[okfn-za] Stress testing the system

Thu Aug 22 22:31:48 UTC 2013

> Adi, do you want me to assign a research intern in the AENS newsroom to help
> submit & chase up these PAIA requests?

Please.

I must say though that I am really enjoying the process of requesting
data for the sake of finding out whether it is available and how
difficult I have to fight to get it. I think the data will be useful
if it is made available but even being told that I cannot have it is
still an interesting response.

I'm struggling with phrasing my request for the municipal budget.
Rather than requesting the entire budget in fine detail, I would like
to focus on a specific area which might be easier to obtain - any
suggestions for formulating the request?
Adi

>
> Cheers,
> Justin
>
> Justin Arenstein
>
> SA Mobile: +27.82.374.0812
> US Mobile: +1.650.336.5878
> Skype: JustinArenstein
> Twitter: JustinArenstein
> Web: http://www.linkedin.com/in/JustinArenstein
>
> PGP Key Fingerprint: 8B19 3C53 2B40 453B F48D 9D7A 7346 A3AE DB88 30CD
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>
>
>
>
> On 17 August 2013 16:16, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org> wrote:
>>
>> This is a fantastic list Justin! One thing I'd love to do is to intersect
>> it with this list of "key" datasets here:
>>
>>
>> https://docs.google.com/a/okfn.org/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aon3JiuouxLUdEVHQ0c4RGlRWm9Gak54NGV0UlpfOGc#gid=3
>>
>> Which was compiled in order to power the open data city survey:
>>
>> http://census.okfn.org/city/
>>
>> Rufus
>>
>>
>> On 17 August 2013 12:12, Justin Arenstein <justinarenstein at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Adi,
>>>
>>> Hi. I think the top 20 kinds of municipal data that would be immediately
>>> useful for civic apps and ordinary citizens interested in realtime democracy
>>> would include:
>>>
>>> 1.) CSV versions of the itemised municipal budget, with as much granular
>>> detail as possible
>>> 2.) Machine readable versions of all reports, proposals, transcripts,
>>> documents, and other records from council sittings (including sub-coms)
>>> 3.) Realtime access to unfiltered video / audio feeds of all council
>>> sessions / sittings and other events
>>> 4.) CSV / machine readable versions of all tenders advertised,
>>> adjudicated, and issued with as much granular detail as possible (+
>>> retrospective)
>>> 5.) CSV / machine readable versions of municipal cadastral data, with
>>> shape / boundary data
>>> 6.) CSV / machine readable versions of contact directories for management
>>> level council staff & the geo-areas / competencies they manage
>>> 7.) CSV / machine readable versions of all municipal legal notices,
>>> including EIAs / land change use notices, licensing, etc
>>> 8.) CSV / machine readable versions of all municipal infrastructure /
>>> capex development plans, with geo-data & other appropriate meta data
>>> 9.) CSV / machine readable versions of all municipal services, including
>>> health, housing, sanitation, education, etc
>>> 10.) CSV / machine readable versions of the property roll (including all
>>> council owned property)
>>> 11.) CSV / machine readable versions of all health inspection citations
>>> and other records
>>> 12.) CSV / machine readable versions of all traffic / municipal police
>>> citations or other incident / activity logs
>>> 13.) CSV / machine readable versions of all (granular) crime data
>>> available to council, including from SAPS & pvt security companies
>>> 14.) CSV / machine readable versions of all datafeeds from CCTV and other
>>> environmental sensors (air, water, sound, atmospheric, etc)
>>> 15.) Machine readable versions of contact directories (phone / email /
>>> social media) for all elected councillors + all management echelon staff
>>> 16.) Machine readable versions of all declarations of interest / gifts /
>>> association of all elected councillors + all management echelon staff
>>> 17.) Machine readable versions of all diaries / travel schedules /
>>> meeting registers of all elected councillors + all management echelon staff
>>> 18.) Machine readable versions of the CVs / resumes of all elected
>>> councillors + all management echelon staff
>>> 19.) Machine readable versions of the CVs / resumes of all consultants,
>>> advisors, etc, working with council
>>> 20.) Machine readable versions of the records of disciplinary action /
>>> blacklisting of staff, contractors, suppliers, consultants
>>>
>>> This is a kinda broad trawl, probably skewed by my previous job as an
