Creating open standards

Open standards for data are reusable agreements that make it easier for people and organisations to publish, access, share and use better quality data.

This section explores how to create open standards and manage change.

Getting started

Getting started with creating an open standard and managing change

Getting started

Creating a new open standard is time and resource intensive. It’s useful to consider what’s involved in creating a standard before starting development.

Developing standards

This section is a guide to the activities, documents and resources to consider so you can develop a successful open standard.

Roles and responsibilities

Understanding the roles and responsibilities in standards development

Planning and managing expectations

Learning from other projects can help you to plan your standards development project and manage expectations in the community.

Managing change in open standards

Being clear about who manages change, and how, will increase trust and confidence in the open standard as it matures.

Useful tools

Tools and resources to help you develop an open standard

Data ecosystem mapping for open standards

Mapping a data ecosystem can help you to identify where standards could add value and identify which stakeholders to engage with

A checklist for typical outputs and activities

Use this checklist to track typical activities and outputs for each stage of development

How to use the Open Standards for Data Canvas

Use this guide to help you work develop a single view of an open standard

How to set up a W3C community group

W3C provides fee-free and open forums that can be useful for open standards development

We can standardise (infographic)

Open standards for data consist of many different types of agreement

Stages in standards development (infographic)

The typical stages in developng an open standard for data

How to use this guide

There are a number of ways for you to learn more about the creation, development and adoption of open standards for data.

About this guide

This guidebook helps people and organisations create, develop and adopt open standards for data. It supports a variety of users, including policy leads, domain experts and technologists.

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