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| Korea, one of the countries that adopted the open data policy, was assessed in Open Data Barometer by the World Wide Web Foundation and was ranked 12th out of 77 countries. / Courtesy of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. |
By Ko Dong-hwan
Korea was placed 12th out of 77 countries in Open Data Barometer (ODB), the National Information Society Agency reported on Wednesday.
ODB is a score-based assessment by the World Wide Web Foundation on each country regarding how transparently they disclose open data to the public in three categories: readiness, implementation and impacts.
Korea scored an overall 54.21 points and was ranked 12th among 77 countries.
Korea marked a fairly high 77 points in the readiness category, but only 55 and 25 in the implementation and impacts areas, respectively.
Britain ranked top with 100 points, followed by the United States (93.38), Sweden (85.75), New Zealand (74.34), Norway (71.86), Denmark (71.78), Australia (67.68), Canada (65.87), Germany (65.01), France (63.92) and the Netherlands (63.66).
The World Wide Web Foundation was critical in general, pointing out that out of 55 percent of the assessed nations that adopt an open data policy, only 10 percent disclosed important data like registered company lists or cadaster maps to the public.
Some data were prepared in formats that denied access from certain private or company users, and some weren't accompanied by legal statements advising users whether or not they are available for commercial uses.
The foundation argues that government's appropriate control of the open data policy will improve business platforms and bring more rigorous innovations.
In 2010, Denmark invested 2 million euro (about 2.7 billion won) in establishing open data sources and in turn earned financial advantages worth 62 million euro (about 88.9 billion won).
