[open-government] Entrenching OpenData as Gov Policy

Mon Jul 4 14:52:38 UTC 2011

It's enormously disappointing to me that you'd encounter that mindset
anywhere, and especially disappointing that you'd encounter it at a State
department event.

I think it's counterproductive to try to shoehorn open government data into
categories like "innovation" or "accountability" or "civic engagement."
 Nobody at State should be recommending that Open Data is just for trains,
just as nobody at State should be suggesting that Open Data is just for
financial disclosure.

I'm surprised you'd here that attitude from top State officials, since many
officials at US State are keenly aware of the kinds of public transparency
checks necessary for the health of democracies around the world.  Most State
officials I've met share that same broad appreciation for transparency and
open data.

That said, if I can be at all helpful in talking to the officials you've
mentioned, I'd be happy to -- open data shouldn't be relegated to solely the
realm of service provision (as important as services are).

2011/7/4 Justin Arenstein <justinarenstein at gmail.com>

> Hi everyone,
>
> I've just returned from the Community of Democracies<http://www.community-democracies.org/>congress in Vilnius (Lithuania), where I found that I was the only OpenData
> activist publicly pushing open access and open knowledge issues.
>
> The most disturbing part of this is that I was also the lone voice for
> OpenData at the new Civil Society Forum, or the existing Corporate Democracy
> Forum, at CoD, which both spent substantial time speaking about the role of
> social media and press freedom in the Arab Spring revolts, plus similar
> pro-democracy movements elsewhere across the world. Delegates to both fora
> had absolutely no understanding of OpenData or the importance it has for
> hacktivists or journalists. When I later raised the issue at the separate US
> State Department sponsored TechCamp <http://techcampglobal.org/> (which
> sought to give activists digital tools for circumventing oppressive
> regimes), there was a knee-jerk dismissal of OpenData as "irrelevant" and
> "all abut tram timetables". The dismissals were by the top policy makers at
> the Tech @ State <http://tech.state.gov/> team ... which shapes overall US
> policy on such issues. I had to argue hard that this was nonsense, and that
> access to development indicators, performance data, and things like mineral
> license data, contracting data, etc, were all essential to watchdog NGOS &
> journalists.
>
> I think that, if OKF intends entrenching OpenData as a fundamental "pillar
> of democracy" in governments around the world, it should make a concerted
> effort to play a role in future meetings, + must proactively engage with the
> Tech @ State folk (whether we agree with US foreign policy, or not). Open
> Data should be recognised as a core principle for responsible government,
> especially in the developing world, and not as a "nice to have" luxury as it
> is currently viewed.
>
> One way of doing this would be to produce a briefing pack for all of us to
> use when any of us are at these kinds of events.
>
> Cheers,
> Justin
>
>
> Justin Arenstein*
> *
> SA Mobile: +27-82-374-0812
> US Mobile: +1-650-336-5878 *
> *Skype: JustinArenstein
> Twitter: JustinArenstein <http://twitter.com/justinarenstein>
> Web: http://www.linkedin.com/in/JustinArenstein
>
>
> On 4 July 2011 13:00, <open-government-request at lists.okfn.org> wrote:
>
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>> Today's Topics:
>>
>>   1. New releases from S?o Paulo? (Jonathan Gray)
>>   2. Re: New releases from S?o Paulo? (Fabrizio Scrollini)
>>   3. Re: New releases from S?o Paulo? (C?sar Viana)
>>   4. International Digital Curation Conference (IDCC)
>>      (Tracey P. Lauriault)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2011 16:41:02 +0200
>> From: Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org>
>> Subject: [open-government] New releases from S?o Paulo?
>> To: open-government at lists.okfn.org
>> Message-ID:
>>        <CANQ_vu1DDFA0ibE3Sv=u4V20KjC++W2kbW1ZSxbztkT_=
>> yO5sg at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>>
>> Does anyone have links to material mentioned here?
>>
>>
>> http://www.camara.sp.gov.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4378:camara-abre-dados-de-execucao-orcamentaria-e-participacao-dos-vereadores-em-sessoes&catid=33:cidadania&Itemid=90
