Information Policy

UAE looks at open data to promote e-government

By Zaher Bitar

Dubai: The federal government has urged its ministries and departments to publish more open data on their websites to enhance e-readiness and help promote the concept of open government, one of the pillars of a knowledge-based economy.

Publishing open data is also one of the United Nations' criteria for measuring online presence and e-government readiness. The UN is expected to issue its 2012 e-government survey later this month.

Open data involve the idea that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions by copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control.

Emirates e-government has allocated a special section on the UAE federal government portal (government.ae) for open data. The section includes data from all federal government entities.

Dubai is the first emirate to implement e-government by bringing all services online.

It is currently moving towards mobile-enabled services by issuing apps for various mobile platforms.

Ahmad Bin Humaidan, director general of Dubai E-government, told Gulf News that although most of the required data are available on the websites of the government bodies, the government plans to publish more data to add to the existing online information and services through a centralised portal to increase awareness and access.

Key service for citizens

"Open data on the government websites accelerates the transformation of an administration-centred government to a service-centred government and significantly improves the efficiency of the government," Bin Humaidan said.

"It is a key service for citizens and businesses."

Therefore the government agencies are sparing no efforts to optimise their e-government platforms and increase the flow of information.

"Developing a code of practices for data gathering and its use for statistical purposes helps the government facilitate improved use of data for decision-making, planning and service delivery," he said.

Bin Humaidan added that developing consistent identification data across a central government system is critical, subject to compliance with data protection laws and principles.

He added that e-suggestion and e-complaint options are available on all government websites within Dubai E-government to help communicate and engage with the public in order to improve service delivery.

Salem Khamis Al Shair Al Suwaidi, Emirates E-government Director-General, said: "Since we publish open data on the official portal of the UAE government, we urge government entities to make more documents available as open data so that we may publish them on the open data section on the portal."

He said Emirates E-Government intends to dedicate a special portal for the government's open data but this depends on the volume of open data available on government websites.

http://gulfnews.com/business/economy/uae-looks-at-open-data-to-promote-e-government-1.963154

Emirates eGovernment urges government entities to enhance open data on their websites

WAM Abu Dhabi, Jan 8th, 2012 (WAM) -- Emirates eGovernment has urged government entities in the UAE to publish more open data on their websites in order to enhance eReadiness and help promote the concept of open government, one of the main pillars of a knowledge-based economy.

Publishing open data is also one of the United Nations criteria for measuring online presence and eGovernment readiness. The UN is expected to issue the 2012 eGovernment Survey later this month.

Emirates eGovernment has allocated a special section on the UAE federal government portal (government.ae) for open data. The section includes open data from many federal government entities in the UAE published according to certain policies that protect confidential information.

Salem Khamis Al Shair Al Suwaidi, Emirates eGovernment Director General said, "Since we publish open data on the official portal of the UAE Government, we urge government entities in the UAE to make more documents available as open data so that we may publish them on the open data section on the portal." He said that Emirates eGovernment intends to dedicate a special portal for UAE Government open data but this depends on the volume of open data available on government websites.

Al Suwaidi added, "Many governments around the world today publish their data in open formats. Open data is considered a main source of revenue. It helps in the development of the society whether in terms of offering better services to the public or developing useful applications. Researchers, analysts and the media can also use this data to develop products and solutions that facilitate people's lives." "International studies have proven that the best way to make use of government data is to make it open to the public to use and reuse without restrictions. The European Union, for example, gains around 40 billion Euros a year from making public sector information available to the public," he concluded.

http://www.wam.org.ae/servlet/Satellite?c=WamLocEnews&cid=1289996833978&p=1135099400124&pagename=WAM%2FWamLocEnews%2FW-T-LEN-FullNews

Open.nasa: The Plan for Code

Author: William Eshagh

Today we are launching code.nasa.gov, the latest member of the open NASA web family. Through this website, we will continue, unify, and expand NASA’s open source activities. The site will serve to surface existing projects, provide a forum for discussing projects and processes, and guide internal and external groups in open development, release, and contribution.

