Data glossary

Anonymization

Data anonymization is a type of process to remove sensitive information to protect the identity of individuals in datasets.

API – Application Programming Interface

An API is an interface that defines how, for example, software applications can communicate with each other. APIs allow different software systems to interact and share data.

Attribution

Attribution means acknowledging the source of data when using or re-publishing it, giving proper credit to the original creators or providers.

Big Data

A collection of data so large that it cannot be stored, transmitted or processed using traditional computing techniques and requires specialized tools and methods.

Blockchain

A blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, that are linked using cryptography to create a secure and tamper-evident ledger.

Bulk Download

Data is available in 'bulk' if the entire dataset can be downloaded easily and at once, rather than having to access individual records separately.

CC0

CC0 (a Creative Commons License) enables scientists, educators, artists and other creators to waive their copyright and place their works in the public domain.

Civic Education

Civic education relates to empowering people to be well-informed, active participants in civic life through the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and values.

Civic Tech

Civic technology, or civic tech, enhances the relationship between the people and government with software for communications, decision-making, service delivery, and political process.

CKAN

An open-source software platform for creating data portals, built and maintained by the Open Knowledge Foundation.

Cloud

Data stored 'in the cloud' is handled by a hosting company, relieving the data owner of the responsibility for maintaining the infrastructure.

Confounding Variable

A confounding variable is an outside influence that changes the effect of the dependent and independent variable, potentially leading to false conclusions.

Controlled Vocabulary

Controlled vocabularies provide a way to organize knowledge for retrieval. They are carefully selected lists of words and phrases used to tag units of information.

Correlation does not imply causation

An easy mistake to make (a 'logical fallacy') is to draw the conclusion that, because two variables are correlated, one causes the other.

Creative Commons

A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work.

Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is a sourcing model in which individuals or organisations obtain goods or services from a large, relatively open group of participants.

CSV

CSV or Comma-separated values, is a standard format for spreadsheet data. Data values are separated by commas and each row represents a record.

Data Cleaning

Data cleansing or data cleaning is the process of detecting and correcting (or removing) corrupt or inaccurate records from a dataset.

Data journalism

Data Journalism

Data journalism is the use of data, storytelling and visualization to uncover, explain and present stories that are in the public interest.

Data Portal

A data portal is any online platform which supports users in accessing datasets, typically providing search, browse, and download functionality.

Data visualization

Data Story

A data story is a format that combines data and storytelling into a pedagogical, explanatory or exploratory narrative using visualizations.

Data visualization

Data Visualization

Data visualization is an interdisciplinary field that deals with the graphic representation of data to communicate information clearly and efficiently.

Dataset

A dataset is a collection of related tables of data that may be accessed individually or in combination for analysis or reporting.

Data visualization

Datastory

A platform that explains important issues using data storytelling and interactive visualizations to make complex information accessible.

DCAT, DCAT-AP

DCAT (Data Catalogue Vocabulary) is a standard developed by the W3C organization for describing datasets in data catalogs.

Dimension

In a database, dimensions provide structured, categorical information about the data, such as time, geography, or product categories.

ETL

In computing, extract, transform, load (ETL) is the general procedure of copying data from one or more sources into a destination system.

Five Stars of Open Data

A rating system for open data proposed by Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the World Wide Web, ranging from basic availability to linked open data.

Freedom of Information (FOI)

A requirement in law (e.g. the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in the UK or the FOIA in the US) for public bodies to publish certain information.

Geodata

Any dataset where data points include a location, e.g. as latitude and longitude coordinates or geographic names.

GeoJSON

GeoJSON is an open standard format designed for representing simple geographical features, along with their non-spatial attributes.

GIS

GIS, or Geographical Information System, is any computer system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, and present spatial or geographic data.

Git

Git is a software for tracking changes ('version control') in any set of files – commonly used for coordinating work among programmers.

GitHub

GitHub is a cloud-based version-control and collaboration platform for software development that uses Git.

Granularity (data)

Granular data is data that is in small pieces, for example in its most 'raw' form before being aggregated or summarized.

Hackathon

A hackathon is an event, usually hosted by a tech company or organisation, in which computer programmers collaborate intensively on software projects.

Human Readable

Data in a format that can be conveniently read by a human. Some human-readable formats, like PDF, are not machine-readable.

Identifier

The name of an object or concept in a database. An identifier may be the name of a variable, a unique ID, or a web address (URL).

IETF

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is an open standards organization, which develops and promotes voluntary Internet standards.

Interoperability

Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system that can work with other products or systems without special effort.

IoT, Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) describes a system of interrelated computing devices that can transfer data over a network without human interaction.

JavaScript

JavaScript is a dynamic programming language that is mostly used for web development to make web pages interactive.

JSON

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is an open standard file format, and data interchange format, that uses human-readable text.

