A hub for data discovery which provides a common location that lists and links to an organization’s datasets. Such a hub is often located at www.example.com/data.

Source: US OD

A collection of data elements or datasets that make sense to group together. Each community of interest identifies the Data Assets specific to supporting the needs of their respective mission or business functions. Notably, a Data Asset is a deliberately abstract concept. A given Data Asset may represent an entire database consisting of multiple distinct entity classes, or may represent a single entity class.

A system that allows outsiders to be granted access to databases without overloading either system.

Source: ODH

Data may be thought of as unprocessed atomic statements of fact. It very often refers to systematic collections of numerical information in tables of numbers such as spreadsheets or databases. When data is structured and presented so as to be useful and relevant for a particular purpose, it becomes information available for human apprehension.

Catalog Service for the Web (CSW) is an API used by geospatial systems to provide metadata in open standards, including in the FGDC-endorsed ISO 19115 schema. The CSW-provided metadata can be mapped into the Project Open Data metadata schema.

Source: US OD

 ‘Comma-separated values’ is a standard format for spreadsheet data. Data is represented in a plain text file, with each data row on a new line and commas separating the values on each row. As a very simple open format it is easy to consume and is widely used for publishing open data. Source: ODH

A model in which individuals and organisations obtain goods and services (ideas, money) from a large relatively open and often rapidly evolving group of internet users. It divides work between participants to achieve cumulative result. The term was coined 2006 (crowd plus sourcing), although it existed as a model before digital age.

A set of open standard licences determined by the Creative Commons organisation. See → https://creativecommons.org/licenses/

A non-profit organisation founded in 2001 that promotes re-usable content by publishing a number of standard licences, some of them open (though others include a non-commercial clause), that can be used to release content for re-use, together with clear explanations of their meaning.

The principle of setting a price for a resource, e.g. data, aiming to recover the cost of collecting the data, as distinct from marginal cost. In the EU it is for public sector information allowed only exceptionally, as determined by the PSI/OD Directive.