[open-government] Benefit and arguments for open gov data in small local governments

[Ton Zijlstra]

Hi Martin,

Some angles I pursue with local government:

How can open data help execute their own tasks better?
How can open data help execute their own tasks cheaper?

What is the biggest 'mean' problem they are dealing with? And is there a way
that releasing data makes it possible for them to engage with
citizens/stakeholder groups in a way that helps solve it? (So I move it away
form the tech/legal side and put it forward as an instrument for the
operational processes they care about)

Is bringing citizens into the operational side of public tasks possible by
releasing data (crowd sourcing, many eyes on a problem, etc) After all we
are doing this e.g. with the 112 alarm number already where we rely on all
of us, in stead of putting a policeman, fireman, or paramedic on every
corner: government is already the most effective crowdsourcer. If my local
government would like to have my help or support on an issue, releasing the
data connected to that context will improve the likelihood of me doing that,
as well as provide a means to be actually be able to do it. Currently gov
relies on me 'wanting' to participate, data and resulting services make me
'able to' participate. Data is an object of socialty. Participation creates
data re-use. Data in turn feeds participation and creates new possibilities
for participation.

Also: releasing data makes it easier to also 'use' citizens as a datasource
again, and collect data that way. Examples would be the Danish hunting app,
the Isle of Man's Elm Disease project, and Fixmystreet.com

Especially for small communities, ask them how they are buying/getting their
data from other PSBs. I bet they pay a lot to just be able to use the stuff
they get from elsewhere. Open data goes a long way in ensuring
interoperability cheaply as well. In NL smaller communities tend to have a
shared service center for IT, so I try to connect to those as well. The
Amsterdam Fire Brigade started doing open data so they had a stronger case
asking other PSBs for their data as open data as well. They needed that
other data as open data to be able to do their firefighting better.

Finally, to help make the transition easier I also try to talk to the people
deciding on procurement and IT projects: by adding some easy functional
specifications to projects they will over time make sure the entire
infrastructure (open standards e.g. are mandatory in NL, so why don't they
start with adding those to procurement specifications of IT systems and
adding machine readability to it?)
-------------------------------------------
Interdependent Thoughts
Ton Zijlstra

ton at tonzijlstra.eu
+31-6-34489360

http://zylstra.org/blog
-------------------------------------------


2011/6/22 Martin Kaltenböck <m.kaltenboeck at semantic-web.at>

>  Hi all (and sorry for cross-posting)
>
> in the course the OGD2011 conference last week in Vienna, Austria (see:
> http://www.ogd2011.at)
> we had a discussion about:
>
> - what are the main benefits of / arguments for open (government) data in
> (very) small local governments (small town, village, small municipality)
>
> Anyone having good arguments for this?
> We do have about ~ 3.700 municipalities in Austria - and most of them are
> very, very small
> So we are collecting arguments & benefits for open data to convince them...
>
> Many thanks for input on this!!
>
> Cheers - martin
>
>
> --
> | Martin Kaltenböck, CMC
> | Managing Director - Semantic Web Company (SWC)
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