IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The “Open Government Partnership”, which was announced by presidents Obama and Rousseff a year ago and currently includes 46 countries, encourages the governments of all these countries to greater openness, transparency, the involvement of citizens and the strengthening of civil society in general.

In April, EU ministers and the European Commission agreed to use open standards and interoperable systems to deliver electronic government services. The ministers resolved to "embed innovation and cost effectiveness into e-government through the systematic promotion of open standards and interoperable systems, development of EU wide e-authentication schemes and proactive development of e-invoicing, e-procurement and pre-commercial procurement."

European digital agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes has warned that the ongoing economic crisis underlines the need for a radical reform of government structures and the creation of so called “eGovernments”.

Kroes used a speech this week to call for the wide spread adoption of national eGovernments that can offer citizens easy online access to public sector services.

Die für die "Digitale Agenda" zuständige EU-Kommissarin Neelie Kroes hat am Donnerstag eine Konsultation zur Wiederverwendung von Informationen des öffentlichen Sektors gestartet. Bis zum 30. November 2010 können interessierte EU-Bürger und Organisationen an einer Onlineumfrage teilnehmen.

Die Daten sollen der Kommission bei der Überprüfung der entsprechenden Richtlinie (PSI) helfen. Laut Kroes wird mit der kostenlosen oder gebührenpflichtigen Wiederverwertung öffentlicher Daten in der EU jährlich schätzungsweise ein Umsatz von mindestens 27 Milliarden Euro erzielt.

Public data, or basic information collected by government and other bodies, is valued at €27 billion across the EU.

However, more State bodies need to realise the potential benefits of making such basic information not only available, but also accessible, an open data conference run by NUI Galway’s Digital Enterprise Research Institute (Deri) heard this week.

Open data is general information that can be freely used, re-used and redistributed by anyone, either for free or for a marginal fee. Studies conducted on behalf of the European Commission show that industry and citizens still face difficulties in finding and re-using public sector information. However, some Member States, such as France and the United Kingdom, have already adopted policies of open data.

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude is responsible for the U.K.’s Government Digital Service and is a co-chairman of the Open Government Partnership, an international body that aims “to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.”

The massive dataset is the descriptive information about Europe's digitised treasures. For the first time, metadata is released under the Creative Commons Zero 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (CC0), meaning that anyone can use the data for any purpose - creative, educational, commercial - with no restrictions. This release offers a new boost to the digital economy, providing electronic entrepreneurs with opportunities to create innovative apps and games for tablets and smartphones and to create new web services and portals.

Soon after its launch, the portal contained 350 000 data factsheets on a wide range of topics, from the State's budget to the geographic coordinates of the country's airports. This is just a beginning as more public sector data will be added gradually in the next months. A very efficient search engine enables users to find the documents corresponding to their query in just a few clicks.

Some 230 data sets covering citizenship, transportation, geographical data, public spaces, public procurement, finances, culture, young people and sports were made available on the portal in various open standards and file formats. The data sets are licensed under an ODbL license, which grants unrestricted and free of charge re-use of the data. The only condition for data re-use is the attribution of the source and, in the case of redistribution of (enriched) data, the use of a similar license.

The creation of data.gouv.fr is being overseen by Etalab, an agency initiated expressly for the purpose of creating and maintaining the portal, under the direct authority of the Prime Minister.

Die Datensätze auf data.gouv.fr stehen unter einer offenen Lizenz (License Ouverte), die die freie Verwendung der Daten erlaubt. Sie werden größtenteils in den Datenformaten XLS und CSV angeboten, die sich leicht weiterverarbeiten lassen. Unternehmer, Forscher und Bürger sind aufgerufen, neue Anwendungen für die öffentlichen Daten zu finden.

The UK open data initiative – through which departments open up data by default for public use - is universally acknowledged as a force for democratic good. There is a tendency to see the initiative as the 'little white bunny' of public management reform – impossible to criticise, unequivocally positive, and capable of fulfilling multiple objectives, including improved governance, greater transparency and innovation. But where is the evidence?

The first thing to say is that we need more data about open data to be able to make a real judgement.

The UK has been committed to releasing public sector data since early 2010, when Tim Berners-Lee worked with the government on the launch of the data.gov.uk website as part of a project to open up almost all non-personal data acquired for official purposes for free re-use.

Suddenly everything in government is open – open data, open policymaking, open governance. The UK government made it a central part of its civil service reform plan, saying that the service needs to become digital by default. The United States is another prime mover – President Obama on his first day in office sent an executive memorandum to all department and agency heads committing the administration to Obama "a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration". There is a global movement towards open principles mediated by the Open Government Partnership. This started with eight countries and, by mid 2013, had 58 countries actively engaged.

On 30 October, Britain will welcome delegates from 60 countries for the summit meeting of the Open Government Partnership. David Cameron said when he came to power that he wanted to lead"the most open and transparent government in the world". One can imagine how pleased and puffed up he will be when the world comes to his capital and applauds his achievements.

The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, today said:

"This Committee fully supports the principle of greater openness and its potential to strengthen accountability and drive improvements in public services. But the Government has a lot more work to do before that potential is realised.

'In 2011, the world saw how social media had changed the world we live in: the instant dissemination of news, giving a voice to the masses and, in the Middle East, aiding the mobilisation of citizens in the Arab Spring,' remarked Fadi Salem, director and fellow at Dubai School of Government.

"We are constantly improving the governance culture in Georgia as open governance is an essential part of our Government” – with these words Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili opened the first ever European Region Government Point of Contact (POC) conference Georgia’s capital Tbilisi today.

Judicial, legislative and executive branches of the Georgian Government gathered to host government representatives from dozens of countries who came to capital Tbilisi to participate in the international conference about open governance.