>>> investigative journo, but I think the resulting data would allow people to
>>> do everything from compare schools / clinics / neighbourhoods, to checking
>>> health safety at restaurants, etc, to monitoring development & services,
>>> participating in licensing / land use changes, and helping to keep
>>> government honest & focused on residents' real needs.
>>>
>>> I've probably overlooked some important or contextual stuff, so would be
>>> interested to hear whether anyone else has other stuff to add.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Justin
>>>
>>> Justin Arenstein
>>>
>>> SA Mobile: +27.82.374.0812
>>> US Mobile: +1.650.336.5878
>>> Skype: JustinArenstein
>>> Twitter: JustinArenstein
>>> Web: http://www.linkedin.com/in/JustinArenstein
>>>
>>> PGP Key Fingerprint: 8B19 3C53 2B40 453B F48D 9D7A 7346 A3AE DB88 30CD
>>> Do you want to email me confidentially? See: http://bit.ly/VLJt1N
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 13 August 2013 23:06, Adi Eyal <adi at burgercom.co.za> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi Robert
>>>>
>>>> Have you had a look on the StatsSA website for machine readable data?
>>>> It's somewhat hidden and their interface is not fantastic, but have a
>>>> look for SuperWeb. You can slice and dice data as you like and then
>>>> download it in csv.
>>>>
>>>> Adi
>>>>
>>>> On 13 August 2013 13:22, Robert Elliott <robert at graphflow.com> wrote:
>>>> > Hi Adi,
>>>> >
>>>> > It would be great to get the province's 2011 census data... in a
>>>> > usable
>>>> > format, so not PDF.
>>>> >
>>>> > I think that data formatting may be a topic worth focussing in on,
>>>> > because
>>>> > it isn't open if it is unusable.
>>>> >
>>>> > Cheers,
>>>> > Rob
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > On Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 10:05 AM, Greg Kempe <gregkempe at gmail.com>
>>>> > wrote:
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Adi,
>>>> >>
>>>> >> That's great news, do you have any further details on it, who's
>>>> >> putting it
>>>> >> together, how far along it is etc?
>>>> >>
>>>> >> I would like to get access to the property valuations roll for the
>>>> >> City.
>>>> >> It's ostensibly available online (in bits and pieces) as well as in
>>>> >> the
>>>> >> paper archives, so it's already public data, but not readily
>>>> >> accessible in
>>>> >> bulk.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Greg
>>>> >>
>>>> >> On 13 August 2013 at 9:50:09 AM, Adi Eyal (adi at burgercom.co.za)
>>>> >> wrote:
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Hi All
>>>> >>
>>>> >> The Western Cape Government as well as the City of Cape Town are
>>>> >> currently working on an open data policy. Yay!
>>>> >>
>>>> >> We've decide that rather than writing the (possibly out of touch with
>>>> >> reality) policy, we will first start to stress the system but seeing
>>>> >> where the flaws are. Then the policy will be written in an iterative
>>>> >> fashion in order to focus on the most important areas.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> I'm playing Mr Mission Impossible but trying to get data from both
>>>> >> institutions and writing up the case studies in order to poke holes
>>>> >> in
>>>> >> their existing policies and capacity to respond to requests.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> I'm soliciting suggestions from you for what data you would like to
>>>> >> get from the City/Province if you could. I have some ideas but it
>>>> >> would be great to get the community behind it.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Thanks
>>>> >> Adi
>>>> >>
>>>> >> --
>>>> >> Adi Eyal
>>>> >> Data Specialist
>>>> >> phone: +27 78 014 2469
>>>> >> skype: adieyalcas
>>>> >> linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal
>>>> >>
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>>>> >>
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>>>> >
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Adi Eyal
>>>> Data Specialist
>>>> phone: +27 78 014 2469
>>>> skype: adieyalcas
>>>> linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Rufus Pollock
>>
>> Founder and Executive Director | skype: rufuspollock | @rufuspollock
>>
>> The Open Knowledge Foundation
>>
>> Empowering through Open Knowledge
>>
>> http://okfn.org/ | @okfn | OKF on Facebook |  Blog  |  Newsletter
>
>

-- 
Adi Eyal
Data Specialist
phone: +27 78 014 2469
skype: adieyalcas
linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal