FAQ Category: Strategic Questions
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Why don’t government or funders require this data as a condition of funding?
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Governments and funders do typically require their grantees to report various kinds of data, but it’s generally non-standardized and not specifically about services themselves. As Open Referral has been adopted by more institutions, governments and funders have begun mandating the … Continue reading →
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Why can’t you just get organizations to update their information themselves?
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There are a number of factors that limit the reliability of organizations as sources of information about their own services: Organizations might not designate the responsibility for managing all of this information to any single person. A single organization might … Continue reading →
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Who are your users?
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The primary users of HSDS are people who manage resource directory information systems. Of course, these users are themselves intermediaries, working to meet the needs of other users. So let’s back up to look at the big picture. We’ve identified … Continue reading →
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If you’re going to build a new system, who will maintain the data?
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Please note that Open Referral is not a platform and we do not collect or distribute resource data ourselves. Our primary objective is to help communities answer this question for themselves. We’d be glad to help you answer that question … Continue reading →
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What do we mean by ‘open platforms’?
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A ‘platform’ is an ambiguous term that could mean a lot of different things — here we use it to refer to a system that connects producers and consumers, enabling them to interact with each other. Platforms enable data to … Continue reading →
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What makes you think you know the right solution?
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Well, we don’t yet know the right solution! We’re just not going to wait around any longer for it to be figured out. So we’re taking action. Essentially, we are asking: how should this data be open? This is a … Continue reading →
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What about the problem of service taxonomies?
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Open Referral recognizes the existence of a diverse array of taxonomies that are used to describe types of services, organizations, and people for whom services are available. Given that such categories are inherently subjective – whereas Open Referral’s Human Services … Continue reading →
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Aren’t there already standards for service directory information?
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The short answer is no – Open Referral’s Human Service Data Specifications are the industry standard for resource directory information exchange. In the United States, this is a result of the Alliance of Information and Referral System’s endorsement of HSDS as … Continue reading →
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Aren’t call centers important for people who might not be able to use a computer, etc?
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Of course they are! We think it’s important for this information to be accessible to a whole ecosystem of services, and for the foreseeable future, call centers will be an essential component of a healthy ecosystem. That’s why it’s important … Continue reading →