In our initial release, we are focusing on providing a home for the current state of open source at the Agency. This includes guidance on how to engage the open source process, points of contact, and a directory of existing projects. By elucidating the process, we hope to lower the barriers to building open technology in partnership with the public.

Phase two will concentrate on providing a robust forum for ongoing discussion of open source concepts, policies, and projects at the Agency. In our third phase, we will turn to the tools and mechanisms development projects generally need to be successful, such as distributed version control, issue tracking, continuous integration, documentation, communication, and planning/management. During this phase, we will create and host a tool, service, and process chain to further lower the burden to going open.

Ultimately, our goal is to create a highly visible community hub that will imbue open concepts into the formulation stages of new hardware and software projects, and help existing projects transition to open modes of development and operation. We are going to need your help to get there! Please use “Share your Ideas,” comment on this post, or email us at opengov@nasa.gov to let us know how code can help you, where you would like to see the site go, and how we might best fulfill our purpose.

We believe that tomorrow’s space and science systems will be built in the open, and that code.nasa.gov will play a big part in getting us there. Will your code someday escape our solar system or land on an alien planet? We’re working to make it happen, and with your help, it will.

http://open.nasa.gov/blog/2012/01/04/the-plan-for-code/

From Open Data to Open Action

by Muchiri Nyaggah

“The thing to remember is, Human beings do not socialize in a completely random way. There’s a tangible reason for us being together, that ties us together. Again, that reason is called the Social Object.” Hugh MacLeod

The Open Government Partnership declaration commits members to support civic participation in addition to making data on government activities open to the public.  In Africa, Kenya made history as the first country in sub-Sahara Africa to implement an open data initiative giving citizens unprecedented access to valuable datasets. 40 countries, 5 of them African countries, have since signed up to the OGP and I believe they are at different levels of following through on the spirit of the declaration.

A sign at Fort Jesus in Mombasa, Kenya.

The value of open data to citizens is unquestionable. This year, Kenyan software developers have launched mobile apps that leverage open data to provide services to citizens. They have mostly been in the healthcare and agriculture verticals but services in education and entertainment have begun to emerge. These are very encouraging signals coming out of a country that only a decade or two ago made it almost impossible for citizens to know what the government was doing. These apps may not have been possible without access to the huge amount of data the government holds and is now making available to software developers.

However, we shouldn’t think of only mobile and the web when we talk about leveraging open data. “To turn raw data into ‘edible’ content that citizens can consume and make decisions with” should be the overarching objective for anyone looking to improve citizen participation in governance through open data. This edible bits of content should be easily consumed on the now ubiquitous mobile devices in Africa as well as on old fashioned news print and billboards. Jyri Engestrom refers to social networks as “object-centered sociality” meaning people connect because they have a reason to and that reason is usually an object (in the loose sense of the word). Moving from mere intentions to action may start with little more than an object (physical or otherwise).

Citizen participation starts with ignition; the spark that gets the fire going. Sparks are generated when conversations happen. Human beings having conversations about an issue can be inspired to transform intent into action, finding within their conversations the things that tie them together. Social objects are the reason sparks start. They provide the license/excuse for conversations between people (sometimes total strangers) to start. If we use open data to create social objects offline as well as online, we can mobilize citizens for social and political change and a better quality of life. However, these social objects need to be relevant to the audience, tapping into their concerns and aspirations as individuals and as a community.

Developing more effective programs/initiatives around democracy and governance therefore needs better intelligence about the citizens and their communities as well as better alignment of organizational goals with the people’s needs. It’s about taking a user-centered approach to project design which can fundamentally change how eGovernment and civil society work. It also means taking a multi-platform approach so that insights gleaned from open data are not relegated to digital silos accessible only by the privileged few.

