policyandsocialinclusion

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Why information matters for the Post-2015 framework

African case study, although the approach is somewhat techno-deterministic.

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Members of the Open Data Research Network were in Cape Town for ICTD2013 from December 7th to 10th. This storify captures tweets and slides from our internal Africa network meeting, and open session in the conference on 10th December. It will be updated over the coming days to create a full record.

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Participatory budgeting platform from a Nigerian start-up. Very interesting!

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My article in response to Yu and Robinson's recent paper on open data has just been published in the UCLA Law Review Discourse: The Uncertain Relationship Between Open Data and Accountability: A Re...

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The Rhetoric of Transparency and its Reality: Transparent Territories, Opaque Power and Empowerment

Future reading...

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http://www.transparency-initiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/open_data_study_final1.pdf

Future reading...

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Great post asking some pertinent questions. Found via #DavidEaves

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UK gov paper, 2012

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A very useful, detailed report on OGD. Includes a helpful conceptualization of the term 'open data.'

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A project led by W3C Brazil, and Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)  and the Caribbean, funded by the International Development and Research Center of Canada (IDRC).

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http://www.btaworks.com/2014/01/25/the-freezing-of-vancouvers-one-million-dollar-line/

Open data says houses in Vancouver are very expensive,

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The objective of this policy is to achieve efficient and effective use of information technology to support government priorities and program delivery, to increase productivity, and to enhance services to the public.

Interesting how blandly worded documents can hold so much importance.

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This links to the fourth part of a Globe & Mail 'series' examining online privacy, big data, spy agencies and hackers. The articles are presented as online conversations, and include comments from some very intelligent and erudite individuals.

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Solving problems and increasing productivity

The first part of the Canadian Open Data Experience (CODE)--the 48-hour coding marathon--just wrapped up this evening. The revealed theme was 'solving problems and increasing productivity,' which allowed for a lot of latitude in submission (I imagine) but seems a little disappointingly vague.

I'm not sure if there is a place to view all of the submitted apps (I don't know my way around Github), but here are a couple I found via Twitter:

http://edward.github.io/geds-next/: lets you look up public servants

https://github.com/bacongobbler/canada-average-rent: visualizes the average rent cost in BC

Also, there were some very cool data visualization being made from the participants themselves:

Now more than 330 unique posters to @CODE_Hackathon / #CODE2014 ! pic.twitter.com/mJi47x0ngr

— Kitt McGoveran (@kittmcg) March 1, 2014

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File this under cool projects, the 6 Degrees website visualizes relationships between business organizations. For example, I searched for "Monsanto" and learned that they're related to Pfizer. Interesting!

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What does open government really mean?

Although I freely admit to a positive bias when it comes to the open government/open data* issue, I also enjoy critiques of said issue. These are excellent at pinpointing downfalls of access and inclusivity, and for identifying ulterior motives in the adoption, of say, the government's OGP commitment.

This govfresh post (which is now almost 2 years old) was prompted by another post by blogger/scholar Tom Slee, who raises some (sadly) valid points in the Canadian context. It seems that many open data folks, including the govfresh author, took umbrage with Slee's blanket dismissal of the rhetoric that accompanies the open government/transparency movement. An excellent response to Slee's argument (as noted in the govfresh post) can be found in David Eaves' response.

What's important about this debate is not who is right; it's the fact that it is happening at all. Open data champions need skeptics to avoid falling into the trap of technological determinism, while skeptics needs to accept that great grassroots work is being done in this space (see OpenParliament.ca, as an example). Debate and critique are at the heart of what it means to be open and transparent. An echo chamber reverberating with agreement on how wonderful and emancipating data is will not help advance the principles of transparency that this movement (and yes, I think that's an accurate moniker) espouses.

This UCLA Law Review piece also provides an interesting critique of open government.

*I've conflated the two here, but I agree with Eaves that open data and open government are truly not one and the same.

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I've been posting a lot about open data and open government, but what about the idea of inclusivity? The Wellesley Institute does a lot of excellent work in the area of health and urban living, and often raise policy deficits in the areas of planning and health. Perhaps a similar approach needs to be taken for ICT policy?