There’s BIG and there’s OPEN.

Big Data is volume, velocity and variety of data captured in ways only beginning with capabilities only just being explored.

Open data is a little more mature of a market, going back to the origins of code.  The collaboration that created personal computing and the internet laid a foundation of sharing information unabashedly.  It’s a noble ambition as well as a practice requiring considerable fortitude.

In our world of increasing data capabilities, openness is a necessary topic of conversation.  Here is one forum if you’re in the neighborhood.  From the Brussels Data Science Community page:

The Brussels Data Science Community

THE EUROPEAN KNOWLEDGE HUB FOR BIGDATA AND DATASCIENCE

We will have a special meetup about Using Open data to promote Data Innovation on Thursday, November 26, 2015 @VUB. Here is a Comprehensive List of Open Data Portals from Around the World.

DataPortals.org is the most comprehensive list of open data portals in the world. It is curated by a group of leading open data experts from around the world – including representatives from local, regional and national governments, international organisations such as the World Bank, and numerous NGOs.

Source: List of Open Data Portals from Around the World by DataPortals.org

The Open Definition sets out principles that define “openness” in relation to data and content.

It makes precise the meaning of “open” in the terms “open data” and “open content” and thereby ensures quality and encourages compatibility between different pools of open material.

It can be summed up in the statement that:

“Open means anyone can freely access, use, modify, and share for any purpose(subject, at most, to requirements that preserve provenance and openness).”

Put most succinctly:

“Open data and content can be freely used, modified, and shared by anyone forany purpose”