Social Objects in Open Governance

It is not uncommon to see small groups of men hurdled around a newspaper at a news stand on weekday mornings sometimes in animated debate. The newspaper’s content is already a social object our society is familiar with and one that can be leveraged to transition citizens from intent to action. Here are four ideas that can help us on the road to better initiatives that find relevance among people.

1. Find the issues your people actually care about. Not everyone is likely to be moved to action by the same message. Figuring out which segments or archetypes in the community resonate with your cause makes it possible to design highly effective initiatives. Furthermore, the issues citizens care about can be fundamentally different to those NGOs and civil society organizations think people should care about. If we take the time to listen, we will hear them.
2. Build appropriate local social objects. Mobile apps in a region with low mobile phone penetration is a recipe for an endless pilot program. Billboards, FM radio talk shows and print ads or posters would be more effective. For instance, using traditional media to highlight statistics on misappropriation of local government funds would probably spur those in that community to action if done using appropriate channels. It is also likely that this same information would be completely irrelevant to citizens in a different locality, hence the need to think local as well.
3. Include feedback and amplification. The conversations sparked by the social object need to be captured. Including a mechanism to capture these conversations and amplify them allows people to hear related conversations happening across the ‘room’. Additional or even opposing points of view are introduced creating richer dialogue and better outcomes (in my opinion). These conversations can be captured via call-in shows, text messages or even social media.
4. Update objects with a conversations layer. Once open data has been published, social objects created and conversations are happening around the piece of data that was published, its time to publish an update to the existing dataset with a layer of the people’s opinions. Sometimes people think they are the only ones with an idea or pain around an issue. Updating the social objects with this layer of feedback creates awareness about the scale of public sentiment and could inspire action.

Open data requires not only that the veracity of data be maintained but its freshness as well. This means social objects need to be updated, new conversations captured, objects updated and the cycle repeated. It also calls for a multi-channel approach to civic participation programs that take into account the role ICT is playing in the community and the level of comfort citizens have using new or existing channels to speak out.

http://afrinnovator.com/blog/2011/12/23/from-open-data-to-open-action/

Google: Android Activations Top 700,000 a Day

Google: Android Activations Top 700,000 a DayEvery day more than 700,000 people sign up for a new Android device, Google's Android chief, Andy Rubin, said late Tuesday via Twitter and Google+. That works out to nearly 5 million new Android users every week, which is about the equivalent of an iPhone 4S opening weekend every seven days. Rubin also clarified that Google's 700,000 activations per day includes new devices only and not resold ones. "We count each device only once," Rubin said in a follow-up post on Google+. "Activations means you go into a store, buy a device, [and] put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service."

http://www.pcworld.com/article/246764/google_android_activations_top_700000_a_day.html

European Commission Announces New Open Data Policy Package

European Commission vice president Neelie Kroes has announced the commission’s new package of policies related to open data and public sector information. Jonathan Gray reports, “The announcement contained some very strong language in support of open data. Open data is the new gold, the fertile soil out of which a new generation of applications and services will grow. In a networked age, we all depend on data, and opening it up is the best way to realise its value, to maximise its potential.”

Gray continues, “There was little ambiguity about the Commissioner’s support for an ‘open by default’ position for public sector information, nor for her support for the open data movement, for ‘those of us who believe that the best way to get value from data is to give it away’. There were props to Web Inventor Tim Berners-Lee, the Open Knowledge Foundation, OpenSpending, WheelMap, and the Guardian Datablog, amongst others.”

