The Cabinet Office is setting up an Open Data User Group (ODUG) to support the work of the new Data Strategy Board (DSB). The ODUG will advise the DSB on public sector data that should be prioritised for release as Open Data, to the benefit of the UK. The full Terms of Reference for ODUG can be found here: http://bit.ly/FQNCK1 as well as the Terms of Reference for the DSB. We are currently recruiting members for this group.

In addition to the formal membership of the group, the ODUG will be empowered to use the most appropriate channels of engagement with the broader users and re-users of Open Data, in order to reach out to all those organisations and individuals with an interest in increasing the amount of Open Data released by the public sector.

In advance of appointing a Chair and Members of the group, the Cabinet Office wants to bring together suggestions for how the ODUG should go about this engagement with wider users and re-users. We are looking for ideas about things like how the ODUG should gather evidence for the release of open data, how it should develop it’s advice to the DSB, how it should run its meetings and how it should keep the wider community up to date on developments (as well as other ideas you have). These ideas will then be considered by the new Chair and Members as soon as they are appointed so that the group can get up and running as soon as possible. In addition to this, we are also setting up a Twitter account (@odugUK) for the ODUG which will be taken over by the group when it is up and running.

We are keen to hear your views on how users and re-users of open data should be engaged by ODUG. This is your opportunity to co-create this process and make sure that it is as tailored as possible to the needs of the community.