like to introduce you to Jason Lally and Joanne Cheng, both in Denver. Jason is interested in organizing for Brigade in Denver, specifically deploying Open Data Catalog there. Joanne is a developer in Denver who want to help with the deployment. I told everyone about my CityCamp friends in Denver who might be interested. I hope you all can connect on the Front Range.

Best,

Kevin

--
Kevin Curry

Program Director

CfA Brigade

757.613.8158

GMT-5

http://brigade.codeforamerica.org

--
Kevin Curry

Program Director

CfA Brigade

757.613.8158

GMT-5

http://brigade.codeforamerica.org

[Kevin Curry]

Brian,

Thanks for clarifying. I think that was an important elaboration and distinction to make. It is (most?) often the use case or service agreement that is susceptible to breaking down, not the technology. 

All, Please let me take back my poor choice of words if they cast CKAN or OKF in a negative way. They are models for our aspiration.

Best,

Kevin

On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 1:56 PM, Brian Gryth <brian...@opencolorado.org> wrote:

Kevin,

Let me clarify.  CKAN has not failed.  We were one of the earlier adopters of the service in the US.  So Rufus and OFK helped us out by hosting the Open Colorado data catalog at no cost.  However, we did not get an SLA or dedicated support.  At the early stage of our organization, it was a risk worth taking. 

However, now that we are 3 years in and we now have city's that are using our API to publish or preparing to publish unique catalogs on their websites.  We need to explore new opportunities and we need to increase stability and assure that our service will be available and supported when needed.  Furthermore, as we begin to bring additional government entities on-line, we need to be able to give assurance that we can support their needs.

In short, our issues are not technology related.  CKAN is a good and robust offering.  We are rather facing funding and resource issues. 

At the end of the day, our goal is to build and maintain a community based catalog that is ideally free for governments to utilize.  We are attempting to take a different approach of building a platform that is truly community based.

Thanks,