The Wall Street Journal quotes Kroes as saying, “Already out there, many institutions have freed up their public data; and many people are making use of them. The UK, France and Denmark are leading the way in Europe; while all together, public sector information generates over 30 billion euros per year in economic activity, with services from geo-location services to weather forecasts. By opening up this resource fully, we could more than double the value of this activity – to around €70 billion. This opening up can generate tax revenues which far exceed revenue from any fees previously charged for the data.”

http://semanticweb.com/european-commission-announces-new-open-data-policy-package_b25297

European Parliament opposes free ads for proprietary software on EU web sites

European Parliamentarians want European institutions to end making free advertisements for proprietary software on their websites, by suggesting site visitors which application to use to access information. This product placement is distorting competition, argue five MEPs. "

Numerous EU public websites refer to proprietary software, like Acrobat Reader, as the only possible way of reading PDF files, and provide a download link. This is a case of direct advertising by public institutions, which creates a competitive advantage for one company to sell its products", the five write to the European Commission on 2 December.

The MEPs are asking the EC to go over its websites to find all instances of proprietary product placement. They also want to know whether the Commission makes a financial gain on the ads, or if there is a lack of suitable alternatives. "Have the institutions that have such advertising on their website explained whether they have tried other PDF readers before? Which software did they mention?"

The initiative for the written questions was taken by German Green MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht: "The many references to a proprietary product show that the Commission is not aware of the problem. If the Commission would replace all of these ads by something that shows that there are alternatives, that would be an improvement."

PDF reader campaign

MEP Albrecht was made aware of the problem by a campaign launched by the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) in 2009. The free software advocacy group in early 2010 began contacting public administrations all over Europe to point out product placements for a proprietary PDF reader, finding free ads to one specific vendor on government websites in all European Union Member States. The group reported recently that a quarter of all public administrations it had contacted, improved the download links.

http://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/european-parliament-opposes-free-ads-proprietary-software-eu-web-sites

EU to Make All Public Data Available in Digital Formats

By Jennifer Baker

European Union member states will be forced to digitize all their government data, it was revealed on Monday.

According to new proposals put forward by the European Union's Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes, all E.U. countries will be obliged to make their public data available in digital formats. This represents a huge opportunity for tech companies, which could be worth €40 billion (US$53.5 billion) to the E.U.'s economy each year, according to the Commission.

Funding earmarked for research on data-handling technologies alone is around €100 million. Money will also be made available for creating data portal websites through the E.U.'s Competitiveness and Innovation Program, and the Commission will also back research into data infrastructures.

All this is aimed at making the most of Europe's hidden "goldmine" of information. Public data includes all the information that public bodies in the European Union produce, collect or pay for. This could include geographical data, statistics, meteorological data, data from publicly funded research projects and digitized books from libraries.

"We are sending a strong signal to administrations today. Your data is worth more if you give it away. So start releasing it now: use this framework to join the other smart leaders who are already gaining from embracing open data. Taxpayers have already paid for this information, the least we can do is give it back to those who want to use it in new ways that help people and create jobs and growth," said Kroes at the launch of the initiative.

The Commission will make its own data available through a Web portal currently in development and due to be launched in the spring. This will serve as a single-access point for reusable data from all E.U. institutions, bodies and agencies, and national authorities.

It is expected that tech startups could benefit most from the new rules by turning the raw data into smartphone apps, such as maps, real-time traffic and weather information, price comparison tools, and the like. In addition to distributing all the information in a machine-readable format, public bodies must deal with applications for data reuse within a set maximum time and will not be allowed to charge more than costs triggered by the individual request for data. In practice, this means most data will be offered free or virtually free, unless a charge is duly justified. These rules are particularly relevant to high-speed, cash poor startup companies and developers.

The Commission says that the plans will also increase transparency in government: "Open data is a powerful instrument to increase transparency in public administration, improving the visibility of previously inaccessible information, informing citizens and business about policies, public spending and outcomes." The proposal would operate in full respect of rules on the treatment of personal data.

A number of countries including the United Kingdom and the Netherlands have already created portal websites on accessible data, while last week France launched a portal exactly along the lines of the Commission's proposal. But other member states lag and only make their data available in paper format.

If approved by the European Parliament and the member states, the proposal is likely to come into effect in 2013. Member states would then have 18 months to implement it into their national legislation.

