[okfn-za] Open data in South Africa

Tue Nov 19 03:53:30 UTC 2013

Thanks for the interesting email Axolile

> We have had the most difficulties when having to access some financial
> information on service delivery agreements/ tenders. Budgeting information,
> policies and informal settlements statistics have also been difficult to
> get. We are now working on using cellphones and social media to make the
> information accessible to everyone, especially the poor in informal
> settlements who often don't get have access.
>

Funnily enough, my gut re-action would be that the most difficult
thing would be to get people to use the information. Getting data of
course is often hard and frustrating but we already have oodles of
data that very few people are using. Is it too early to share your
insights around usage of information by consumers?

> That being said, we are still looking for ways of accessing the information
> ourselves without much or any difficulties. any help you guys can provide
> would be much appreciated.

>
> Also, you mentioned once that you have access to information on tender
> resolutions from the City of Cape Town. It would be great if you can share
> that information with us.

being a complete data nerd, I'm always happy to dig my teeth into an
ATI problem. When requesting access to tender award contracts, the
City of Cape Town accused me of being "frivolous and vexatious", which
only encouraged me more.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the actual contracts (they're only
stored in hard-copy format and require manually scanning). I did get
the tender resolutions for 2013 - you can find them here:
https://docs.openafrica.net/search/group:%20code4sa

If that's not convenient, let me know and I'll upload them as a zip
file somewhere.

Adi

> Regards,
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 2:08 PM, Adi Eyal <adi at code4sa.org> wrote:
>>
>> That's the longest quick note I have ever seen :)
>>
>> On 18 November 2013 11:06, Murray Hunter <murray at r2k.org.za> wrote:
>> > A very quick note from R2K's experience - the bulk of our membership is
>> > made
>> > up of front-line civic organisations whose primary concern is service
>> > delivery, usually led by volunteer staff with low tech literacy. R2K's
>> > role
>> > has mainly been in matching these orgs with PAIA-savvy organisations
>> > like
>> > SAHA and ODAC (since they handle the direct access-to-info needs of
>> > R2K's
>> > constituent organisations).
>>
>> My feeling is that a missing ingredient here is tech-oriented
>> non-profits (or socially-minded for-profits) who can bridge the gap
>> between data and information.
>>
>> > This points to a number of challenges and shortcomings in the civil
>> > society
>> > environment: lack of analytic or technocratic capacity, low research
>> > skills,
>> > tech literacy - and, quite possibly, a vexing lack of imagination on our
>> > part when it comes to developing tools to mitigate all of the above. (It
>> > also suggests is that much of the time, PAIA just isn't the tool for the
>> > job, in as much as "access to information" requests are often really
>> > about
>> > access to process and access to decision makers - i.e. citizens don't
>> > want
>> > the 400-page document justifying decisions, they want the person who
>> > made
>> > the decisions to come down to a community hall and explain those
>> > decisions.)
>>
>> I completely agree. 400 page documents need to be broken down into
>> bite-sized information that can help me choose a better school for my
>> child or lobby for better services from my municipality. Heavy
>> advocacy work has its place but naively, I would like to think that if
>> ordinary people had the right information, they could make better
>> decisions to improve their own lives as well as those of their
>> neighbours.
>>
>> > All this has made me personally sceptical of easy fixes of the 'tech for
>> > transparency' variety - not to reject the concept out of hand, but
>> > because
>> > because even civil society initiatives that have managed to bridge the
>> > vast
>> > gap between those who have the skills and those who have the need, are
>> > still
>> > figuring out what the hell to do with it.
>>
>> Technology, especially hi-tech, is the wrong target. It is expensive
>> and has limited value. It is easy to get intoxicated by whizz-bang
>> when a piece of paper has more value. Having said that, a light touch
>> with technology could increase reach and potentially have larger
>> impact than a non-tech approach.
>> >
>> > I'm curious to know if Ndifuna Ukwazi and SJC have had success in the
>> > past
>> > year?
>>
>> We all are.
>>
>> Thanks for your thoughts.
>>
>> Adi
>> >
>> > MH
>> >
>> > Murray Hunter
>> >
>> > Right2Know Campaign
>> > www.r2k.org.za
>> > @r2kcampaign
>> > c: 072 672 5468
>> >
>> >
>> > On 18 November 2013 10:06, Justin Arenstein <justinarenstein at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Adi,
>> >>
>> >> Hi. I think this is a crucial question, & think you should also be
>> >> pinging
>> >> ATI / PAIA orgs like ODAC and SAHA and R2K and SAHRC, etc, directly.
>> >> Advocacy and policy work is obviously important, but only if citizens
>> >> use
>> >> the results. Civil society and activists seem to be struggling to
>> >> translate
>> >> 'ivory tower' policy work into tangible 'real world' benefits or
>> >> services
>> >> for ordinary citizens. It would therefore be good to understand whether
>> >> the
>> >> organisations at the forefront of ATI advocacy know of any tools /
>> >> services
>> >> that impact on ordinary citizens in a demonstratable / measurable way.
>> >>
>> >> 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 18 November 2013 08:46, Adi Eyal <adi at code4sa.org> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> Hi All
>> >>>
>> >>> I'm looking for access to information type projects in South Africa
>> >>> that actually reach end-users and have impact on improving human
>> >>> rights, social justice issues, service delivery or other hot button
>> >>> issues.
>> >>>
>> >>> Transport apps and pretty visualisations are sexy but I'm looking for
>> >>> examples that have real impact. I am struggling a little and I was
>> >>> hoping for input from these mailing lists.
>> >>>
>> >>> Adi
>> >>>
>> >>> --
>> >>> Adi Eyal
>> >>> Strategy
>> >>> Code for South Africa
>> >>> Promoting informed decision-making
>> >>>
>> >>> phone: +27 78 014 2469
>> >>> skype: adieyalcas
>> >>> linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal
>> >>> web: http://www.code4sa.org
>> >>> twitter: @soapsudtycoon
>> >>>
>> >>> For more information on how to participate in the open data community
>> >>> in South Africa, go to: http://www.code4sa.org/#community
>> >>>
>> >>> --
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>> >>
>> >>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Adi Eyal
>> Director
>> Code for South Africa
>> Promoting informed decision-making
>>
>> phone: +27 78 014 2469
>> skype: adieyalcas
>> linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal
>> web: http://www.code4sa.org
>> twitter: @soapsudtycoon
>>
>> For more information on how to participate in the open data community
>> in South Africa, go to: http://www.code4sa.org/#community
>>
>> --
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
>> "Open Data and Democracy Initiative (ODADI)" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
>> email to odadi+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Axolile Notywala
> Imali Yethu Project Manager
> Social Justice Coalition
> www.sjc.org.za
> Tel/Cell: +27213618160 / +27743861584
> Twitter: @Xila_Notywala
> Skype: axolile.notywala
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
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-- 
Adi Eyal
Director
Code for South Africa
Promoting informed decision-making

phone: +27 78 014 2469
skype: adieyalcas
linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal
web: http://www.code4sa.org
twitter: @soapsudtycoon

For more information on how to participate in the open data community
in South Africa, go to: http://www.code4sa.org/#community