>>
>> --
>> Jonathan Gray
>>
>> Community Coordinator
>> The Open Knowledge Foundation
>> http://blog.okfn.org
>>
>> http://twitter.com/jwyg
>> http://identi.ca/jwyg
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2011 16:12:53 +0100
>> From: Fabrizio Scrollini <fabrizio.scrollini at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [open-government] New releases from S?o Paulo?
>> To: Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org>
>> Cc: open-government at lists.okfn.org
>> Message-ID:
>>        <CALBK6h6eq5UWUMb5b=2eAa=CZ4CgtOsiGyRF8jqeCGoT1A=
>> JOA at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> One of the presenters at OKNFCon2011 actually was one the guys  who
>> promoted
>> this policy, and was working with transparency hacker in Brazil. He
>> presented with  Lucas Maiton from IPEA. Unfortunately don't have his name
>> handy
>> Cheers,
>> f
>> On 3 July 2011 15:41, Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org> wrote:
>>
>> > Does anyone have links to material mentioned here?
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> http://www.camara.sp.gov.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4378:camara-abre-dados-de-execucao-orcamentaria-e-participacao-dos-vereadores-em-sessoes&catid=33:cidadania&Itemid=90
>> >
>> > --
>> > Jonathan Gray
>> >
>> > Community Coordinator
>> > The Open Knowledge Foundation
>> > http://blog.okfn.org
>> >
>> > http://twitter.com/jwyg
>> > http://identi.ca/jwyg
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > open-government mailing list
>> > open-government at lists.okfn.org
>> > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Fabrizio Scrollini
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>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 3
>> Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2011 16:22:45 -0300
>> From: C?sar Viana <cesarviana at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [open-government] New releases from S?o Paulo?
>> To: Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org>
>> Cc: open-government at lists.okfn.org
>> Message-ID:
>>        <CAKVuVAYZugo9HhGeL0o6kVQx=
>> KMHpSGH_Y-fHr1GSzch5uz2Fw at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> Hi, Jonathan,
>>
>> The open data presented there are:
>>
>> http://www.camara.sp.gov.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4417:contratos-abertos&catid=6:conheca-a-camara&Itemid=20
>>
>> http://www.camara.sp.gov.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4264&Itemid=205
>>
>> But it would be better organized, transparent and easy to visualize.
>> Does it help you?
>> Best,
>>
>> C?sar
>> twitter.com/cesarviana
>>
>> On Sun, Jul 3, 2011 at 11:41 AM, Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org
>> >wrote:
>>
>> > Does anyone have links to material mentioned here?
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> http://www.camara.sp.gov.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4378:camara-abre-dados-de-execucao-orcamentaria-e-participacao-dos-vereadores-em-sessoes&catid=33:cidadania&Itemid=90
>> >
>> > --
>> > Jonathan Gray
>> >
>> > Community Coordinator
>> > The Open Knowledge Foundation
>> > http://blog.okfn.org
>> >
>> > http://twitter.com/jwyg
>> > http://identi.ca/jwyg
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > open-government mailing list
>> > open-government at lists.okfn.org
>> > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government
>> >
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>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 4
>> Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2011 18:50:59 -0400
>> From: "Tracey P. Lauriault" <tlauriau at gmail.com>
>> Subject: [open-government] International Digital Curation Conference
>>        (IDCC)
>> To: civicaccess discuss <CivicAccess-discuss at civicaccess.ca>,
>>        open-government at lists.okfn.org,         Canadian Association of
>> Public Data
>>        Users <CAPDU at yorku.ca>
>> Message-ID:
>>        <CAPT_w+=
>> FfNNNYNSdhTffQYhpbdK+5dvEZCyOhsZmy3rGQVCiBQ at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> International Digital Curation Conference (IDCC)
>> http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/idcc11/programme
>>
>> Information about data curation
>> http://www.dcc.ac.uk/digital-curation
>> --
>> Tracey P. Lauriault
>> 613-234-2805
>> http://traceyplauriault.ca/
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