[okfn-za] [HacksHackers Cape Town] Restrictive licences on government websites

Fri Apr 5 04:37:29 UTC 2013

I think this is where the advocacy element of ODADI (and others) comes to
the fore.
And we should recognise that we have a long journey to convince the powers
that be that OpenData is a good thing and the way to go, particularly in
the current climate of the secrecy bill.
So whilst I can be convinced about OpenData relatively easily and change my
behavior accordingly, getting change to happen in the public sector will
take time.

I am reminded of the UNDP Workshop on Open Data that I attended last year.
http://unpan.org/Events/BrowseEventsbyCalendar/tabid/94/mctl/EventDetails/ModuleID/1532/ItemID/2228/language/en-US/Default.aspx?selecteddate=10/10/2012
and I attach the Canadian presentation which I found the most enlightening
and perhaps represents a version of a future that we can aim for in South
Africa.
(Brazil were also good but their presentation is a lot bigger - 7mb - so I
didn't want to attach)

I agree with Sandi that rather than going the legal route we need to
constantly spread the OpenData message
- South Africa is meant to be a participatory democracy - Open Data
promotes that
- OpenData creates job opportunities
- showcasing examples of what has been done with Open Data - ideally South
African examples
- other

Paul

On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 11:26 PM, Sandra Williams <sanditest7 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi all,
> As somebody who use to work in Govt IT I also know that it is an active
> process of maintaining boundaries to data access not only for external
> people but also within & between internal Govt divisions. This paradigm not
> only adds transactional costs to Govt services but also leads to added risk
> to Govt as an entity but also risk to society.
>
> E.g. Deeds office data standards (or lack thereof) leads to massive
> transactional costs with ripple effects on multiple economic value chains.
>
> It comes down to architecture (designing for open data access), standards
> & data governance policies - but mostly we need a new mindset about data
> "ownership" and empathy with citizens who have a legitimate right to data
> access.
>
> Legal challenge is 1 path but how bout using market forces? I.e I'm
> thinking of BRICS & the idea of closer integration between
> Brazil-Russia-India-China-SA can be supported by open Govt data standards.
> The same applies to our Southern African Economic Development Region - the
> cost of doing business in this region. Remember this sort of thing (among
> other idea was) exactly the rationale behind formation of the EU.  And
> although the EU project is floundering i.t.o. political & economic
> paradoxes yet as a data project it has shown us the power & value of open
> data.
>
> These are just thoughts - but I think in order to change the current data
> access paradigm requires the marshaling of significant energy (legal
> battles don't give you that) so maybe what's needed is piggybacking on
> other big ideas?
>
> Sandi
>
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