[okfn-discuss] [Fwd: Workshop on cross-gov data mashing lab - Royal Society - 25/07/06]
Rufus Pollock
rufus.pollock at okfn.org
Mon Jul 17 10:44:05 UTC 2006
I got sent this email friday. Apparently places are limited so
attendance is by invitation only but if you really wanted to go you
could always try contacting them. It is great to see mysociety's work on
the transport maps contributing to this growing awareness within
government of the potential benefits of opening up data.
Regards,
Rufus
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Workshop on cross-gov data mashing lab - Royal Society - 25/07/06
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 15:25:12 +0100
From: Jonathan Mosedale <[obfuscated]@dft.gsi.gov.uk>
To: DATA CHALLENGE <[obfuscated]@dft.gsi.gov.uk>
With apologies for the short notice, could you please let me know asap
if you wish to attend this event (see below). Thank you.
-----------------------------------------
DfT will be hosting a workshop at the Royal Society, London on the 25th
July 2006 (provisional times:10am to 2pm) to discuss the proposal of a
cross-government data mashing lab, developed as part of its work for the
Science and Innovation Cabinet Committee's data grand challenge. DfT
has been leading work on the Science and Innovation Cabinet Committee's
"data grand challenge" looking at how government can realise the
potential benefits of real-time and archived data. The workshop will be
chaired by DfT's chief scientific adviser, Professor Frank Kelly.
Key objectives of the proposed lab would be:
(i) engaging the capability of the non-government sector (research
community, voluntary and private sectors) to realise the potential
public service benefits of the increasing amounts of real and archived
data;
(ii) realising innovative mash-ups of cross-gov data and provide a
forum ('sandpit') where applications and middleware tools can be
demonstrated;
(iii) facilitating access to non-sensitive government data;
Some background information on the challenge and links to work
commissioned by DfT from MySociety is available at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_science/documents/page/dft_science_611659.hcsp
The importance of making better use of government real-time and
archived data, and the involvement of the non-government sector in the
delivery of policies have been emphasized by recent comments made by
the Chancellor and the PM at the 21st Century Public Services
Conference. Better sharing and use of government data is essential for
meeting many key government targets.
We are inviting representatives from (among others):
Cabinet office - e-gov unit Cabinet office - Office for Public Sector
Information PM's Strategy Unit HMT Department of Constitutional
Affairs Information Commissioner's Office ONS DTI / OSI Young
Foundation MySociety BBC EPSRC University research community
A 'thinkpiece' outlining the proposal is attached. An agenda, venue
details and additional / revised papers will follow in due course.
I would be grateful if you could confirm whether you wish to attend
this event by the 17th July 06.
Thank you
Dr Jonathan Mosedale
Department for Transport
Chief Scientific Adviser's Unit
4/19 Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DR
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ANNEX A: Proposal for a government data mashing lab
Summary: proposal to establish a lab / forum having the funding and
mandate to experiment in building data mashing services of government data
Background
Government collects and uses a wide range of data to both inform and
deliver its policies. This data is generally used for specific purposes and
is rarely made easily accessible for other uses. Yet data held by
government for one purpose can offer immense benefits in the delivery of
other services, particularly when combined or 'mashed' with data from other
sources.
Advances in information and communication technologies and the development
of more sophisticated and easy-to-use software tools continue to remove the
technical barriers to realising data mashing[1] applications. The ability
to produce innovative data applications is no longer the preserve of
computer scientists whose role is increasingly in providing the tools and
services permitting others to develop highly personalised and specific
applications. As a result a highly diverse community from the public,
private and voluntary sectors are engaged in the development of novel data
mashing applications.
No single data collector or user, government departments included, can
reliably predict how data may be used when combined with data from other
sources. Realising these benefits, therefore, requires permitting greater
access to data in order to permit experimentation in developing innovative
data applications. Among the obstacles to improving access are regulatory
and administrative barriers, poor incentives and limited awareness and
expertise across government.
The challenge of realising new data applications is not unique to the
public sector. Within the private sector there has been a trend away from a
highly controlled development from concept to finished product, towards a
more iterative approach where the rapid development of beta version
products[2] is followed by testing and further modification of concept and
design[3]. The engagement of a diverse stakeholder community during
conception, development and testing is essential to success. Such an
approach allows the gradual evolution of a product shaped by the
stakeholder community. As well as assisting the development of identified
data applications, the approach has the additional advantage of helping to
identify unforeseen applications for data.
