Freebase in public alpha version

FreeBase.ORG, a kind of "Wikipedia of data" started it operations today in public alpha (before you could only enter with an invitation).

FreeBase is a web application to maintain collaboratively a set of data. Each datum can belong to one or several types, and types are organized in a hierarchy. Users are free of adding and updating data, and of creating new types, or edit the types they have created.

All the data that is managed through freebase is distributed under a Creative Commons License. The idea is to make it easy for developers and others to include data in their applications. For instance, if you need a database of postal codes, of chemical elements or stock ticker symbols, you can download (or contribute corrections) the dataset freely.