gov + citi-experts

VisibleGovernment.ca

Benefits of Open Government Data

[1]

Another Type of Social Media: Publishing Structured Data

[2]

Graphic generated by Redkid.net

“have a much greater potential effect on the ability to transform government than anything else in the Web 2.0 world.”

- Gartner, 2007 The E-Government Hype Cycle Meets Web 2.0

Web-oriented Architectures:

Publishing Structured Feeds• Ability to subscribe to

interesting data• Data streams can be ‘mashed’

in new ways.

Data Visualization• Makes it easy to find new

patterns.

Collaborative Organization• Tagging, Voting, Sharing

Crowdsourcing• Combines skills and input of

large numbers of people

Governments publish data

streams

Citizens monitor data

streams

Issues are detected

Issues are resolved

3rd

Party Tools

• Governments publish data streams

• 3rd parties create tools for analysis and oversight

• Citizens collaboratively monitor their government

• Citizens detect issues, give feedback

• Issues are resolved

Why?

Open Systems Allow External Contribution.

Goldcorp

1999: Struggling Vancouver company

Early test results showed gold deposits

After years of searching: no gold found

[3]

From Wikinomics, by Dan Tapscott

Golden challenge unearths new ideas: Globe and Mail, April 2007.

“I“““““““IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

[The Goldcorps President] realized that the uniquely qualified minds to make new discoveries were probably outside the boundaries of his organization, and by sharing some intellectual property he could harness the power of collective genius and capability

[4]

What if governments took the same approach?

structured govt. data

+ citizen expert groups

some examples...

1st Year Results:•2000 Citizen Reviewers •Avg. Time / Reviewer / Patent: 6hrs

Easy to File a Report

Rewarding

•25,000 Problems reported• 8,000 Fixed

A recent US Congress bill

Groups for bill

Groups against bill

Donations

Votes

Publishing Structured Feeds• MAPLight is a mashup of

data streams from different sources.

Data Visualization• MAPLight makes relationship

between money and votes visible.

Collaborative Organization• Advocacy group tags

donating companies as belonging to interest groups.

Crowdsourcing• Thousands of journalists,

advocates, and citizens can browse data and flag issues.

Open Systems Make Failure Free.

* paraphrasing Clay Shirky.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cobalt/1308955915/

Where’s the best solution?

It’s hard for governments to experiment.

There’s lots of people watching.

[5]

There’s lots of rules.

[6]

“An online compliance checklist for designers of government websites identifies

no fewer than 24 different regulatory regimes with which all public government web sites must comply.”

-David Robinson, Princeton Center for Information Policy.“Government Data and the Invisible Hand”

[7]

Let others experiment

for you.

* Save tax money.

• Pared down interface• Easy to navigate

Regulations.gov

OpenRegulations.org

2003 2008(+few months)

• Launched• Limited Search• Hard to Use

• Re-designed• Re-launched• Added RSS Feeds

*From: Government Data and the Invisible Hand, David Robinson, Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy.

Open Systems Create New Markets.

[8]

Cisco:127 Acquisitions in 15 Years

[9]

New Opportunities:

�Visualization

�Analysis

�Community Mgmt.

�Combining Data Sets

�Data Mining

�Niche Markets

[10]

Be like Cisco.

Buy the best solutions.

Open source them.

Create an expanding base of re-usable software.

[11]

An Architecture for Open.

[12]

OLD NEW

*From: Power of Information Task Force blog, June 2008.

OLD NEW

*From: Power of Information Task Force blog, June 2008.

*From: Government Data and the Invisible Hand, David Robinson, Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy.

DepartmentReporting

Reporting

Reporting

Government Data and the Invisible Hand, DaPrinceton Center for Information Technology

p g

Access

Access

Treasury Board

AuditorGeneral

An Architecture for Open

DepartmentReporting

Reporting

Reporting

p g

Access

Access

Treasury Board

AuditorGeneral*

ExternalGroups

ExternalGroups

* Save tax dollars.

Open SystemRoadblocks.

[13]

Civil servants often feel they live in a fishbowl.

“No one was ever promoted for disclosing information.”

-US Government Employee.OMBWatch, Towards a 21st Century Right To Know Agenda

Open systems can make heroes.

Not just scapegoats.

[14]

Estonia: Government document repository entirely open to public.

