PSI Pic and Mix

Source: Kent County Council (UK)

Kent County Council piloting making public data available online

Kent (UK): October 2009

Kent County Council (KCC) submission of the Pic and Mix concept won the Innovate08 overall competition (rewarding the most creative solutions that harness technology to tackle social and economic problems).

This year, KCC is piloting Pic and Mix which aims to make county public data freely accessible online.

What is Pic and Mix?

KCC describes the pilot project:

“Pic and Mix aims to increase public access to Kent-related datasets including those generated by Kent County Council (KCC). For the purposes of the pilot, we have brought together a sample of the most useful information. Where possible, it’s been provided in a format that allows it to be ‘mashed’ and customised. “

The main elements of Pic and Mix:

  • To make publicly available information – things like crime statistics, employment information, business information – more accessible.
  • We also wanted to provide tools that would enable people to ‘pic and mix’ data to create customised information.
  • And last but not least, we wanted to provide a platform where people could share this information and discuss ways in which it could be used.
  • The ‘Getting Involved’ web page provides online guidance and tutorials on how to re-use the data.

What sort of data?

Public data currently online falls under the following categories with the release of more data planned as the project develops.

  • Business
  • Community
  • Crime
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Employment
  • Health
  • KCC (budget book, offices, property)
  • Leisure
  • Transport
  • District
  • Parish

How is the data being used?

KCC invites the public to let them know how the Pic and Mix data are being used and are publishing some of the results (mashups) online. Mashups are defined by KCC as: “a slightly geeky term for either combining two datasets or filtering/transforming a raw feed for a new purpose.” Examples of innovative data use are already featured on the site and the development of mash ups continues (see Data Uses web page).

Rationale and Mandate for Action

Read more about the Pic and Mix initiative on the IdeA esd Communities site pages (electronic service delivery communities). In a write up about Pic and Mix, the IdeA esd Communities site comments:

“…We understand that without the commitment to make information more freely available, our capacity to empower our residents is limited. Kent County Council prides itself on its strong focus on continuous learning and innovation.

In terms of strategic commitment, the County Council and our Chief Officer Group (COG) have recognised that improving the use of its information is critical in the delivery of the council’s services. Indeed, in a recent internal review RSE Consultancy carried out, it states that for KCC "information has become as important a corporate resource as finance, infrastructure and staff and can be used as the generator of innovation, transformation and change".

The Council is also working with various government departments to share information and knowledge in order to jointly keep abreast of emerging policy and influence direction of travel, as well as taking forward recommendations on using the relevant licences to enable re-use. These include:

We will also obtain Information Fair Trader Scheme Accreditation as part of this.”

Related European PSI Platform Topic Reports

Topic Report No. 2: Good Practice in promoting PSI re-use: The IFTS brand (Information Fair Trader Scheme)

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