We want people to come direct to us so we know why they want the data

• This is similar to “People might misinterpret the data” if the intention is to help people satisfy their information need.

• Well, OK, can the *metadata* or some minimal subset at least be made open?

• If there’s the option to open up the data, chances are that the information would already be available under Freedom of Information rules, wherein requestors aren’t required to justify or explain themselves. This still allows the owner to find out on a “best efforts” basis, but it’s important to remember that they won’t be able to find out on every occasion.

• An example case is a comms department “find an expert” service for arranging media interviews with your staff. In this case, rather than provide direct contact information you can offer to make the contact information via a logged web-form or specific email address. This will be subverted if the people in the dataset is linked with your open phonebook dataset.

• This can be a tricky one as once you open your data you can’t track every instance of use. This can be very threatening to people who produce this data and need to be able to provide documented proof that they/their team are doing something of value, especially when staffing levels are being reduced. One option is to find someone in power to reassure them that their work is valued and that their management understand & accept that when the data is opened they are trading control for utility.