What is Open Knowledge?
Open Knowledge is the concept that knowledge can be openly shared. This means anyone can use, modify and share knowledge without any legal, social or technical restrictions.
Definition of knowledge
Knowledge itself is an abstract concept. In terms of Open Knowledge, knowledge can be very broad. It can come in different forms, such as data or content, and be about different subjects, such as science of mobility. As you see, it’s hard to define what is knowledge and what not. There are no concrete borders. But we can define when knowledge is open.When is knowledge open?
The Open Definition tells us more precisely when knowledge can be defined as open. There are a few rules that must be followed in order to ensure the knowledge you want to share is open. Summarised, the Open Definition states the following: “Knowledge is open if anyone is free to access, use, modify, and share it — subject, at most, to measures that preserve provenance and openness.” The Open Definition determines in a clear way the principles Open Knowledge needs, and what licenses it must fulfill. It does not provide or recommend specific licenses however. The entire Open Definition can be looked up here.The state of Open Data in Belgium
Opening up data is not just a Western trend, it’s a global phenomenon. And when our neighbouring countries are ranking high up on the Open Data index, Belgium can't stay behind. In 2015, Belgium ranked 35th of the 122 reviewed countries, with 43% of its data being opened up. That's a long way from the 78% of the current number one Taiwan, but we are catching up fast. In 2014 we were 53rd of the 97 reviewed countries, so we've made quite a leap in just one year's time. The main reason that we're not ranked higher is that only federal initiatives and data count toward the ranking, and we’re a quite divided and complex country.
Pivot in the attitude of Belgian government
Although the federal government had not one but two portals as early as 2011, not much had happened regarding federal open data in Belgium until 2015. It was in December 2014 that the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Digital Agenda Alexander De Croo had stated that Open Data was a vital item on the Belgian Digital agenda in order to create a new digital government. He signed the Open Data Charter and agreed that Belgium needed to catch up regarding open efforts on a federal level.
Fast forward to the 24th of July 2015 where the federal ministerial council has, by recommendation of Minister De Croo and Secretary of State Francken, approved an ambitious federal open data strategy. Through this strategy 'open by default' is the norm and will have an impact on all federal government agencies and institutions. Soon after, a federal Open Data taskforce was created, which relaunched a unified federal open data portal on the 12th of January 2015. Now, with the right people and infrastructure in place, we can now focus on opening up valuable data, starting with the 13 key datasets as defined in the Open Index.