As journalists, we need to up-to-date, accurate and reliable data to document our articles. There is no open database specifically dedicated to Burundi , hence our idea of centralizing data, but also to add ours , those we receive in our daily work , whether for the investigation purpose or for projects of data journalism. Our goals are not only journalistic. We encourage the reutilization of data since they provide information on Burundi. Raw data are to be treated according to the project whether it comes from citizens, NGOs, students, researchers or policymakers.
Our portal offers different entry points: a search by keyword, direct access to all datasets via the Data tab, direct access to one of the eight central themes via ‘ tab “Thematic”.
Standardization is an essential element given that the objective is a broad sharing and data dissemination. It starts with a strong semantics, standard-based IPTC, for controlled vocabulary for the media. Taxonomy and proposed definitions are free to use (Creative Commons 4.0 license): Our project is open, so we use open tools. We have adapted this to portal uses in our own taxonomy. It is connected to our platform. You can access the data sets in alphabetical order via the “Tags” tab. You can check the organization of these keywords on this page, developed with the open source Tematres vocabulary server. This is the first strong semantic layer to our datasets but there are others (Dublin Core standards and Schema.org).
We prefer open formats like CSV *, they must both be readable by humans and machines to encourage all forms of reutilization.
A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to assign a unique identification data. If this is possible, we provide related information (linked data ) . Our philosophy is that of total open, respecting the W3C recommendations for open data, web standards body.
* A CSV file opens with any spreadsheet (Excel, Open Office …)
Metadata are Meta information that document the metadata sets, information about information. We opted for the adoption of the Dublin Core standard that enables the interoperability of metadata.
Absolutely. For more information about user licenses, go to this page.
1) Helping us to collect data: if you have useful data to the portal, please send them to us. Of course, we will check them and ask for more information about them (nature, origin …) before publication.
2) Helping us to correct data: a link is on each sheet on a data set “Report a problem with the dataset.”
You can also send us your comments (partial data …).
All data sets provided on this site are checked and validated before publication because we attach great importance to the quality of data, upon which their reutilization quality depends. That is the reason why we apply the standards in force (ISO, W3C standards …). But we are human and therefore fallible, although we strive to provide a highest quality service.
3) Participate: feel free to contact us it if you wish to propose a particular dataset in our catalog and/or to send us your comments.
4) Communicating on reutilization: developers and organizations involved in reutilizing data available on this portal are encouraged, don’t hesitate to contact us to tell us more about your project!