eGov introduction

Hi all,

I'm Steve Harris, CTO of a UK-based started called Garlik. http://www.garlik.com/ 
  Garlik builds systems which deal with personal information, allowing  
consumers to take control over their information in various ways.  
Garlik was founded in 2005 and has been working with semantic web  
technologies right from the start.

We are interested in participating in this group for a number of  
reasons:

1) We are a commercial consumer of large quantities of government  
data. Currently we only consume the London Gazette (in RDF), but we'd  
like to see more government data published online. We are eager to  
provide feedback and commentary on any publishing efforts.

2) We have consumer interests at heart. Our main product is an  
identity theft protection offering which checks for data which can  
help identity thieves, and we'd like to ensure that any information  
published by governments doesn't inadvertently expose useful  
information. It's often surprising how seemingly harmless information  
can aid identity theft.

3) We are an experienced publisher of Linked Data, having being  
providing and working with it for some years, so may be able to offer  
help or advice. We especially have experience of mixed public/private  
publishing (where some parties have permission to access a greater  
range of non-public data). It sounds illogical at first, but you often  
also want your internal processes to use public Linked Data that you  
expose, while combining that with information that cannot be made  
public.

4) We probably have the most experience of any organisation around  
working with large quantities of RDF, both the storage and retrieval,  
and also building useful applications ontop of it. We've also released  
some Open Source tools in this area.

5) We are active on the SPARQL working group, and will be able to feed  
across and requests for features or clarification that might arise  
from work here. That said, I believe Sandro Hawke is also in both  
groups, and he may be a better choice of liaison, if he's willing.

I will be at ISWC from Monday, and also at the TPAC the week after,  
but unfortunately I cannot make the eGov F2F meeting as it clashes  
with the SPARQL one.

On a personal note, as a member of the public I find this move towards  
eGovernment exciting, and a very positive move. The potential of a  
more effective government, and a more involved population is huge.

Looking forward to the outcome of this group,
    Steve

-- 
Steve Harris, CTO, Garlik Limited
2 Sheen Road, Richmond, TW9 1AE, UK
+44(0)20 8973 2465  http://www.garlik.com/
Registered in England and Wales 535 7233 VAT # 849 0517 11
Registered office: Thames House, Portsmouth Road, Esher, Surrey, KT10  
9AD

Received on Saturday, 24 October 2009 08:00:14 UTC