Social Ed.

I attended a talk on open data and government recently featuring David Eaves. On the surface, open government data initiatives are about sharing government data in standard, machine readable format for anyone to use as they wish. The result is applications like VanTrash that uses city garbage collection data and addresses to tell Vancouverites when to put out their trash. However, David Eaves made a powerful argument that it is about something far more important than that. He argued it’s about the most important strategic asset countries have today: data.

He argued that organizations that understand the power of data win and those that don’t lose. He gave the example of WalMart vs KMart and said that WalMart’s obsession with tracking data powers its phenomenal growth while KMart’s lack of data focus led to its bankruptcy. (He referred the audience to the book The WalMart Effect for more on that. It’s available at my local library so is probably at yours. If anyone wants to do a book club type read on it let me know).

He challenged the mostly government audience to release data or be seen as the enemy of open data. He said he was there because “he’d given up on government” because much of government still resists sharing data with each other let alone the public. To illustrate how much he’s given up he showed his datadotgc.ca site that states in its About section:

Unlike the United States (data.gov) and Britain (data.gov.uk), Canada has no open data strategy. This must change. Canadians paid for the information gathered about our country, ourselves and our government. Free access to it could help stimulate our economy and enhance our democracy. In pursuit of this goal, this website is a citizen-led effort to promote open data and help share data that has already been liberated.

Although, he’s right that the Government of Canada has no open data strategy a group of dedicated public servants are working on one and departments are contributing data sets to the cause.

When I asked about the risks of open data Eaves said, “the question is flawed”. He later wrote a blog post detailing what he meant including the fact the opportunities of open data far outweigh the risks. He added there are already things in place like privacy and criminal codes laws to mitigate the risk of people misusing data – just like there are laws if people misuse guns (maybe we should replace the Gun Registry with the Data Registry. Although, that might cause a revolt among urban knowledge workers feeling branded as criminals )

Eaves closed by saying that government has to lead the open data initiative because if they don’t people will do it themselves and see government as the enemy. He also argued, with data to back it up, that the main user of open government data apps would be – governments.

What are the opportunities and risks of open data for your organization?

Posted in Government, Open Data | 3 Comments »

The BC’s government’s Apps for Climate Action contest highlights why open data initiatives are the best kind of government program: empowering people to take action.

In March, the Government of British Columbia launched the Apps for Climate Action contest challenging developers to use government data to create applications (or apps) that “raise awareness of climate change and inspire action to reduce carbon pollution”. It’s the “Inspire action” part I love because governments spend way too much time and money trying to “raise people’s awareness” of what they’re doing and/or trying to get people to take some action the government wants them to take. Through open data initiatives governments give people the information they need to take action they choose.

The BC contest is the first government open data initiative I’ve heard of focused on a particular topic instead of focusing on simply releasing as much data as possible. I like this because it will lead to the creation of lots of apps focused on the very important climate change issue and still make more data freely available to be used however people want to. You don’t have to be in the contest to use the data and you don’t have to make a climate change app – unless you want a shot at the prizes.

The BC contest is modeled on Washington, DC’s Apps for Democracy contest that “yielded 47 web, iPhone and Facebook apps in 30 days – a $2,300,000 value to the city at a cost of $50,000” according to the website. See all the apps created here.

I’ll be watching to see what creative climate action apps folks dream up.

Tags: goverment, Open Data
Posted in Government, open, Open Data | 7 Comments »

Why I am now an unofficial open data evangelist

In March 2010, the Canadian federal government informally launched an open data initiative similar to the US Data.gov (the announcement was so informal it was only on Twitter as far as I can tell). The goal of open data initiatives is to release government data to the public in ways people can use it to do useful things online. And that’s exactly what they do.

I learned of a great example of the kind of thing that makes me an open data advocate at a recent government open data presentation. It came in a video the presenter played of a talk by internet founder, Tim Berners-Lee at the 2010 TED Conference. TED is an annual week-long meeting of people with big brains sharing amazing ideas that, until recently, was private but is now made available online. Berners-Lee’s talk was a follow up this his 2009 talk where he encouraged the crowd to go do great things with open data. Clearly he inspired more than just the people in the room.

He gave an example of a lawyer in Zanesville, Ohio who made a map combining data about which houses had city-supplied water with data about which house residents were black or white. Here’s what he got:

A judge saw this and awarded the black residents $10.9 million in damages. Open data: 1; Zanesville town council: minus 10.9 million.

Now, you can see why examples like this might make governments reluctant to fully embrace open data. But there are other examples that should do otherwise such as these out of Vancouver:

• Vantrash which sends emails or tweets to Vancouverites reminding them of their upcoming garbage day
• Amazon Vancouver Public Library Linky that tells Amazon users if the book they searched for on Amazon is available at the Vancouver public library.

(The City of Ottawa is also embracing open data.)

The federal government has lots and lots of data and the possibilities of what people can do with it are endless. So this post is a call to action for one and all to go boldly where more and more people have gone before and tell your governments: Let my data go!

If you have a good open data story or a suggestion for an open data app please leave a comment!

Tags: Open Data
Posted in Open Data | 6 Comments »