How the DKAN Open Data Platform Empowers the Scientific Community

Drupal Camp Asheville 2024 - July 12th-14th

Start Time

Presenter(s)

Stefanie Gray and Dan Feder
of
CivicActions

Transparent and accessible data is vital for advancing scientific insights and achievements. When governments, nonprofits, and universities make their data publicly available, the resources can then be used by citizens, researchers and journalists in new and innovative ways.

DKAN is a community-driven, free and open source Drupal-based open data platform with a full suite of cataloging, publishing, and visualization features. With international usage spanning 30 countries as well as adoption by numerous U.S. cities, states, and federal agencies, it is a powerful tool to open up data to the people. 

DKAN’s capabilities go above and beyond data storage and management; it also offers user-friendly tools to create visualizations, data stories, and data dashboards. Sites built on DKAN include HealthData.gov, the USDA's National Agricultural Library, and the State of California's open data portal.

Features and functionality within DKAN include robust web service APIs, built-in compliance with federal and international open data standards, customizable metadata schema mapping, workflow management, data harvesting, and more.

Participants will learn how to use the DKAN open data platform to publish and visualize scientific data and walk away with the ability to create a DKAN site of their own. Users will also gain an understanding on how to contribute to the DKAN community effort.