Help Write An Open Data Format Bill

AdamBa writes "There has been a lot of discussion of open source bills, but I think open data format bills have a much greater chance of actually becoming law. Over at the Open Data Format Initiative site, I have written an article explaining "Why Open Data Format Laws Are Better Than Open Source Laws". I also have a sample Open Data Format bill; I invite comments from slashdot readers, in particular on how the sample bill could be improved."

Comments

Re:What goverment?

[jericho4.0]

We're not talking about open data formats for internet use. The idea behind this bill is to make 'goverment' store all data in open standards so they don't become dependent on corporations.

It absolutely will NOT pass

[Anonymous Coward]

a) Lobbyists from companies that currently have govt. contracts will be pissed

b) cost to convert and/or interoperate with legacy systems will be IMMENSE, may run into the many billions (consider all the govt. agencies ..NASA, FDA etc.)

c) Did I mention the costs involved (perceived costs, not necessarily real costs)

Nice dream though, but I rather dream of sleeping.

Oregon's bill has both

[po8]

Oregon's HB 2892 has sections covering both open source and open formats. It has recently been revived, and there's still a chance of passage.

Re:The color scheme made my eyes hurt

[Col. Klink (retired)]

Which color scheme? Slashdot or the linked site?

Anyways, you can always use Zapping Bookmarklets to fix ugly sites.

ISO subset of Adobe Portable Document Format

[tinguru]

At Breakout Session 8 of the Spring 2003 Digital Library Federation Forum I learned that a "committee of government, industry, and academic representatives has started work on an International Standards Organization (ISO) specification for a basic subset of the Adobe Portable Document Format. Known as PDF/A, this specification will govern creation of documents that are self-contained, technologically stable, and have the basic properties that users need."

At the session, I got the impression that most government agencies are moving towards PDF for records than need electronic retention.

Re:Opening up office formats...

[Anonymous Coward]

You may want to try this...

Microsoft Office Converters and Viewers

With the help of these converters and viewers from the Office Download Center, you can share your Microsoft Office files with people who have versions of Office programs different from your own, or even with people who don't have Office at all.

Archival quality file formats, not new software

[SgtChaireBourne]

No need to design new software. The government just needs to have full rights to the data format specifications. The govenrments don't even have to do much work themselves, OASIS (minus a one single member) is drafting open format. Conformance to the data format specifications can then be made part of the requirements.

Specifically, the applications must be able to save by default in the archival quality format.

This brings to mind the discussions of technological obsolesence that surfaced briefly in computer magazines a year or three ago. It's a timely subject, even if it is forbidden by Chairman Bill.