The D3 project has created and published a searchable information database of potentially useful open data, tools and resources readily available for teachers to access and use. These information and data sources were considered useful for lesson activities by teachers working with the project team.
Visit the database of useful resources
Open Data is based on the idea that some data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control.
One of the most important forms of open data is collected and published by government institutions. The importance of open government data is based on it being a fundamental part of citizens’ everyday lives, down to the most routine/mundane tasks that are seemingly far removed from government. This government data is usually the basis on which decisions are made by policy makers.
The resources gathered by the zD£ project partners have been classified by their country of origin, the type of data and their main target groups.
For instance, many of the sources originate from the partner countries (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) and have been used with teachers there. Useful world resources are also available classified as International. They are considered to follow the principles of FAIR data, namely Finable Accessible Interoperable and Reusable.
The FAIR data principles imply the data is machine-actionable, that the data can be found, accessed, interoperated, and reused using computational systems, with no or minimal human intervention. This is because we increasingly rely on computer support to help deal with the huge volumes, complexity, and creation speed of data.
The D£ project coordinating organisation EUROGEO strongly supports the principles of open data. In 2019 the association became a signatory of the Open Data Charter. Find out more
The coordinator of the D3 project, Karl Donert, subsequently presented the significance of open data education issues to the international gathering of Open Data Charter signatories.