Open Government 2010 - my notes

2010 Jul 18 15:51 NZST

These are notes extrapolated from scribblings into a notepad. They're not
quotes unless indicated and may even be attributing the wrong person, but
they're things I took away from the speeches. I hope they are of some
interest for the Ninjas who were unable or unwilling to attend.

Key to notation
  (=> ) indicate my thoughts from statement
  (? ) indicates uncertainty in my recollection
  [] indicates editorial notes to readers

*Intro: Julian Carver*
  Let's make the most of diverse views in the room
  Good faith
  Egalitarian history
  Wider issues => Internet law, copyright, patents
  Government as a platform
*
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*Minister for Comms & ICT: Hon Steven Joyce*
 - Web 2.0, social media (=> seems to be a fairly narrow interpretation of
open govt)
 - economic, social benefits of open data
 - Reuse of geospatial data
 - statements of intent are difficult for people
 - important to reflect upon both data collection and data distribution
   - we can remove barriers to reuse
   - creating a straightforward feedback loop (=> transparency focus?)
   - assessment process for data release being created - release of
agencies' performance data
 - broadband - 12+ months
 - need broadband for full participation in open govt data
    - actions on demand-side
      - Health: 2014 core set of personal info available to individuals and
clinics
      - Education: National education network via private VPN
        (=> how is a private VPN aligned with open government?
        seems to be confusion of terminology
        [edit: section of speech is talking about increasing demand for
broadband services])

(=> policy adviser seemed to be circling comments that Minister made -
indicating inconsistency from prepared speech?)
(=> full-text of speech was being read through by policy adviser - why not
release full text of speech under CC-BY as a gesture?)

*Panel discussion*

*Introduction* - question to all panelists - what does open government mean
to you?

Keith Taylor (Policy Mgr, IRD)
  Focus is to provide better advice to Cabinet. More input from more people
leads to better advice.

Trevor Mallard (Labour Party)
  Open government requires a mental shift. Politicians' getting back to the
original intentions of the OIA.
  If we can get more released, we will have better policy.
  Trust - citizens & govt.

Marian Lips (Professor of eGovernment, Victoria Uni)
  Open government is highly significant to citizens. (=> empowerment focus)
  Rather than pushing out specific solutions, government should be using the
tools to increase (=> political) engagement

David Farrar (Political Commentator)
  Reminds him of W3 "what, why, when" (=> transparency focus)
  Open government, reclaiming delegated power from government
  Policy proposals
    Minister of Information (? advocating for pro-active release of info)
    Government agencies should have an information champion, poss acting
under CIO, to sponsor getting info out

Colin McDonald (Chief Exec LINZ)
  Potentially huge upsides, but lots of liability issues and risk
  (=> disclaim liability? "if you make money from it, you absorb risk"?)
  This is will be seen as great idea until someone gets seriously
embarrassed
  Open data represents a shift in power towards residents
  (=> interesting that he didn't mention an upside is that people using the
data can be a source of improving the data, but that they would merely be
accessing the data)

Zack Tumin (Ash Institute, Harvard)
  Appears to be two viewpoints around the world
    open government is a virtue in itself (=> Kantian / freedom, poss virtue
ethics )
    vs
    open government as a means to other ends (=> utilitarianism)
    "creating value" important - govts focus on balancing effectiveness,
efficiency & equity (3Es)
    people invest in government
    open government does not always guarantee 3Es

Rodrigo Mizuno (MS)
  Real democracy due to real participation (=> empowerment focus)
  Appears to be a skepticism towards governments by citizens in every
country
  Open govt may bridge that gap
  (=> seemed to be able to provide intl examples with great clarity)

*NZ-specific issues for open data*
(? Mallard)
  NZ has attitude of being closed
  Bridging digital divide is really important in his electorate - let's look
at laptops in homes
  (=> sweet, come down to Southern Cross on Saturday mornings Trev -
http://laptop.org.nz/)
  (=> lowered cost of doing business, paper processing expensive & slow)
  (=> re literacy concerns, laptops would be better than current system -
it's easy for agencies
        to adapt UI & provide extra info and extra languages on computers,
hard to do that on paper forms)

Farrar
  OIA
    we should move to a release without request system
    centralised db of all OIAs would be great

McDonald
  NZ's public management model: agencies are deliberately fragmented
    (=> Public Finance Act / State Sector Act / contracting model)
    (=> has anyone explained to the tech folk what he means?)
  Privacy legislation

Mallard
  Move back to indivisibility of Crown, rather than individual depts
  (=> Labour's "no wrong door" policy)

Mizuno
  May be an issue in NZ: how is success measured?
  Create an ecosystem of services around data.
  (? Data itself isn't that significant, services are)

Tumin
  Move to open government data is amplified by the open corporation
  Corporate data is "vastly important"
    e.g. workplace safety, food safety, trade advantages

Q: Privacy - where is the trade off between privacy & govt openness? is it
stable? what are trends for next decade?
A: (Taylor) Need to assess each data set on a case by case basis.

Q: Open standards - how important?
A: (McDonald) "Absolutely vital"
(Tumin) recommends agencies refer to NIEM "national information exchange
model"

[sorry, this is where my notes of panel discussion end! - must have been too
engrossed in the discussion!]

*Clare Curran's remarks*
[she arrived several hours late due to flight delays]
  means to be open and a transparent government
*  problem: how to take "rhetoric to reality"*
*  first to mention Patents Bill & software patents (=> ! )*
*  procurement - supporting local industry (=> unconvinced that accepting
higher local prices leads to efficient govt spending in long-run)*
*  how do we draw boundaries for keeping things private/public (=> privacy)*
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