Community FAQ
From CKAN
General
What is http://ckan.net/
CKAN.net is a a place to get, use and share data, especially open data. It started off life as a relatively simple catalogue but has now grown into a data hub. There are also a significant number of related community CKAN sites, usually with a country basis (e.g. http://it.ckan.net/ for Italy).
What kinds of things do you expect people to register in a CKAN community instance?
Anything relating to knowledge in its broadest sense! First, we are looking for people to register 'packages'. So a substantial set of photos, a datasets of all kinds, the writings of Shakespeare but not an individual blog, or your flickr photo collection (unless it is really big!).
If you're not sure, add it anyway; CKAN is a collaborative platform and someone else can always help improve on the data you've presented. Our emphasis is on open data, which means data that is free for anyone to use as they wish. CKAN currently includes data like Facebook social networks, Italy's public expenditure accounts, and Danish movie posters.
Occasionally some of the data (resource) links don't work
We know, and are in the process of implementing Quality Assurance tools to ensure such problems get flagged so they can be resolved. CKAN mainly relies on its users though, so if you find a broken link, feel free to correct it or add a comment so that someone else can take a look.
I am not the owner of the package - can I still use CKAN?
Yes, the system is designed to allow any user to edit and update information, collaboratively. A package page can be improved by any users, whether they are owners of the data or not.
Is the information in CKAN.net itself open?
Yes. See http://ckan.net/license for details.
Can I add packages in languages other than English?
You can register datasets, services and downloadable files which are in other languages. However, the titles, descriptions and so on that you enter into CKAN.net should be in English. We operate a [network of localized sites], some of which are specific to other languages.
