Open Gov - Fast & Slow

Michael Hardner · April 19, 2014

My latest blog on Open Government in Ontario:

http://michaelhardner.blogspot.ca/2014/04/ontario-gets-open-data-or-progress-fast.html?spref=tw

What has happened, as posted here earlier this week, is that Ontario has "discovered" Open Government. It was launched in 2011 as a global initiative, and was under way years earlier in many jurisdictions, but ok. We're late to the game.

And... the steps government seem to take is to release safe packets of non-controversial data, ostensibly ignoring the main goals of the initiative: collaboration and transparency. You see, without those components then OG becomes little more than a government press release, rather than aspiring to compliment the press as feedback/check/balance on government.

John Milloy's statement to Canada.com on the Ontario initiative:

http://o.canada.com/technology/internet/ontario-to-allow-public-to-vote-on-open-data-priorities/

In the UK, as explained in this article in The Guardian, the initiative is actually starting to grow into its potential, and as a result they have gone too fast.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/18/open-data-whitehall-government-editorial

Michael Hardner · April 20, 2014

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality.

To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

Richard Buckminster Fuller

cybercoma · April 21, 2014

Michael, I'm not entirely familiar with this Open Government movement other than the idea that it seeks to make all documented government work accessible to the public, that there ought to be no "state secrets." You seem to support this initiative, but I'm wondering if there are any necessary limitations that you see to Open Government. Are there any instances that you can imagine where a state ought to keep things from the public?

Michael Hardner · April 21, 2014

Michael, I'm not entirely familiar with this Open Government movement other than the idea that it seeks to make all documented government work accessible to the public, that there ought to be no "state secrets." You seem to support this initiative, but I'm wondering if there are any necessary limitations that you see to Open Government. Are there any instances that you can imagine where a state ought to keep things from the public?

Cyber - here's a link to the OGP initiative

http://www.opengovpartnership.org/

I don't think it's reasonable for all work to be accessible, since we still have to accommodate privacy and secrecy on some level for the foreseeable future.

A state can/should keep secrets if it's politically necessary, ie. the people want privacy then there needs to be privacy, and the system needs to be designed based on the target private levels. There's a similar accommodation to be made for secrecy. We keep some secrets from the people, others from the government in general, others from other countries and others from other countries except for the US.

cybercoma · April 21, 2014

So then Open Government already exists, no? The government keeps some things private, based on privacy laws and the needs of individuals, as well as other things for security reasons. For everything else, there's access to information laws. It's my understanding that the Open Government initiative wants all government documents available to the public. This is not necessary or even preferable when it comes to individuals' personal data and security information that could put Canadians, military, government, and security personnel at risk. The problem with that comes with what the government defines as necessary to censor. I'm not sure how we get appropriate oversight into this to ensure that the government is not claiming security and privacy to hide things they just don't want available to the public.

Michael Hardner · April 21, 2014

So then Open Government already exists, no?

No, it doesn't. Data can be not secret nor private, and still not accessible.

For everything else, there's access to information laws.

That's the old way of looking at it. If I want to find out which parks in my city are close to my planned hike today, I shouldn't have to file a FOI. Extreme example there.

It's my understanding that the Open Government initiative wants all government documents available to the public. This is not necessary or even preferable when it comes to individuals' personal data and security information that could put Canadians, military, government, and security personnel at risk.

That's not true, as far as I know.

Anyway, the idea that PII (Personally Identifiable Information) is at risk due to OGP here is laughable, given the current slow progress of these things in Canada.

Michael Hardner · April 24, 2014

http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2014/04/22/beyond-business-the-impacts-of-open-data/

The Sunlight Foundation talks about the benefits of Open Data.

Some examples of sites are here:

The Money Maps
— This interactive map by Axis Philly visualizes campaign contributions to council members in Philadelphia, showing where money is coming from for each representative.

apps.axisphilly.org/the-money-maps

Checkbook NYC 2.0
— This transparency tool allows anyone to explore open data about New York City’s day-to-day spending.

checkbooknyc.com

http://www.scribd.com/doc/219477511/The-Impacts-of-Open-Data