"One of the essential ingredients of re-usable data is clarity of re-use permissions, terms, and conditions", according to ANDS. Yet finding out what data is open and what use can be made of it is often a minefield.

Now a new service, Is it Open Data?, aims to make it easier. This service, still in beta, is an Open Knowledge Foundation Project. You can use the service to make enquiries to data holders about the openness of the material they hold - and the results of those efforts will be recorded publicly (though you will not be identified). Find out more about the service from the guide.