Gov 2.0 - The Next Internet Boom says Bloomberg

[Michael Hardner]

Bloomberg Businessweek

With the White House urging federal agencies to make statistical data and other information available to the public, the Internet's next big opportunity may be tapping that information to boost government transparency, efficiency, and responsiveness. Much as blogs and YouTube (GOOG) democratized media and eBay (EBAY) let anyone become a retailer, these entrepreneurs want to help citizens participate more directly in governing.

The example they give in this article is having people report potholes to local government. Pretty basic stuff, but maybe that is the foot in the door for the more complex changes to reporting and performance statistics that I have been talking about.

Toronto, Vancouver and some other cities are making some data available for local programmers to develop apps but the projects are tame and absolutely do not threaten the status quo of who is perceived to own the data.

[bush_cheney2004]

The example they give in this article is having people report potholes to local government. Pretty basic stuff, but maybe that is the foot in the door for the more complex changes to reporting and performance statistics that I have been talking about.

It's a foot in the door alright...for developers and vendors to mine and re-package such data for resale to the public, marketers, and other commercial data warehouses.

[Michael Hardner]

It's a foot in the door alright...for developers and vendors to mine and re-package such data for resale to the public, marketers, and other commercial data warehouses.

Yes, indeed that is one valuable use for this.

[bush_cheney2004]

Yes, indeed that is one valuable use for this.

Great, but what happens is that one vendor becomes the defacto standard as in Thomson Reuters - West Law, and public data has a new gatekeeper. The vendor(s) will claim that they are adding value in how the public data is sorted and packaged.

[Michael Hardner]

Great, but what happens is that one vendor becomes the defacto standard as in Thomson Reuters - West Law, and public data has a new gatekeeper. The vendor(s) will claim that they are adding value in how the public data is sorted and packaged.

Ok. Do you think that is a good thing or bad thing, and why ?

[bush_cheney2004]

Ok. Do you think that is a good thing or bad thing, and why ?

I think any third party barrier to public data is not a good thing, unless one wishes to pay for the data as processed information from a vendor who can offer cost efficiencies. Private citizens should still be able to access unrestricted data without having a commercial gatekeeper.

[Michael Hardner]

I think any third party barrier to public data is not a good thing, unless one wishes to pay for the data as processed information from a vendor who can offer cost efficiencies. Private citizens should still be able to access unrestricted data without having a commercial gatekeeper.

Presumably the raw data would be available, but these 3rd parties would have to add some value in order to see their services, don't you think ?

And what is the impact on Canada ? CANADA, B_C !

[Shwa]

Presumably the raw data would be available, but these 3rd parties would have to add some value in order to see their services, don't you think ?

And what is the impact on Canada ? CANADA, B_C !

Here is a great example of the point you are making:

The Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool - US Dept of Education. In a word: WOW!

You have access to the raw data on-line or to download to do with what you need. Since college athletic recruiting in the US is big business (or, rather, big enough business) a recruiting firm can download the data, add value and analysis and there can be a fee-for-access applied. This is specialty processing which costs will be downloaded to the client. That's fair. They process the data, they own the processed form. But we can still download the raw data.

I am not sure if there is a disclosure agreement between the government and third party like there is for some Canadian data like EMR or Weather Office data. A disclosure agreement basically tells the client where the data comes from and that they can access it for free if they want.

When it comes to Gov 2.0, the US Dept of Edu is definately on that track.

BTW - the impact on Canada in this case is that a significant amount of Canadians are interested in athletic scholarships, aid and education in US colleges.

[Michael Hardner]

Here is a great example of the point you are making:

The Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool - US Dept of Education. In a word: WOW!

You have access to the raw data on-line or to download to do with what you need. Since college athletic recruiting in the US is big business (or, rather, big enough business) a recruiting firm can download the data, add value and analysis and there can be a fee-for-access applied. This is specialty processing which costs will be downloaded to the client. That's fair. They process the data, they own the processed form. But we can still download the raw data.

I am not sure if there is a disclosure agreement between the government and third party like there is for some Canadian data like EMR or Weather Office data. A disclosure agreement basically tells the client where the data comes from and that they can access it for free if they want.

When it comes to Gov 2.0, the US Dept of Edu is definately on that track.

BTW - the impact on Canada in this case is that a significant amount of Canadians are interested in athletic scholarships, aid and education in US colleges.

Thanks for the example. This is a good example of a business application for government data.

See the other thread for examples of what I see as a coming revolution in citizens monitoring government. The UK has gone as far as to partner (it appears) with Wikileaks to open up their government.