[open-government] Entrenching OpenData as Gov Policy

Mon Jul 4 12:21:09 UTC 2011

Justin;

You just encountered the divide between policy makers and open data.  They
are different communities of practice with different types of knowledge and
it will take time to bring the communities together.

At the UNESCO World Information Society civil society consultations before
Tunisia, the situation was the same and remains pretty much the same.  In
Canada community based organizations and NGOs do not really know what Open
Data are and the Open Data folks do not really engage in public policy.  For
instance, NGOs are not so interested in iphone Apps but would be interested
in some of the indicator mapping initiatives of the World Bank (
http://maps.worldbank.org/) and (http://www.sacmeq.org/statplanet/).  Data
on a variety of public policy issues made obvious and accessible.  They are
also not so interested in what time the bus comes and the fancy GPS
predictions, but want to know where the bus does not go, does the bus get
people from public housing to libraries, schools & daycare, and who cannot
afford the bus.  In addition, they would be interested in looking at transit
data to inform policy at transit committees where we never see open data
people.

Until which time we get open data people comprehending the machinations of
public policy, and actually working with some of those city committees
(Transit, environment, poverty alleviation, alliance to end homelessness)
for example,  and developing apps that meet their needs, we may continue to
see absences.  This is long term committed work and not just one off
projects.

It will take time, and I am glad you saw it as now you know the great work
you have ahead of you.  Capacity building and building what groups want and
need, not just what is cool for cred.

Cheers
t

-- 
Tracey P. Lauriault
613-234-2805
http://traceyplauriault.ca/
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