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Need to adopt open data standards

The need for the Government to adopt open data standards for storing data and allowing open access was stressed by speakers at the ongoing National Convention of Academics and Research (NCAR-2010) here. Speaking at a session titled ‘Open Data Policy' Knowledge Commons Chairman, Prabir Purkayastha said the Right to Information Act would be incomplete without the data being in open standards. He explained the negative impact of proprietary data formats for the customers. Professor Rajan from IIIT Hyderabad pointed out that opening up data could actually help people. When an early warning system for tsunami or a cyclone had to be developed, the researchers need to know in advance the geographical and population date. The speakers emphasised the importance of open data as a base for knowledge.

The article as quoted in The Hindu

Embrace open source philosophy, Kalam tells scientists, researchers

The concept of Free Software, wherein knowledge is created by the community for the community, without being driven by commercial interests, must be extended to research to solve problems in health care, agriculture, energy and safe drinking water, the former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, said.

He was speaking at the inauguration of the three-day National Convention for Academics and Research on ‘Computing freedom for technology, education and research,' organised by the Free Software Movement of India (FSMI), a national coalition of regional free software movements, on the Mahindra Satyam campus here on Thursday.

Mr. Kalam implored scientists, researchers and academics to embrace the ‘open source philosophy' in their respective fields, and work towards building ‘open source networks' that can help pool talent, research and know-how from around the world. Such a platform can help evolve scientific solutions to problems, particularly those relevant to developing countries.

“Why don't Free Software movements come together to create a network of experts to work on providing free drinking water,” he asked the audience.

A valuable open source movement initiated in the Indian health care sector is the Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD), a consortium led by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

FSMI on Open Standards in eGovernance

Free Software Movement of India congratulates the FOSS community of India on its victory in acheiving an Open Standards Policy by the Government of India. The continuous debate on the draft policy and vigilant persuasion by the community has finally paid off.

The community should now focus on sensitizing the various government departments and organisations towards compliance to these standards and implementing alternative solutions. We should extend support upto the local government bodies in identifying non-compliant solutions and deploying solutions as per the Open Standards Policy.

We should look forward to foster an environment where the country's technology graduates can be employed for engineering free alternatives in the light of the great demand for solutions that this change in policy will bring forward.

This policy should be showcased as not only a success story of a vibrant Free Software community but also as a benchmark for other government departments in our country and for other countries as well.

FSMI was quoted by The Hindu in this article as:

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