[open-government] Entrenching OpenData as Gov Policy

Mon Jul 4 12:14:34 UTC 2011

Really great idea Justin.

I think open data is facing classic 'Cross the Chasm' challenges, it's an
early technology which can seem somewhat hobbyist and elitist, so one of
the most useful things would be a communications aspect to the
foundation/campaigns, that provided powerful case study examples, made it
more accessible to influencers, etc.

Critically the challenge is define real-world scenarios with good $$ ROI
stories, or else it will be continually linked to tram timetables.

I don't think it would be overly difficult either, I'm just reading up on
what New York City is doing, which is rocket fuel stuff that other cities
could be encouraged to repeat etc.

Neil.

> Hi everyone,
>
> I've just returned from the Community of
> Democracies<http://www.community-democracies.org/>congress in Vilnius
> (Lithuania), where I found that I was the only OpenData
> activist publicly pushing open access and open knowledge issues.
>
> The most disturbing part of this is that I was also the lone voice for
> OpenData at the new Civil Society Forum, or the existing Corporate
> Democracy
> Forum, at CoD, which both spent substantial time speaking about the role
> of
> social media and press freedom in the Arab Spring revolts, plus similar
> pro-democracy movements elsewhere across the world. Delegates to both fora
> had absolutely no understanding of OpenData or the importance it has for
> hacktivists or journalists. When I later raised the issue at the separate
> US
> State Department sponsored TechCamp <http://techcampglobal.org/> (which
> sought to give activists digital tools for circumventing oppressive
> regimes), there was a knee-jerk dismissal of OpenData as "irrelevant" and
> "all abut tram timetables". The dismissals were by the top policy makers
> at
> the Tech @ State <http://tech.state.gov/> team ... which shapes overall US
> policy on such issues. I had to argue hard that this was nonsense, and
> that
> access to development indicators, performance data, and things like
> mineral
> license data, contracting data, etc, were all essential to watchdog NGOS &
> journalists.
>
> I think that, if OKF intends entrenching OpenData as a fundamental "pillar
> of democracy" in governments around the world, it should make a concerted
> effort to play a role in future meetings, + must proactively engage with
> the
> Tech @ State folk (whether we agree with US foreign policy, or not). Open
> Data should be recognised as a core principle for responsible government,
> especially in the developing world, and not as a "nice to have" luxury as
> it
> is currently viewed.
>
> One way of doing this would be to produce a briefing pack for all of us to
> use when any of us are at these kinds of events.
>
> Cheers,
> Justin
>
>
> Justin Arenstein*
> *
> SA Mobile: +27-82-374-0812
> US Mobile: +1-650-336-5878 *
> *Skype: JustinArenstein
> Twitter: JustinArenstein <http://twitter.com/justinarenstein>
> Web: http://www.linkedin.com/in/JustinArenstein
>
>
> On 4 July 2011 13:00, <open-government-request at lists.okfn.org> wrote:
>
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>> Today's Topics:
>>
>>   1. New releases from S?o Paulo? (Jonathan Gray)
>>   2. Re: New releases from S?o Paulo? (Fabrizio Scrollini)
>>   3. Re: New releases from S?o Paulo? (C?sar Viana)
>>   4. International Digital Curation Conference (IDCC)
>>      (Tracey P. Lauriault)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2011 16:41:02 +0200
>> From: Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org>
>> Subject: [open-government] New releases from S?o Paulo?
>> To: open-government at lists.okfn.org
>> Message-ID:
>>        <CANQ_vu1DDFA0ibE3Sv=u4V20KjC++W2kbW1ZSxbztkT_=yO5sg at mail.gmail.com
>> >
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>>
>> Does anyone have links to material mentioned here?
>>
>>
>> http://www.camara.sp.gov.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4378:camara-abre-dados-de-execucao-orcamentaria-e-participacao-dos-vereadores-em-sessoes&catid=33:cidadania&Itemid=90
>>
>> --
>> Jonathan Gray
>>
>> Community Coordinator
>> The Open Knowledge Foundation
>> http://blog.okfn.org
>>
>> http://twitter.com/jwyg
>> http://identi.ca/jwyg
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2011 16:12:53 +0100
