from Hacker News

The Open Data Delusion

by puntofisso on 5/25/16, 9:04 AM with 5 comments

• by 7952 on 5/26/16, 12:24 AM

  A lot of this kind of information (like public toilets) is not really suitable for fixed schemas and periodic release. It works better as a log of simple events that relate to a particular thing in the real world.

  For example:

  * Disabled toilet opened (01/01/2012). * Reports of graffiti from member of public (06/02/2012). * Opening hours changed to 8am - 8pm (14/02/2013).

  The flow of events contain much more information than a few edited facts. It allows people to enter complete information without needing to agree a schema. The data on its own is useful without complex tools or UI.