Government could benefit from finding new way of engaging the existing
capability of the non-government sector in delivering the potential
benefits of data mashing. To do so will require adopting more flexible ways
of working, particularly in terms of the commissioning and management of
projects:
. not seeking to define final data applications but allow
experimentation and the gradual evolution of applications;
. recognizing the potential added value of suitably anonymised official
data being made available for mashing with other data sources.
A government data mashing lab: the vision
What purpose?
i. To enhance the development and delivery of government policies by
accelerating the delivery of innovative real-time and archived data
mashing applications.
ii. To improve government accountability and contribute to the empowerment
of citizens by allowing more innovative and customisable information
services to develop through improved access to public sector data.
Key features
. A new ("laboratory-style") model of working with the non-government
sector on data mashing applications.
. Management team that includes specialists from outside of government.
. An appropriate solution that responds to the capability of new
technologies and stakeholder engagement.
Activities:
Identifying and realising data mashing applications by:
. facilitating the development of proofs of principle, pilots and beta
applications demonstrating what is possible;
. stimulating cross-organisational applications where the lack of a
clear home is a likely cause for "resistance" and failure to commit
adequate resources;
. supporting projects that would not otherwise receive funding due to
their small scale or high risk;
. commissioning of projects within overall objectives endorsed by
ministers and senior management but without their direct engagement
thereafter [4];
. engaging the capability of small, creative organisations, businesses
and other working partners as well as specialist units within larger
organisations where appropriate.
To realise these projects, the "labs" will also:
. support the development of mashing toolkits and related middleware;
. resolve data access issues - while the lab will not create original
datasets, it will seek to facilitate access to developers through
negotiation with individual data holders;
. establish procurement processes and project management that ensure
control of the project till completion and a focus on continuous
product improvement.
In realising these activities, the labs will seek to become a focus for
stakeholder engagement, knowledge exchange and transfer, supporting
government and fostering better understanding of policy needs within the
non-government sector.
Organisation
The aim is for a management-light unit that focuses on providing strategic
direction, securing resources and ensuring communication with the broader
government community. The location of the Unit within Whitehall is largely
immaterial but could usefully sit wherever access can be provided to a
Ministerial champion.
i. Management and 'in-house analysts' team -to facilitate and manage
project commissions, with a strong focus on contract negotiation and
deliverables. It is essential that the team have access to cross-
disciplinary expertise in information technology, software
development, the regulatory framework and project management. Options
exist for these personnel to be seconded to the Group from outside of
government and from data-owning Departments as a means of ensuring
relevance to policy needs. The team will be supported by a small
secretariat responsible for creating examples of "the art of the
possible" and producing an annual report to participating
Departments.
ii. Stakeholder group - In order to build a development community, the
forum will need to attract people from a wide range of backgrounds,
interest and keep them happy about their work. The realisation of
innovative applications requires a diverse stakeholder community and
not just programmers, analysts and policy makers. Participation must
bring technical specialists together with policy owners to stimulate
innovation and delivery.
iii. Overview panel - to ensure accountability, the activities of the
forum
will be subject to regular scrutiny by a cross-government overview
panel drawn primarily from key government stakeholders. The panel
will
have no involvement in the day-to-day running of the forum and will
convene every six months.
It is expected that governance arrangements will evolve during the life of
the forum as lessons are learnt and better ways of working developed.
Way of working
As well as engaging cross-government interest and support, the forum must
be capable of exciting the interest of a broad range of academic
researchers and developers in the private and not-for-profit sectors.
i. Public-facing - in time the activities of the forum will be highly
visible and public access to projects deliverables encouraged. Access
to products, and the development of appropriate e-tools, allowing
dialogue between customers, developers and the public will be
essential drivers of innovation. It will have the added benefit of
demonstrating government commitment to exploring innovative ways to
deliver services of social benefit.
ii. Stakeholder engagement at all stages - strategic thinking is done up-
front to ensure that all parties have a common vision. It will seek to
engender a dialogue allowing both developers to demonstrate
applications to potential policy customers and policy customers to
communicate their needs
iii. Rapid decision-making with minimal administration - ideas must not be
killed off by bureaucratic procedures and premature analytic
criticism. Guidelines for selecting ideas areas are however needed in
terms of a business case that outlines the evidence that the
innovation is likely to succeed; suggests how the idea can be
developed; identifies potential benefits commensurate with development
costs
Financial implications
It is proposed that the lab is granted a 'bedding in period' of two years
for the Unit, with guaranteed funding of £10m, to enable experimentation
and the creation of expertise to be completed. During this period
consideration should be given to allowing access to the resources by
private sector organisations. Private sector players could explore the
potential for translating innovation through data-mashing into novel
products and services. If this proves possible, the relationship would be
governed by contractual and licensing a regime.
