[okfn-za] Open data in South Africa

Tue Nov 19 09:32:48 UTC 2013

Hi Adi,

My 2 cents: the devastation in Philippines, tornados in US and flooding in
Cape Town got me thinking about how basic services (energy, healthcare,
education, emergency services, water supply, food supply [i see the top
story today is about how a hailstorm has destroyed fruit crops in WC] etc.)
are affected during extreme weather.

Weather data and predictions are already available. You could start to look
at a single service and expand at a later point.

Ciao, Rob

On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 5:53 AM, Adi Eyal <adi at code4sa.org> wrote:

> 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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> >> >>> Groups
> >> >>> "Open Data and Democracy Initiative (ODADI)" group.
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> >> >>> an
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> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> --
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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
> >>
> >> --
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> 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
> > "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.
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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
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