Transparency Through Open Data & Open Source
This is more excellent work by Jennifer Bell, the Executive Director of www.visiblegovernment.ca.
A couple of great quotes to focus on:
“Open Systems Make Failure Less Costly
Finding the best ways to analyze government information and collect value from public feedback is going to take a lot of experimentation. The probability of a successful solution is what author Clay Shirkey might qualify as a scalar distribution pattern: one where there’s a very large number of failures, some modest successes, and a few solutions that will do amazingly well. Being
prepared to accept a lot of failures is the key to finding the successes.Government bureaucracies are failure-averse for very good reasons. Public scrutiny and the spectre of being accused wasting of tax payer funds make for a cautious environment, where money is only spent on guaranteed successes. By publishing data in open, standardized formats, governments can off-load the costs and stigma of failure to external organizations. Like Goldcorps, governments can take the open approach to innovation by challenging advocacy groups, the nascent community of armchair egovernment-geeks, and the for-profit market to ‘build a better way’. The government can then take advantage of the value created by the best solutions. Solutions that don’t work can die quietly, without any tax dollars having been spent.”
And why not adopt the “Camp” approach to change? …
“Ways Forward
In the last two weeks, more than one grass-roots forum has appeared to advance a new era in civic participation. ChangeCamp[1], originating in Toronto, and Communeautique’s Forum Ouverte, in Montreal, are two such movements calling for an open exchange of ideas around using technology to re-define the role of the citizen. The spontaneous emergence of these groups shows the demand for new ideas and tools in the Canadian government.
The non-profit VisibleGovenrment.ca seeks the expertise and participation of grass-roots groups, advocacy organizations, and citizens across the country to make online tools for civic participation based on open government data a reality. If you share this goal, here are some concrete steps for action:
- Host a ‘Change Camp’ or ‘Forum Ouverte’ in your city.
- Research resources and strategies on the VisibleGovernment.ca, Sunlight Foundation, or MySociety websites.
- Contribute to a VisibleGovernment.ca project.
- Start a dialogue with your public representatives on how they can be more open.”
[1] “What is ChangeCamp?”
http://groups.google.com/group/changecamp/web/what-is-changecamp-1-page-brief
Transparency Through Open Data and Open Source-Scribd
