Communal Data Infrastructure: Principles, Tools, and Services

The elements of libre software development are well known: licenses to use/modify/share source code freely, working in collaboration and the freedom to fork, well curated systems of software packages, and the various data infrastructure in support of the user communities. In this presentation, we will highlight the important roles of data infrastructure in facilitating the development and sharing of communal digital resources. In particular, we will look into some of the most thriving communal data services, examine the enabling protocols and tools, and touch upon sustainability and governance issues. We wish to relate the practice of communal data infrastructure to the Public Money Public Code (PMPC) initiative. PMPC advocates that publicly financed software developed for the public sector shall be released to the public as open source software. We want to emphasize that data infrastructure operated by the public sector for the general public shall be given priority in PMPC advocacy, shall build upon existing libre software, and shall be collaboratively maintained.

自由軟體發展的要素，應是廣為周知了：讓程式原始碼可被自由使用／更改／分享的授權條款、協同開發但也可以自由分家、管理軟體套件的資訊系統、以及支撐使用社群的各式資料基礎設施。在這場報告，我們想強調資料基礎設施在共有數位資源的發展與共享上的關鍵角色。我們將以幾項蓬勃開展的「共有的資料基礎設施」(communal data infrastructure) 為例，檢視相關的協定與工具，並關注這類共有資料基礎設施的永續與治理議題。我們祈望闡述共有的資料基礎設施在實務上與「公共資金，公共程式」(Public Money Public Code, PMPC) 在倡議上這兩者的關聯。PMPC 倡議認為經公共出資、為公部們發展的軟體應該以開放原始碼方式釋出給公眾。我們想強調 PMPC 倡議應該優先關注由公部們營運、為公眾服務的資料基礎設施，而且這些基礎設施應該以自由軟體建置，並以群力方式共同維護。