[open-government] Global Campaign for Opening Up Contract Data

Fri Jun 20 13:34:17 UTC 2014

I have a rather radical view on this,
although I know radical is not always good nor realistic.

But all government spending is public money, and as such it should be
made accessible.
Often, especially in South America (I live in Colombia), projects are
made public,
they are a big opportunity for politicians to get publicity and
acceptance with their social projects.

But then the money disappears in public contracts.
See Brazil with the world cup scandal.

So in my opinion it should all be made public,
this would increase trust in the government.
Also, politicians who would not support these ideas would (ideally...)
not be voted...
along with all the needed general open data commitment.

best

On 20/06/14 04:18, Daniela Mattern wrote:
> Hey Lieke,
>
> thanks for the reply and the references that you researched!
>
> Do you think that any issue in management of culture, galleries, art
> etc. is obscure and should be opened up?
> In Brazil the government also organizes public events and spends money
> for artists ... What about contracts of public broadcasting agencies
> and TV stations?
>
> Is there anything that you think could be interesting investigating?
>
> Thanks
>
> Daniela
>
>
> On 20 June 2014 09:59, Lieke Ploeger <lieke.ploeger at okfn.org
> <mailto:lieke.ploeger at okfn.org>> wrote:
>
>     Hi Daniela,
>
>     Some years ago national libraries in Europe started signing
>     digitisation contracts with Google, after which there were also
>     some requests for making these contracts publicly available. The
>     British Library did so for example (see
>     https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2011/access-to-the-agreement-between-google-books-and-the-british-library),
>     and there has been a request in Holland for opening up the
>     contract between the National Library (KB) and Google, which was
>     done in 2011.
>     See http://www.kb.nl/en/news/news-archive-2011/kb-makes-contract-with-google-public-following-dutch-access-to-public-sector-information-act-wob for
>     the full contract. 
>
>     Of course it is always good if more contracts are made available,
>     but I' don't think a campaign from OpenGLAM would be suitable, as
>     the debate around this already happened in 2010-2011, and some
>     contracts are there. Also, I know from some other libraries that
>     their Google contracts were similar to that of the BL and KB.
>
>     Best, Lieke
>
>
>     On 19 June 2014 23:17, Daniela Mattern <daniela.mattern at okfn.org
>     <mailto:daniela.mattern at okfn.org>> wrote:
>
>         Hey Gary,
>
>         thank you very much for your e-mail.
>
>         Have you tried to open up the contract between the libraries
>         and google? I have read quite a lot about the google books
>         project and implications. How have you tried to get access to
>         these contracts?
>         Did you do a Freedom of Information Request? Could you share
>         with us?
>
>         I have seen, that you are from Austria. Which are the most
>         urgent problems related to open contracts in Austria? If you
>         run a campaign in Austria to opening up contracts what would
>         be a topic that you would focus on? What makes people angry
>         about it?
>
>         We are currently planning to work together on this and run
>         local campaigns in different countries on issues that are
>         important to people. Would you be interested in joining our
>         group? We are very curious in having this exchange and try to
>         find out how to effectively open up contract data.
>
>         I wondered whether we could not ask the Open Glam group
>         whether they can help with the campaign against
>         Google/Libraries ... Would you like to help with this?
>
>         I am copying Lieke and Sam who are also quite into this topic.
>         @Sam, Lieke: what ideas do you have for us?
>
>         Best
>
>         Daniela
>
>
>         On 19 June 2014 22:00, innovationnavigato
>         <innovation-navigator at chello.at
>         <mailto:innovation-navigator at chello.at>> wrote:
>
>             Dear Daniela,
>
>             in the EU even even the contracts between the public
>             national libraries and google are secret.
>             no change to access them.
>             contract data is the very LAST line of defense. sorry,
>
>             gary, Vienna
>
>
>             Daniela Mattern schrieb:
>>             Hey,
>>
>>             my name is Daniela - I joined Open Knowledge Central in
>>             February and before this I have been working for 11 years
>>             in Brazil.
>>
>>             Open Knowledge wants to run a Global Campaign for opening
>>             up contract data? I think this topic very exciting:
>>
>>             While I was in Brazil I encountered a lot of problems to
>>             opening up contract data - for instance I was working
>>             with community leaders in a slum in São Paulo and they
>>             were receiving funds from the City of São Paulo, the
>>             Federal government and the World Bank to install water
>>             sanitation. The community leaders reported that the work
>>             was to be done in the whole slum but the construction
>>             company didn't do it ... They also reported that the
>>             government send a person to evaluate and supervise the
>>             work but that the supervision had not been done properly
>>             - on the day of the evaluation the company showed the
>>             work in some parts of the slum where it had been
>>             delivered. They got the approval that the work had been
>>             finalized although the work wasn't finished.
>>             Then I made Freedom of Information requests to get access
>>             to the contract - the problem was, that the tender had
>>             been handled by a Ministry and then the contract was
>>             administered by a state bank. The Ministry was not in
>>             possession of the contract and the bank informed that the
>>             whole process was bank secret.
>>
>>             I wanted to know, whether any of you has also tried to
>>             open up contract data so far and which process you
>>             followed. Has it been successful?
>>
>>             I also wondered how we could organize a Global Campaign
>>             that forces a lot of political leaders to open up the
>>             contract data. This would be so important, to my mind: If
>>             people had the terms of reference and the contracts they
>>             could effectively monitor the work that is being
>>             delivered by the companies.
>>
>>             I have currently only found a data base of Open Contracts
>>             for Slovakia
>>             <http://www.opengovguide.com/country-examples/in-slovakia-government-contracts-are-published-online/>
>>             - do you know any other examples?
>>
>>             Thanks for your ideas!
>>
>>             Daniela
>>
>>             -- 
>>
>>             Daniela Mattern
>>
>>             Open Data Project Manager | skype: e1aste2000
>>
>>             *
>>
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>
>
>
>
>         -- 
>
>         Daniela Mattern
>
>         Open Data Project Manager | skype: e1aste2000
>
>         *
>
>         *Open Knowledge Foundation* <http://okfn.org>
>
>         *
>
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>
>
>     -- 
>     Lieke Ploeger
>
>     Community Manager  | skype: laploeger  |  @liekeploeger
>     <https://twitter.com/liekeploeger>
>
>     TheOpen Knowledge Foundation <http://okfn.org/>
>
>     Empowering through Open Knowledge
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>
>
> -- 
>
> Daniela Mattern
>
> Open Data Project Manager | skype: e1aste2000
>
> *
>
> *Open Knowledge Foundation* <http://okfn.org>
>
> *
>
> http://okfn.org/ |  @okfn <http://twitter.com/OKFN> |  OKF on Facebook
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