Linked Open Data

Linked data is structured data which is interlinked with other data so it becomes more useful through semantic queries.

Machine Readable

Data in a data format that can be automatically read and processed by a computer, such as CSV, JSON, or XML.

Metadata

Information about a dataset such as its title and description, method of collection, and contact information for the publisher.

ODbL

Open Database Licence, an open licence for data that allows sharing, creating, and adapting databases while requiring attribution.

Ontology (information science)

In computer science and information science, an ontology is a way of keeping information about a domain of knowledge using concepts and relationships.

Open Access

The principle that access to the published papers and other results of research, should be freely available to everyone.

Open Data

Open Data is the idea that some data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions.

Open Data Charter

The International Open Data Charter is a set of principles and best practices for governments and organizations releasing open data.

Open Definition

The Open Definition, first released by Open Knowledge in 2005, sets out under what conditions data and content can be called 'open'.

Open Format

A file format with no restrictions, monetary or otherwise, placed upon its use and whose specification is publicly available.

Open Government

Open government, in line with the open movement generally, seeks to make the operations and decisions of government more transparent.

Open Source

Open source is source code (the code that makes up a software) that is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified.

Open Standards

Generally understood as technical standards which are free from licencing restrictions and their specification is publicly available.

P-value

The P value, or calculated probability, is a statistical concept that is used in hypothesis testing to help determine statistical significance.

PDF

PDF, or Portable Document Format, is an open file format used for exchanging documents that preserves formatting across platforms.

Science

Peer-review

Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers).

Proprietary

Proprietary software is owned by a company which restricts the ways in which it can be used, modified, or redistributed.

PSI Directive

A directive on open data and the re-use of public sector information that requires EU member states to make their public data available.

Public Domain

The public domain refers to creative materials that are not protected by intellectual property laws and can be used freely.

Raw Data

Raw data, also known as primary data, are data (e.g., numbers, instrument readings) collected from a source before any processing or analysis.

RDF

RDF, The Resource Description Framework, is a family of standards that are used to model and share data on the web in a machine-readable way.

React

React (also known as React.js or ReactJS) is an open-source, front end, JavaScript library for building user interfaces.

SaaS

Software as a service (or SaaS) is a way of delivering applications over the Internet—as a service hosted in the cloud.

Scraping (data)

Data scraping is a technique in which a computer program extracts data from human-readable output coming from another program.

SDMX

SDMX, which stands for Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange is an international initiative that aims at standardising and modernising statistical processes.

Semantic Web

The Semantic Web is an extension of the World Wide Web through standards set by the W3C to make Internet data machine-readable.

Server

In computing, a server is a piece of computer hardware or software (computer program) that provides functionality for other programs or devices.

Shapefile

The shapefile format is a geospatial data format. It is developed and regulated by Esri as an open specification for geographic information.

SKOS

Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) is a W3C recommendation designed for representation of thesauri, classification schemes, and taxonomies.

Small Data

To provide a contrast to 'Big data', multiple definitions of 'Small data' has emerged, generally referring to data small enough to be processed traditionally.

Data journalism

Solutions Journalism

Solutions journalism is an approach to news reporting that focuses on the responses to social problems, not just the problems themselves.

SPARQL

SPARQL is a query language for databases. It allows retrieval and manipulation of data stored in Resource Description Framework (RDF) format.

Spatial Data

Data that is geographic in nature with an implicit or explicit association with a location relative to Earth's surface.

Spreadsheet

A spreadsheet is an application for organizing, analysing, and storing data in tabular form with rows and columns.

SQL

SQL (pronounced 'sequel'), Structured Query Language, is a domain-specific language used in programming for managing data in relational databases.

Statistical Significance

Statistical significance is a way of quantifying whether results in data are not likely due to chance, usually using a p-value threshold.

Structured Data

Structured data is data that adheres to a pre-defined data model and is therefore straightforward to analyse and process.

Tab-separated values

Tab-separated values, or TSV is a standard format for spreadsheet data. As it sounds, data values are separated by tabs rather than commas.

Taxonomy

Taxonomy is the science of naming, describing and classifying organisms or concepts in an ordered system that is indicative of natural relationships.

Transparency

Transparency, as used in science, engineering, business, the humanities and in other social contexts, is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed.

Triplestore

A triplestore or RDF store is a purpose-built database for the storage and retrieval of triples through semantic queries.

URI / URL

A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a unique sequence of characters that identifies a logical or physical resource used by web technologies.

W3C

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community where Member organizations work together to develop Web standards.

Web Application

A web application or web app is computer program that runs on a web server and is accessed through a web browser over a network.

Wikidata

Wikidata is a free and open knowledge base that can be read and edited by both humans and machines, acting as central storage for structured data.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free, collaborative, and multilingual online encyclopedia, created and maintained by a community of volunteer editors.