Public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and academic institutions can share data through the Data Center’s open data repository. There is no cost for sharing information with us.
If you’d like to share, here’s what you’ll need to know about the process and your responsibilities:
The Process
- Give us a call. We like to start the process with an initial conversation to learn more about your organization and the kind of data you’re looking to share. We’d also like to hear your suggestions for how the data can be used.
- Complete a data deposit agreement and return it to us. Please be sure that the person signing the agreement has proper authorization to enter into an agreement on behalf of their organization. To enable the broadest use of your organization’s data, you may want to place the data in the public domain with a Creative Commons cc0 Public Domain Dedication. If you’d like to retain copyright while allowing others to re-use data, other options within the Creative Commons licensing family, such as the Creative Commons Attribution license may be a choice to consider.
- Learn how to manage sensitive information, load data to the open data portal, and create metadata through our training resources.
- Share a high resolution digital logo for use on the data portal’s organization page. A recommended size is 189 x 189 pixels. Most common graphics file formats (gif, jpg, etc) are acceptable.
- Share a brief description of your organization that will be included on the open data portal. You can see what Allegheny County has included in their description if you need some guidance.
Your Responsibilities
The data deposit agreement outlines your full set of responsibilities as a data provider. We encourage you to thoroughly read and understand the Data Center’s data deposit agreement.
Please be aware:
- You’re responsible for what you share. Don’t post any information that shouldn’t be publicly made available.
- You must own your data, and have the authority to license and share it.
- You may need to spend considerable time cleaning and processing your data before it can be shared.
- You must provide documentation for your data. Documentation makes it easier for others to find your data and understand how to use it.
- You must provide a license for every database, or explicitly place your data in the public domain. Licenses make your data reusable.
Please let us know if you have any questions, and would like to become a data provider.
