Burkina Faso
Teg-wende Idriss TINTO is a software engineer who spend his free time to fight for freedom. He is deeply engaged in free software and "open everything" movements. He is a Mozilla rep, and a Open Knowledge Ambassador for Burkina Faso.
Burkina Faso ranked #59 in the 2014 Open Data Index / Other stories from Africa
[Translated from the original French here]
This year, Open Knowledge initiated the Global Open Data Index 2014. This Index aims to measure the state of open data around the world through 10 key datasets:
- Transport timetables
- Government budget
- Government spending
- Election results
- Company register
- National map
- National statistics
- Postcodes/Zipcodes
- Emissions of pollutants
Open Knowledge and the Burkina Faso Burkina Open Data Initiative (BODI) have made submissions in the Global Open Data Index survey for Burkina Faso.
Given the government's effort to modernise the administration, we note that most of the data sets are published by default. Each institution has a website and strives to publish its data on its website. However, the publication does not include ‘reuse’. Data are published in most cases in PDF or HTML, the target being the human user rather than being machine readable.
In addition to the question around format, most of the published data has no associated license. In this case, the user downloads the data and is not explicitly allowed to reuse nor prohibited from reuse. The statistical law does not specify what the "public" has the right to do with the data that is published. Similarly, the law regulating services and electronic transactions in Burkina Faso, “Title V” (making available public information electronically) states that government must make available electronically to the public, without allowing for rights to reuse. All indications are that there is a tacit approval for any type of reuse but it is important that this right is enforceable, hence the need to explicitly specify that what the user has the right to do or not with the data it downloads.
This identification of the state of open data around the world gives a common basis on which to compare countries. It also allows each country to see where it is important to take action. In Burkina’s case, we will see that there needs to be more focus on the format of the data and licenses on data in the publication of Global Open Data Index 2014.
