[open-government] Open data movement in Japan

Wed Apr 17 10:06:35 UTC 2013

Hello. Just a small update about Japanese situation,
answering some questions posted previously, and asking
some questions for those of you who could help:

<Data Portal>
I think this thread was initially about open data portal in Japan.
It is now officially published that Japan will have one.

The materials distributed at the March 21 meeting of eGov open data
public & private sector practitioners' conference is published on the web.
http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/it2/densi/dai3/gijisidai.html

Among them is a roadmap for Japanese open data.
http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/it2/densi/dai3/siryou5b.pdf

The third box now indicates that data catalog mentioned
in the national open data strategy document is actually a data portal.
There will be some experimental, pilot project kind of portal
before the full-fledged one will be developed.

It is not published what the data portal is going to be like, but
I hear that C-KAN's localization community in Japan is quite active.
The group is not part of OKF Japan, but there are some overlapping
members.

<Openness definition>
To answer Daniel's question, I think a number of private-sector
(including civic & academic sectors here) members of this and
other relevant government boards are aware of what the openness
means. The national strategy document specifically emphasize
machine-readability and allowing of commercial use.
http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/it2/pdf/120704_siryou2.pdf (p.5)

But the idea of openness is not perfectly implemented, I would say.

For example, some of the white papers provided through "Open Data
METI," an open data portal developed by Ministry of Economy, Trade,
and Industry are under a CC-BY-ND license. (Others, and statistical
data, are under a CC-BY)
http://datameti.go.jp/

In fact, I heard some people suggesting that text of "annual review"
kind of report may not need to be modified. Could anyone come up
with a nice example why allowing modification is beneficial? I am
sure I will find some example eventually, but it is always interesting
to learn from others.

In general, I would say that it is not surprising if Japanese government
would eventually pick a CC-BY license as the default/ primary license
for open data.

<Policy question: Small start or Big splash?>

One of the difficult questions I discuss with government officials
and people in this space: Should we push for large-scale open
data or is it okay to start small and accumulate successful cases
slowly over the years?

Is the society, user communities, government agencies, ready
to embrace the open data and ripe for innovation? If so, large-scale
practice is sensible. Failing to make a big success may develop
into the perception that open data is another "hype/ bubble."

If not, perhaps a coalition of the willing is an easier approach.
Over time, we can hopefully convince broader set of agencies
and user communities. It also means we cannot benefit from
the buzz, economies of scale, positive network externalities, etc.

Can anyone share your opinions or experience?

I have more questions, but this email is already too long.

Cheers,

Tomo
 OKF Japan/ CC Japan/ GLOCOM

----
Tomoaki Watanabe, Ph.D.
 Executive Research Fellow/ Associate Professor/
  General Manager for Research Project Division
 Center for Global Communications (GLOCOM)
 International University of Japan
  http://www.glocom.ac.jp

 Executive Director, CommonSphere (formerly Creative Commons Japan)
  http://creativecommons.jp

 Founding Member, Open Knowledge Foundation Japan Initiative
  http://okfn.jp
----

On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 10:10 PM, Daniel Dietrich
<daniel.p.dietrich at gmail.com> wrote:
> These are excellent news, Hiroichi! Looks like you guys are doing an amazing work. Well done!
>
> Does "open by default" in this case means open as in the open definition? http://opendefinition.org/okd/
>
> I am curious to learn more about the developments, so please keep us posted.
>
> Would you perhaps be interested writing a guest post on the open government developments in Japan for the main OKF blog? Ping me of list if so.
>
> All best
> Daniel
>
>
>
> On 7 Mar 2013, at 14:18, kawashima-hiroichi at pref.saga.lg.jp wrote:
>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> This is Hiroichi Kawashima from OKF Japan group. Let me follow up Tomo's message on Open Data Portal on March 6.
>>
>> Thanks to Andrew, Daniel, Rufus and all whom we met in January 2012, and having learned various lessons from EU countries and US, we have been successful in promoting the agenda of Open Government Data in Japan. Eventually, the Cabinet Secretariat (CAS) issued the Open Data Strategy, which adopted the principle of "Open by Default" and prioritized on the economic aspect of the Open Government Data on July 4th, 2012. Currently, three government committees are discussing issues for implementation under the auspices of CAS, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIAC), and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industries (METI),
>>
>> In collaboration with MIAC and METI, the CAS convened committee is formulating a road map and an implementation guideline for the government officials. These roadmap and guideline are to be announced by the end of March this year. The issues that are being discussed in the committee include legal constraints, machine readability, data catalogue, a mechanism to expand the scope of opened data, awareness building and evaluation.
>>
>> I wish to update the open data movement in Japan after the government's announcement of the roadmap and the guideline. Please keep your eyes on the movement in Japan.
>>
>> PS. As for the OpenSpending activities, we have launched Where Does My Money Go sites for four cities, and the number of the participating cities is increasing. Pelase see the site for Yokohama: http://spending.jp/.  Fortunately, our WDMMG activity is awarded as the Excellent Application and as the Project for Smarter City by the Linked Open Data Challenge 2012 today!
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Hiroichi
>> ----
>> Hiroichi Kawashima, Ph.D.
>>   Founding member, OKF Japan group
>>   CEO, the Institute for Public-Sector Innovation
>> ----
>>
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