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January 18, 2013 By Noelle Knell
Nearly every major city in the U.S. has gotten attention for open data efforts. Government Technology has covered initiatives in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Chicago, as well as smaller cities like Tucson, Ariz., and Madison, Wis., to name just a few.
While few would dispute the benefits of more transparent government operations, the Center for Technology in Government (CTG) in Albany, N.Y., is taking a look at what governments need to consider before releasing data sets for public consumption.
”The idea that it’s a good idea to know what your government is doing is fundamental to democracy, so we think opening government is a phenomenon that needs to be expanded, advanced and encouraged, and has the potential to make our democracy stronger and make our governments more effective,” said CTG Senior Fellow Tony Cresswell.
The Dynamics of Opening Government Data, released last month, looks at what it actually means to release government data sets to the public. Sponsored by software company SAP, the paper evaluates two open data releases – restaurant inspection data in New York City, and road construction information in Edmonton, Alberta.
According to the CTG, governments would be wise to thoughtfully consider which data sets they release. “Picking data resources that have a value proposition both internal to government and externally in the community seem to be the ones with the biggest payoff,” Cresswell explained.
Secondly the release of the data can’t be the end game. Rather, it’s just the beginning. Opening up new data streams for public use will hopefully spur creativity and ideas for new uses. Governments should spend some time thinking about how the data might be used ahead of time, so that it can adjust resources accordingly.
In the New York example, the initial release of restaurant inspection data online in 2007 brought negative reactions from restaurant owners. Following an unfavorable inspection, they were anxious to have their establishments re-evaluated in order to improve their score. Responding to the outcry, the city eventually hired more inspectors to facilitate faster re-inspections, and get the corresponding updated evaluation information posted online.
On the technology side, city officials underestimated the public interest in the restaurant inspection data, and IT infrastructure described as “primitive” buckled as a result of all the additional traffic.
The example serves as a cautionary tale for other governments. “If you do a bit of mapping and modeling some of those potential consequences,” said CTG Senior Program Associate Brian Burke, “you can plan for that type of resource shift.”
In the other open data release analyzed by CTG, the city of Edmonton already provided road construction data to its citizens via a popular static map feature on its website. The high-value data was released to the public, resulting in the creation of the Edmonton Road Construction mobile app that has proven very popular with the public.
”Edmonton is known for its two seasons: winter and road construction. It makes perfect sense that one of its flagship open data initiatives would involve releasing street construction projects data,” the report reads.
The CTG points out that both examples considered in this research were fairly straightforward, but more attention needs to be devoted to open government efforts involving more controversial data.
The recent upsurge in the national gun control conversation provides a perfect example of the trickier side of open data. The New York Journal recently published an interactive map of registered gun owners in Westchester and Rockland counties. While the data was legally obtained using public information requests, there was a significant outcry over the information being made public. Many felt that the safety of law-abiding gun owners, including law enforcement officers, was put at risk. Likewise, community members felt that publishing the data put homeowners without guns at risk as well.
”When you get into open government in areas that are politically or socially sensitive," Cresswell said, "it's a much more complicated dynamic.”
You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.govtech.com/e-government/Transparency-What-to-Consider-Before-Releasing-Data-to-the-Public.html
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All data belongs to the people. Unless it is vital to national security or involves personal safety, then the gov't. should not be allowed to cherry-pick what data the people may see and use. Democracy cannot exist in darkness.
Virtually all my data (and assessors offices are one of the largest data producers in local government)is mandated by state (SC) statute to be publicly available except for SS numbers. We find that a web hosting firm provides the best means of doing that in today's world. My databases are not publicly accessible, but the data can be viewed and downloaded on a realistic (within 1 week vs. real time) basis.
This is an interesting debate that really needs to happen, notwithstanding the oversimplistic comments such as those already here. I can't forget a meeting I attended in the UK a year or so ago where this question of what information should "opened" (aka, made easily available online) was raised and the TBL disciples all shouted us down when we suggested a ROI analysis with a value metric. "Who are you to know what data might have value to some new innovative company" we were told! The problem folks, is that it does cost money to "open" data and most Western countries are short on that, and actually considering cutbacks in important social programs. To say that we should devote unlimited resources to "opening" govt data without any regards to ROI is misguided. Opening of govt data will be a long process, and just like it would be nice to have a high speed rail network tomorrow, it would be nice to have all government data "open" tomorrow. But neither of these nice to haves are realistic in the world we live in today.
Steve, you hit it on the head. There just is not a financially responsible way to open all the data at once. We have to start some where. And it is better use of public funds to cherry pick based upon potential value. It amazes me that so many people think we can just make it happen. Even the voluteer organizations that focus on open data, will cherry-pick a few data sets to work on. They are not government, and they agree, it is a long, resource-intensive process.
Releasing data is a ridiculously tiny expense within government budgets. The real issue is government's tolerance for disruption --- including implementing changes that benefit the public. The release of the NYC restaurant data compelled the city to have more frequent inspections and post the results faster. That's a good thing! We can't do a cost/benefit analysis for every data release. It's an excuse for inaction. The government is the steward of the data, not the owner.
I have to agree with JK. Opening data doesn't take legions of people months of work. It involves creating a repository (using CKAN.org or Socrata.com for instance). Once setup datasets can be loaded and readily accessible by anyone. That's simplistic of course but, the point is the datasets are everywhere, can be indexed in a single location and available to any user - especially intra-government users. The issue of how the data is updated is also important as well as the need for a static nature of the dataset structure so developers can tap into it without having to change their code again and again. There are also many groups such as CodeForAmerica.org that have been creating 'brigades' in cities all over America where top-tier programmers and entrepreneurs are working with government to create data-related applications on a pro-bono basis. Such teams can also be tapped into to help setup local data catalogs. The open-data movement is here. There are many passionate volunteers that want to work with their communities to open access to the data so they can help others participate more intelligently with government. I hope we can all embrace the concept and invite not only volunteers but, entrepreneurs - a critical element in the fabric of our local communities and nation - who will develop myriad ideas to use the data. Sure, some may make money but, isn't the end goal here to improve government efficiency, engage intelligent discourse with residents and improve our economy? If that's all true government should be lining up to release their data. Open government data practices may very well become the best thing that ever happened to our communities. Let's talk about how to open our data as effectively and quickly as possible. We don't need government to throttle information. That model is so twentieth century :)