[open-government] Open Data Executive Order Shows Path Forward

Thu May 9 18:07:42 UTC 2013

http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/05/09/open-data-executive-order-shows-path-forward/

Open Data Executive Order Shows Path
Forward<http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/05/09/open-data-executive-order-shows-path-forward/>
by John Wonderlich <http://sunlightfoundation.com/people/jwonderlich/>May
9, 2013, 10:17 a.m.

[image: cords]

Today, the White House is issuing a new Executive Order on Open Data (not
yet posted) -- one that is significantly different from the open data
policies that have come before it -- reflecting Sunlight's persistent
call<http://www.opencongress.org/wiki/Agency_information_audits_and_indexes#Blog_Posts>
for
stronger public listings of agency data, and demonstrating a new path
forward for governments committing to open data.

This Executive Order and the new
policies<http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2013/m-13-13.pdf>
that
accompany it cover a lot of ground, building public reporting systems,
adding new goals, creating new avenues for public
participation<http://project-open-data.github.io/>,
and laying out new principles for openness, much of which can be found in
Sunlight's extensive Open Data Policy
Guidelines<http://sunlightfoundation.com/policy/opendata>,
and the work of our
friends<http://razor.occams.info/pubdocs/opendataciviccapital.html#format>
 and <http://www.opengovdata.org/home/8principles>
allies<http://opendefinition.org/okd/>
.

Most importantly, though, the new policies take on one of the most
important, trickiest questions that these policies face -- how can we reset
the default to openness when there is so much data? How can we take on
managing and releasing *all the government's data*, or as much as possible,
without negotiating over every dataset the government has?

How can the public (or policymakers) request what they don't know exists?
How can CIOs manage what they haven't surveyed?

Most open data policies have avoided this complexity, building requirements
around datasets that *are already public*, or setting vague goals about new
disclosures. The Open Government
Directive<http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/memoranda_2010/m10-06.pdf>,
Obama's signature open data initiative from his first term, took a similar
approach, requiring agencies to release three high value datasets, and then
requiring a data disclosure planning process that was hard to oversee and
even harder to enforce<http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2011/12/07/obamas-open-government-directive-two-years-on/>
.

We've often pointed out this deficit, and grown more
pointed<http://sunlightfoundation.com/policy/opendata/#new-information>
in
our vision for reliable open data policies that move beyond aspirational
statements and cherry-picking data policies over the last few years. The Open
Government Partnership <http://www.opengovpartnership.org/> has spawned a
huge number of similar commitments from governments around the world --
important, welcome enthusiasm for sure, but enthusiasm that needs an
example of where to head next.

This new policies provide that direction, similarly to how we've envisioned
it <http://sunlightfoundation.com/policy/opendata/#lists-of-holdings>. To
move beyond vague aspirations, the policies require agencies to index all
of their data (internally), to make a public list of all their public data,
and (this is the key point) requires all agencies to list all their data
that *can *be made public.

Here's how we envisioned such a requirement about a year
ago<http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/03/22/the-missing-open-data-policy/>
:

So we're not giving up on forcing agencies to make information policy
decisions in public. One of the most important things that governments can
do to be more transparent is to list, or index all of their information
holdings online.  CIOs should be more than just technology purchasers; the
word *information* is in their title. Every agency should have a public
list of its major information holdings, along with a description of whether
it's public or not, and why. Without creating such a list, how do Chief
Information Officers even do their jobs? Now, the question "where is all of
our information" can be a tricky one to answer, but agencies can rely on
threshold definitions.  For example, any database with a maintenance cost
over a certain number should be listed.  Any information specifically
described in a statute governing the agency should be described.  Any form,
report, or data described in the regulations governing the agency should be
described.  Whether the information is usually (or never) accessible via
FOI request should be noted, and whether bulk data is available through a
central portal should be spelled out as well. (By far, the best example of
such a review that we've seen is the DOT regulatory compliance
plan<http://regs.dot.gov/docs/DOT%20Draft%20Enforcement%20and%20Compliance%20Data%20Report%20-%2005-18-2011%20-%20OCR.pdf>,
and the closest we've found for Congress is
this<http://issuu.com/johnwonderlich/docs/documentation-of-congress_1992/15?mode=embed&documentId=080207045903-5e753a4e4fe14401ab343dcccf3c7b05&layout=white>
.)

The new policies take a similar
tack<http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2013/m-13-13.pdf>
:

b.              Create and maintain a public data listing- Any datasets in
the agency's enterprise data inventory that can be made publicly available
must be listed at www.[agency].gov/data in a human- and machine-readable
format that enables automatic aggregation by Data.gov and other services
(known as "harvestable files"), to the extent practicable. This should
include datasets that can be made publicly available but have not yet been
released. This public data listing should also include, to the extent
permitted by law and existing terms and conditions, datasets that were
produced through agency-funded grants, contracts, and cooperative
agreements (excluding any data submitted primarily for the purpose of
contract monitoring and administration), and, where feasible, be
accompanied by standard citation information, preferably in the form of a
persistent identifier. The public data listing will be built out over time,
with the ultimate goal of including all agency datasets that can be made
publicly available. See Project Open Data for best practices, tools, and
schema to implement the public data listing and harvestable files.

By requiring agencies to publicly list all their data that could be made
public, the President is not just reaffirming that decisions about
disclosure should be based on the public
interest<http://sunlightfoundation.com/policy/opendata/#exemptions>,
he's also giving the public (and Congress) tools to enforce them. When open
data procedures are incorporated into agency processes from the start,
we'll start to see more systems designed for bulk
access<http://sunlightfoundation.com/policy/opendata/#bulk-data> from
the start, and we'll be better able to recoup all the missed opportunities
in legacy datasets<http://sunlightfoundation.com/policy/opendata/#new-information>
that
are still closed. We'll be able to evaluate agencies' transparency against
what they've defined as their candidates for release, and clearly identify
areas where agencies avoid disclosure altogether.

To be sure, getting agencies to publicly list all their data that *can* be
open will be a significant challenge, even with a high-profile Executive
Order. Concerns like cost, privacy, and security will be used to justify
non-disclosure (as they often are), and will be used to try to justify
keeping even a description of many datasets private. That's a good struggle
to have, though, and one we're looking forward to.  Without this Executive
Order, too many agencies are managing data holdings that they haven't
comprehensively reviewed, without public oversight, while advocates,
journalists, and policymakers have an unclear view of what agencies know,
and what they could be releasing.

Today's Executive Order demonstrates a new approach to open data, moving
beyond rhetoric and aspiration, requiring agencies to publicly report on
what data can be made public, building a new backbone for federal open data
policy, and setting an example for other governments to follow.

We're thrilled that the President (and some very dedicated staff) have been
listening, and are aggressively pursuing a strong vision for what open data
should mean. Changing the default to open takes more than political
commitments and enthusiastic rhetoric, and today's new policies mark a new
aggressive move to pursue that idea.

(Photo by Flickr user lenz art<http://www.flickr.com/photos/kmevans/417025377/>
)

-- 
Júlia Keserű
International Program Coordinator

1818 N Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
(1) 202-742-1520 *280

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