Open Data, a resource for genealogy

Open Data - a window into the world... and its useful data for genealogists

Open data, Smart Data, Big Data...

Ah, we hear about these data! Today, they are indispensable and cover more and more subjects.

First of all, what are Open Data? They are 'open data', freely and publicly accessible information. All this data is made available for public and general interest.

Open Data is omnipresent in genealogy, and each of us owes it a great debt! Thus, the digitization of archives corresponds to this desire for transparency and sharing. Civil registers are the essential tools for any genealogist, amateur or not, and their online consultation allows considerable time savings. Today, 90% of departmental archives have implemented digitization plans. 

The opening of these data is due to two recent laws: the Valter law of December 2015 on the free and reusable use of public information, and that of 2016 which requires local authorities to make their archives public. This growth of Open Data is still ongoing, so since last January, amendment n°CL689 of the Lemaire law allows us to obtain free of charge the death records from INSEE since 1910. As these data are recent and therefore still too sensitive, only certain public bodies can request them. 

But the controversy grows

Some sites are accused of using digitized data by departments for commercial purposes, all of this raising an ethical rather than legal debate. However, not everything is fully accessible online; Open Data has its limits! Recent marginal notes on acts that have become communicable and that could potentially infringe on the privacy of the people concerned must not be displayed. The goal? To preserve this notion of privacy that opponents of Open Data seek to guarantee: according to them, the opening of data would threaten this. The CNIL (National Commission for Data Protection and Liberties) is also closely studying this sensitive issue, some pointing out 'flaws' in the Valter and Lemaire laws. 

Note that it is not only archives that are converting to Open Data; cities have also quickly followed the movement, some of them being true pioneers, like Rennes, the first community to put an open data catalog online. Since then, their service has expanded with the online publication of the city budget, ZAC perimeters, or even measurements of the electromagnetic radiation from telephone relay antennas. 

The Open Data is still in its early stages, and many public and private sector players now also expect to convert to this data fever.