Possible structure for a Government Data mashing lab [pic]
Way forward
Key elements required for success are:
. A mandate to build this experimental approach, accepting levels of
uncertainty on outcomes in the belief that this will lead to value-
added services.
. A licence to make these experiments public.
. Cross-government support in identifying a management team, access to
financial resources, hosting the Unit, providing Ministerial support,
and developing a stakeholder group.
Establishing a management group and governance
An initial management group will be established that will include
representatives from across government and from the not-for-profit,
research and private sectors. The group will be tasked with defining the
proof of concept and terms of reference, and providing a sounding board
during the bedding in period over the first 12-24 months.
Assuming the Unit succeeds in achieving a commercially viable model
(including Departmental support for engagement with not-for-profit
sectors), the governance of the Unit should be reviewed after five years
with a view to changing it location and nature.
Establish funding
Initial core funding: it is anticipated that the lab will receive core
funding of £10m from the science budget during a 'bedding-in' period of two
years.
Product licensing: the management group will explore how, like some public
sector research establishments, the labs could become largely self-funding
from being allowed to alter and license its experiments for private sector
use.
Co-funding: It is anticipated that the lab will attract significant co-
funding from other sources to support specific application development and
advance its core functions as appropriate.
Building a stakeholder group
In building a stakeholder group, the management group will focus on
engaging:
. Government organisations - as direct policy customers of applications
or as bodies responsible for data use issues (e.g.: DCA, OPSI, e-
government unit, BBC[5]). Also as a source for short-term secondments
into the Unit of technical specialists and policy owners.
. Private sector - the relative autonomy of application-level software
from underlying infrastructure layers and the relatively low entry-
costs makes the sector particularly attractive to SMEs, start-ups and
venture capital investment.
. Voluntary sector - the forum will seek to engage the innovative
ability of a sector that has already been demonstrated through the
development of applications by MySociety[6] following a commission by
DfT.
. Research community - the forum will seek to remove the non-technical
barriers that inhibit the engagement of the industrial and
academic[7]
research community to application development and development of
middleware data mashing tools.
All stakeholders will be encouraged to identify and promote potential
mashing applications and public service needs to encourage the development
of innovative solutions. The management team, enabled through appropriate
secondments, will ensure that work of the lab retains high degrees of
relevance to policy and commercial objectives that exist or evolve over the
lifetime of the project. To heighten awareness and encourage stakeholder
engagement the management team will consider establishing a "mash-up
competition" granting awards for the most innovative mash-ups of public
sector data.
Liaising with key data holders
To facilitate access to key data sources and resolve legal issues
concerning data use, the management group will consult key data holders
such as the Office of National Statistics, Ordnance Survey, the Environment
Agency, the Data Archive and key government departments.
-----------------------
[1] Data mashing may be defined as a website or web application that uses
content from more than one source to create a completely new service
(see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup_%28web_application_hybrid%29)
[2] Incomplete versions that function sufficiently to demonstrate a proof
of principle and demonstrate that it can be evolved into something useful
in the foreseeable future (see: http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-
bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/ar01s03.html)
[3] For example Google labs (see: http://labs.google.com/)
[4] The upper echelons of management are not necessarily best placed to
identify the goals and potential benefits (or the risks) of data mashing.
[5] See BBC Backstage as an example of an open mashup arena
(http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/)
[6] http://www.mysociety.org/
[7] Expressions of interest and support for the forum have been received
from the London e-science centre (http://www.lesc.ic.ac.uk/index.html),
Advanced Knowledge Technologies (www.aktors.org), University of Southampton
and the Cambridge-MIT Unit (http://www.cambridge-mit.org/cgi-
bin/default.pl).
-----------------------
LICENSE
Commercial Products
Advisers.
Consults / Contract
Key Facilitators
. Information Commissioner;
. Legal advice (DCA?);
. OPSI (copyright);
. e-gov unit
'In-house' Analysts
. Analyst staff from across government
. Multi-disciplinary
Oversight Panel
CONTRACT
SUPPLY
Provide data access
Request / negotiate access
Communicates obstacles
Provides oversight
Reports to.
Provides advice
Communicate proposals
Communicate needs
Ideas / Proposals
Application prototypes
Middleware & development tools
Gov Policy Customers
Gov departments and NDGBs
Government & Other Data Holders
Government: ONS, OS, Met Office, Land Registry, OGDs, etc
Others: Private sector, Data Archive, international
Voluntary sector
Organisations and individuals
Private Sector
Established ICT, SMEs and start-ups
Research Community
EPSRC, Universities
MASHING LAB
Management Group
Communicate, Negotiate, & Commission
TO include external secondeesa
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