When we started the Data Liberation Front in 2007, we encouraged everyone to ask three questions about the products they were using:
- Can I get my data out at all?
- How much is it going to cost to get my data out?
- How much of my time is it going to take to get my data out?
But we forgot an important detail: the ability to do something useful with the data once you take it out. With that in mind, we’ve modified our first question to emphasize the importance of being able to download your data in an
open, interoperable, portable format:
- Can I get my data out in an open, interoperable, portable format?
- How much is it going to cost to get my data out?
- How much of my time is it going to take to get my data out?
What we mean by
open, interoperable and portable is that your data should be exported in a format that is:
- Publicly documented and non-proprietary (i.e. it does not require a commercial license to use)
- Easy for engineers to write a program that can import the data into another system
Your data isn’t really liberated unless you can put it to use somewhere else. Making sure you can do that when you liberate from Google products is now officially part of our
mission.
Posted by Brian Fitzpatrick, The Data Liberation Front