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Machine-Readable Data

Machine-readable data is structured data that can be processed by a computer without human intervention. It includes formats like CSV, XML, JSON intended for computer processing. The US OPEN Government Data Act directs agencies to publish public data in a machine-readable format to ensure it can be processed programmatically.

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36 views

Machine-Readable Data

Machine-readable data is structured data that can be processed by a computer without human intervention. It includes formats like CSV, XML, JSON intended for computer processing. The US OPEN Government Data Act directs agencies to publish public data in a machine-readable format to ensure it can be processed programmatically.

Uploaded by

RommelBaldago
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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6/30/2020 Machine-readable data - Wikipedia

Machine-readable data
Machine-readable data, or computer-readable data, is data in a format that can be processed by a
computer. Machine-readable data must be structured data.[1]

In the United States, the OPEN Government Data Act of 14 January 2019 defines machine-readable data
as "data in a format that can be easily processed by a computer without human intervention while
ensuring no semantic meaning is lost." The law directs U.S. federal agencies to publish public data in
such manner,[2] ensuring that "any public data asset of the agency is machine-readable".[3]

Machine-readable data may be classified in two groups: human-readable data that is marked up so that
it can also be read by machines (e.g. microformats, RDFa, HTML), and data file formats intended
principally for processing by machines (CSV, RDF, XML, JSON). These formats are only machine
readable if the data contained within them is formally structured; exporting a CSV file from a badly
structured spreadsheet does not meet the definition.

Machine readable is not synonymous with digitally accessible. A digitally accessible document may be
online, making it easier for humans to access via computers, but its content is much harder to extract,
transform, and process via computer programming logic if it is not machine-readable.[4]

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is designed to be both human- and machine-readable, and
Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) is used to improve presentation of the data for
human readability. For example, XSLT can be used to automatically render XML in Portable Document
Format (PDF). Machine-readable data can be automatically transformed for human-readability but,
generally speaking, the reverse is not true.

For purposes of implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA)
Modernization Act, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines "machine readable format" as
follows: "Format in a standard computer language (not English text) that can be read automatically by a
web browser or computer system. (e.g.; xml). Traditional word processing documents and portable
document format (PDF) files are easily read by humans but typically are difficult for machines to
interpret. Other formats such as extensible markup language (XML), (JSON), or spreadsheets with
header columns that can be exported as comma separated values (CSV) are machine readable formats.
As HTML is a structural markup language, discreetly labeling parts of the document, computers are able
to gather document components to assemble tables of contents, outlines, literature search
bibliographies, etc. It is possible to make traditional word processing documents and other formats
machine readable but the documents must include enhanced structural elements."[5]

See also
Open data
Linked data
Machine-Readable Documents
Human-readable medium

References
1. "Machine readable" (http://opendatahandbook.org/glossary/en/terms/machine-readable/).
opendatahandbook.org. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
2. "HR4174" (http://stratml.us/references/HR4174.htm#Agency_Responsibilities). stratml.us.
3. "HR4174" (http://stratml.us/references/HR4174.htm#machine-readabilty). stratml.us.
4. "A Primer on Machine Readability for Online Documents and Data" (https://www.data.gov/developer
s/blog/primer-machine-readability-online-documents-and-data). Data.gov. 2012-09-24. Retrieved
2015-02-27.
5. OMB Circular A-11, Part 6 (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/a11.pdf)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20200422172616/https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/upl
oads/2018/06/a11.pdf) 2020-04-22 at the Wayback Machine, Preparation, Submission, and
Execution of the Budget

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