- Stephen Clift, DemocracyOnline*

[18]* http://rebooting.personaldemocracy.com/node/52

Time Detected

Require-ments

Architec-ture

Construc-tion

System Test

Post-Release

Time Introduced

Require-ments 1× 3× 5–10× 10× 10–100×

Architec-ture - 1× 10× 15× 25–100×

Construc-tion - - 1× 10× 10–25×

McConnell, Steve (2004). Code Complete (2nd edition ed.)Microsoft Press. pp. 960. ISBN 0-7356-1967-0.Also here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_testing

Cost of Software Defect: Time Introduced vs. Time Detected

Let the public see your successes as they’re happening.

• Goals achieved

• Innovative services

• Efficiency improvements

About VisibleGovernment.ca

� Focus: � US Congress� California

Legislature

� Gives grants to online transparency tools

� UK Non-Profit

� Simple, Effective Tools

� High Participation

Photo by memespring, Flickr.com, Creative Commons ASA2G

Ideas

Skills

Funds

� Accelerate online transparency

� Raise Awareness� With public� With government

� Raise Money

� Fund External Development:� Grants� Contests

Prove Concept

Get Publicity

Raise Awareness

Show What’s Possible

Direct Attention and Money and to Online

Tools For Transparency

[15]

Transparency Reform

Measurable Campaign Promises

Publish MP Schedules

Eliminate Data Access Fees

Access to Information Reform

� 5 Transparency Pledges

� Source Code: � Change-Congress.org� (Lawrence Lessig and Joe

Trippi)

� Candidate info scraped from party websites

� 10 days to implement

� 38 MPs elected

� 2 agreed to publish their calendar

[15]

� 2003 Directive: Must publish travel and hospitality expenses on the web

� No standards for presentation defined

124 Departments- All different

Standardize• Scrape data into

standard format

Stream• Publish RSS

feeds

Visualize• Provide basic

visualization app• Hold contests

30,000 Records collected so far.

4 Volunteers.

155 Errors found.

1 Visualization company engaged.

1 Lawyer making sure things are on the up-and-up.

What you can do now.

[16]

“When you open up the data, there’s no limit to what people can do. It engages the imagination of citizens in building the city.”

-David Miller, Mayor of Toronto.Toronto 2.0: Data Sharing SourceThe Globe and Mail, 09-01-31

[17]

Government of CanadaTreasury BoardITERation Project

• Generalized system for publishing data• Implements IMF Code of Conduct for

Fiscal Transparency

How can I structure it so it can be re-used?

How can I be more open?

What am I publishing?

Further Resources:

VisibleGovernment.ca Website: http://visiblegovernment.ca

Government Data and the Invisible Hand, David Robinson et. al. Princeton Center for Information Technology Policyhttp://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1138083

Hack, Mash and Peer: Crowdsourcing Government TransparencyJerry Brito, George Mason Universityhttp://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1023485

ChangeCamp: http://groups.google.com/group/changecamp

Sunlight Foundation: http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/

Government 2.0, David Eggers. (2005)

Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky. (2008)

http://www.slideshare.net/jenniferbell

Photo Credits:

[1] 234 social media marketing examples, beingpeterkimhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/beingpeterkim/2909140600/

[2] Printing Press, Thomas Hawk http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/172495285/

[3] Gold Bars, Curtis Perry http://www.flickr.com/photos/curtisperry/56998544

[4] Where’s Wally?, McGarry http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcgarry/111003432

[5] Eye see you!, dotbenjamin http://www.flickr.com/photos/dotbenjamin/2636942186

[6] Auntie P.'s ruler, John Edgar Parkhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/edgar/355067220

[7] Chemical Reaction, Neys http://www.flickr.com/photos/neys/2386865187

[8] Landmark Supermarket Trinoma, bredgur http://www.flickr.com/photos/bredgur/2655954991

[9] Cisco 2950, Marco Wessel http://www.flickr.com/photos/mhw/91952572/

[10] Hanging Boken Bulb II, bitzcelthttp://www.flickr.com/photos/bitzcelt/450640323/

[11] United Colors of Legotton, Guillermohttp://www.flickr.com/photos/grdloizaga/817425185

[12] Rotterdam: abstract architecture, docmanhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/docman/2216568210

[13] Roadblock, iboy daniel http://www.flickr.com/photos/iboy_daniel/83671284

[14] just take my hand let's fly away, funkyahhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/funkyah/2400889778/

[15] Amelia Earheart, missrougue, http://www.flickr.com/photos/missrogue/297606078/

[16] Dave Wants You, Chris Owenshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/shutter/105497713

[17] Robots Attack, Andy Wilsonhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/by_andy/2646443630/

[18] Old Town, Tallinn, Estoniahttp://www.flickr.com/photos/kaeru/1442362288/