>> From: Fabrizio Scrollini <fabrizio.scrollini at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [open-government] New releases from S?o Paulo?
>> To: Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org>
>> Cc: open-government at lists.okfn.org
>> Message-ID:
>>        <CALBK6h6eq5UWUMb5b=2eAa=CZ4CgtOsiGyRF8jqeCGoT1A=JOA at mail.gmail.com
>> >
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> One of the presenters at OKNFCon2011 actually was one the guys  who
>> promoted
>> this policy, and was working with transparency hacker in Brazil. He
>> presented with  Lucas Maiton from IPEA. Unfortunately don't have his
>> name
>> handy
>> Cheers,
>> f
>> On 3 July 2011 15:41, Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org> wrote:
>>
>> > Does anyone have links to material mentioned here?
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> http://www.camara.sp.gov.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4378:camara-abre-dados-de-execucao-orcamentaria-e-participacao-dos-vereadores-em-sessoes&catid=33:cidadania&Itemid=90
>> >
>> > --
>> > Jonathan Gray
>> >
>> > Community Coordinator
>> > The Open Knowledge Foundation
>> > http://blog.okfn.org
>> >
>> > http://twitter.com/jwyg
>> > http://identi.ca/jwyg
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > open-government mailing list
>> > open-government at lists.okfn.org
>> > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Fabrizio Scrollini
>> -------------- next part --------------
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>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 3
>> Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2011 16:22:45 -0300
>> From: C?sar Viana <cesarviana at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [open-government] New releases from S?o Paulo?
>> To: Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org>
>> Cc: open-government at lists.okfn.org
>> Message-ID:
>>        <CAKVuVAYZugo9HhGeL0o6kVQx=KMHpSGH_Y-fHr1GSzch5uz2Fw at mail.gmail.com
>> >
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> Hi, Jonathan,
>>
>> The open data presented there are:
>>
>> http://www.camara.sp.gov.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4417:contratos-abertos&catid=6:conheca-a-camara&Itemid=20
>>
>> http://www.camara.sp.gov.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4264&Itemid=205
>>
>> But it would be better organized, transparent and easy to visualize.
>> Does it help you?
>> Best,
>>
>> C?sar
>> twitter.com/cesarviana
>>
>> On Sun, Jul 3, 2011 at 11:41 AM, Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org
>> >wrote:
>>
>> > Does anyone have links to material mentioned here?
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> http://www.camara.sp.gov.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4378:camara-abre-dados-de-execucao-orcamentaria-e-participacao-dos-vereadores-em-sessoes&catid=33:cidadania&Itemid=90
>> >
>> > --
>> > Jonathan Gray
>> >
>> > Community Coordinator
>> > The Open Knowledge Foundation
>> > http://blog.okfn.org
>> >
>> > http://twitter.com/jwyg
>> > http://identi.ca/jwyg
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > open-government mailing list
>> > open-government at lists.okfn.org
>> > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government
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>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 4
>> Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2011 18:50:59 -0400
>> From: "Tracey P. Lauriault" <tlauriau at gmail.com>
>> Subject: [open-government] International Digital Curation Conference
>>        (IDCC)
>> To: civicaccess discuss <CivicAccess-discuss at civicaccess.ca>,
>>        open-government at lists.okfn.org,         Canadian Association of
>> Public Data
>>        Users <CAPDU at yorku.ca>
>> Message-ID:
>>        <CAPT_w+=FfNNNYNSdhTffQYhpbdK+5dvEZCyOhsZmy3rGQVCiBQ at mail.gmail.com
>> >
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> International Digital Curation Conference (IDCC)
>> http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/idcc11/programme
>>
>> Information about data curation
>> http://www.dcc.ac.uk/digital-curation
>> --
>> Tracey P. Lauriault
>> 613-234-2805
>> http://traceyplauriault.ca/
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-- 
Neil McEvoy
Founder
Cloud Best Practices Network
http://mcevoy.biz