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

Wed Jun 29 08:33:53 UTC 2011

On Wed, Jun 22, 2011 14:54:49 PM +0200, Martin Kaltenböck wrote:
> 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?

Martin,

I would answer:

1) it can save/bring in money in many ways, which is VERY important
   now at the level you mention, because the way many EU states are
   trying to contain their national deficit or not raise taxes is by
   saying "local governments, you won't get any more money from the
   State, period, you're on your own, sorry"

2) while OGD are often presented as a way to **control**
   administrators, making it harder for them to do wrong (which is
   correct, of course), OGD are also a way for a smart major to get
   more support from his or her constituents, as in "please check by
   yourself that I'm not making up stories, this **really** is the
   only way to provide service "X" with the smallest impact on your
   pockets". By and large, the current generation of majors across
   Europe doesn't have (regardless of their _age_ or party, it's a
   general cultural thing) the guts/courage/proper brain
   settings/whatever to see this, but I expext this to change quite
   soon, given the current macroeconomics and political situation.

I discussed these points in more detail in several parts of this
report:

http://stop.zona-m.net/2011/01/the-open-data-open-society-report-2/

HTH,
		Marco F.
-- 
Digital Citizenship Basics:
http://mfioretti.com/node/129