 

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/246026/eu_to_make_all_public_data_available_in_digital_formats.html

UNESCO Launches Global Open Access Portal

"The Global Open Access Portal (GOAP), funded by the Governments of Colombia, Denmark, Norway, and the United States Department of State, presents a current snapshot of the status of Open Access (OA) to scientific information around the world. For countries that have been more successful implementing Open Access, the portal highlights critical success factors and aspects of the enabling environment. For countries and regions that are still in the early stages of Open Access development, the portal identifies key players, potential barriers and opportunities.

The Global Open Access Portal is designed to provide the necessary information for policy-makers to learn about the global OA environment and to view their country’s status, and understand where and why Open Access has been most successful.

At a glance, the portal provides an overview of the framework surrounding Open Access in UNESCO Member States by focusing on:

* the critical success factors for effectively implementing Open Access;
* each country’s strengths and opportunities for further developments;
* where mandates for institutional deposits and funding organization have been put into place;
* potential partners at the national and regional level; and
* funding, advocacy, and support organizations throughout the world.

Features of GOAP
The portal provides a high-level view of the Open Access environment and is not designed to provide an inventory of repositories, OA journals, and other associated initiatives. The primary target audience includes policy-makers, advocates, and delegates from national, regional, and non-governmental organizations as well as members of the OA community. The Portal aims at being the first destination of information seekers on OA. It is also supplemented by a Community of Practice through the exiting online platform “WSIS Knowledge Communities”. The GOAP is a knowledge portal that has the following features:

* Country-wise distilled knowledge on the status of Open Access
* Key organizations engaged in OA in Member States
* Thematic focus areas of OA
* Important publications on OA coming from different regions of the world
* Critical assessment of major barriers to OA in each country
* Potential of OA in UNESCO Member States
* Funding and deposit mandates
* Links to OA initiatives in the world"

http://ifap-is-observatory.ittk.hu/node/786

UNESCO Global Open Access Portal launched

The Global Open Access Portal (GOAP), aiming at presenting a top level view of Open Access to scientific information, was launched at a special side event organized during the36th session of the UNESCO General Conference, on Tuesday 1 November 2011, at Paris Headquarters.

The Global Open Access Portal (GOAP) presents a snapshot of the status of Open Access (OA) to scientific information around the world.

For countries that have been more successful in implementing Open Access, the portal highlights critical success factors and aspects of the enabling environment. For countries and regions that are still in the early stages of Open Access development, the portal identifies key players, potential barriers and opportunities.

The portal has country reports from over 148 countries with weblinks to over 2000 initiatives/projects in Member States. The portal is supported by an existing Community of Practice (CoP) on Open Access on the WSIS Knowledge Communities Platform that has over 1400 members.

The GOAP is a knowledge portal that has the following features:

• Country-wise distilled knowledge on the status of Open Access
• Key organizations engaged in OA in Member States
• Thematic focus areas of OA
• Important publications on OA coming from different regions of the world
• Critical assessment of major barriers to OA in each country
• Potential of OA in UNESCO Member States
• Funding and deposit mandates
• Links to OA initiatives in the world

The Global Open Access Portal (GOAP), launched together with the revamped Open Training Platform (OTP) and the first UNESCO Open Educational Resources (OER) Platform, provides the information for policy-makers to learn about the global OA environment and to view their country’s status, and understand where and why Open Access has been most successful.

Development of the Global Open Access Portal has been made possible with support received from the Governments of Columbia, Denmark, Norway, and the United States. This GOAP will be a work in progress, and shall be further improved with the support received from the community of OA practitioners.

Open Access is at the heart of UNESCO’s mandate to provide universal access to information and knowledge, and the UNESCO Open Access programme shall continue to facilitate policy dialogue in Member States, share knowledge and best practices in the field of Open Access, and build and share local capacities through North-South and South-South co-operation to build knowledge societies for sustainable development.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/resources/news-and-in-focus-articles/all-news/news/global_open_access_portal_launched/back/18618/