Excuse this hastily written post but this Govt website recently caught my eye.
The beta release of a Public data website  at : http://www.data.gov.uk looks to be a bit of a watershed in terms of accessing public data. Tim Berners Lee is heading up the project team in what could be a very powerful data source that can be tapped into using RDF . (Resources description framework)

The BBC’s article explains a bit more about the politics and the drive for transparency. It looks like its essentially aimed at those wishing to develop 3rd party apps that can process the data into a more readable and searchable format . I suspect there will be great interest by those wishing to develop applications to make sense of the enormous quantity of publicly held data (which is where RDF comes in).

Who will benefit? I’ve no doubt companies will want to develop offer quick access to relevant data (e.g. a way to easily search and access local govt planning applications).  The potential here is enormous but there are one or two concerns – I would hope that the service would come under some sort of license similar to GNU to stop profiteering.  Secondly, its one thing creating an online facility for churning out all this public info, but perhaps questions will be raised about the interpretation and privacy of data if it is so readily accessible.

It could also be argued its better for this data to be in the public domain especially with the mood for accountability in the public sector.  Anyway the site is definitely worth worth a look at, if only to see how  this data could impact on us  as individuals – or possibly as a resource for our businesses.