For Readers
Standards for data are often seen as a technical topic that is only relevant to developers and other technologists.
Using this guidebook we hope to highlight that standards are an important tool that are worthy of wider attention.
Standards have an important role in helping us to consistently and repeatably share data. But they are also a tool to help implement policy, create and shape markets and drive social change.
The guidebook isn’t intended to be read from start to finish. Instead we’ve focused on curating a variety of guidance, tools and resources that will be relevant no matter your experience.
- Are you news to standards? Then we suggest reading through our non-technical introduction to standards.
- We’ve also identified some user journeys through the site to help you find relevant content.
- Listening to our “Community Voices” podcast series will also provide you with some useful insight into the experiences of standards developers from across the open data community.
On top of providing useful background and case studies, we’ve also provided pointers to help you find existing standards.
Other parts of the guidebook will be most relevant when you’re engaged in the process of scoping and designing new standards.
If you can’t find something you’re looking for, or have some feedback, then please get in touch.
We’re also happy to hear from you if you’ve found the guidebook useful. Let us know if it has helped you in your work.
For Contributors
We are happy to take suggested updates and contributions from the community.
There is a link on every page that will let you “Suggest a change or addition”.
Here are some ways in which you might contribute:
- submit links to new resources that we should be referencing from the guide
- suggest wording improvements to the existing site content
- suggest and contribute content for new pages or tools
- if your organisation supports or developers open standards for data, then you can submit an organisation profile
- record a podcast that we can add to our “Community Voices” series
We hope that this guidebook will become a resource that is collaboratively maintained and improved by the community.
The full source code and content for the site is available on github.