Where's the Open Data?

blamanj asks: "There's a lot of open-source code around, and generally, it's quite easy to find. Finding open source data, on the other hand, can be quite a pain. Why isn't there a common reponsitory for public domain data sets? I'm thinking of things like lists of world cities, dictionaries of stemmed words, population data, etc., etc."

Comments

Where's the financial data??

[grammar nazi]

Screw all of the other data mentioned above! I want to run pricing models on historic financial data... e.g. intraday option prices and vols, dividend schedules 30 years back, intraday stock prices for way back.

This is stuff you can't download for free from Yahoo, CBOE, or other places.

If I can just get access to this data, then I will make enough money to purchase the other data.

Timelines and the 'Necessary Web'

[RobotWisdom]

I think you'd lose more than you'd gain if you tried to centralise this process-- it's hard enough to keep a local webpage up-to-date.

I agree in theory that we need a Semantic Web where content is easier to find, but I don't think XML-etc can really help. [rant]

My current theory is that individuals need to build the 'Necessary Web' which consists, like an encyclopedia, of a page for each topic (or many pages by different authors, on their own websites). Four special traits make a page qualify as 'Necessary':

-- an attempt to be FAQ-like, and briefly cover all the important subtopics on a single page.

-- an attempt to sort thru and link all the best web-resources on the topic. (By reducing the linktext to one- or two-word [text buttons] you can fit hundreds of links into a useful page.)

-- a timeline, to present the most possible data in the neatest possible way. [theory]

-- The Open Web Content License to encourage others to recycle-and-update your content, requiring only that they clearly link your page as one of the original sources.

Most recent example of this format: Linux/Unix (timeline w/100s of links)

I believe that once a critical mass of authors adopt this format, taking on the most useful topics, there will be a rapid shift from the current search-frustrations to something very much like the Semantic-Web ideal, without even requiring any fancier technology than simple HTML.