Are citizens ready for Open Government?

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Marco Fioretti (mfioretti@nexaima.net) July 128th, 2010, Open Government Seminar
http://mfioretti.com UIMP, Santander
http://stop.zona-m.net Some Rights Reserved
Open Government and Open Data:
are citizens and Public Administrations
ready for them?

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Some thoughts on
the nature of Open Government and Open Data
their social and human requirements and
implications
how to “sell” them to citizens
Open Government and Open Data

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Marco Fioretti
Member of
OpenDocument Fellowship (www.opendocumentfellowship.com)
Digistan.org (www.digistan.org)
www.eleutheros.org – a Catholic approach to Information Technology
RULE (Run Up to date Linux Everywhere, www.rule-project.org)
Writer for Linux Journal, Linux Format, Pc Professionale and others
Co-author of the O'Reilly Open Government book
Author of the Family Guide to Digital Freedom (http://digifreedom.net)
Home page and writings:
http://mfioretti.com
http://stop.zona-m.net
Author introduction

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Let's try to answer some questions:
Is Open Government something like e-government, that is performing
government services and operations much more efficiently thanks to
software, other digital/electronic technologies and the World Wide Web?
Is it using only Free/Open Source Software on computers belonging to
Public Administrations, or running public services?
Is it “transparency”, as in “publishing online all public raw data and
official documents”?
What really is Open Government?

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The short answer to the three previous question is “not necessarily”
Using computers doesn't automatically make services more efficient
(remember the '90s promises on the “paperless office”)
Some italian judges complained that the arrival of computers in legal
firms is one of the many reasons why trials usually take years:
Typewritten legal briefs couldn't be very long
Computer cut-n-paste makes it possible to produce in a few minutes
a 3-thousand page brief that will take the judge busy for months
What really is Open Government?

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In and by itself, using only Free/Open Source software on government
computers gives citizens no extra guarantees at all, as far as democracy or
civil rights are concerned:
You can build the perfect police state using ONLY
“Free as in Freedom” software
Access to source code is only meaningful if you also have physical
access to the computer that (supposedly) is running it.
What really is Open Government? FOSS?

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Having online data that prove that some public official misbehaved or that
public money is not spent properly is not enough unless it comes with:
Always following the right technical standards
Real freedom of speech
Efficient police and justice bodies
Clear law on accountability of public officials
If these things are missing, transparency could simply generate
powerlessness and refusal of engaging in politics
Cfr http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/04/27/technology-for-transparency-review-part-ii/
What really is Open Government? Transparency?

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It is, at least:
Real transparency and accountability
Power to citizens and doing “mas con menos”
Above all: Citizens strongly willing to use, and actually
using in large numbers, on a regular basis, all the
digital government infrastructure and data
So, what really is Open Government?

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Data that is:
Published and constantly updated online
In raw, computer parsable, really open formats
With licenses that explicitly allow for private or
commercial reuse and mash-up
Linked and easily linkable to all other open data
What really is Open Data?

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Much of the history of the last decades may be described as a struggle
between all kinds of traditional “big government” and “small
government” systems
Big Government: takes most of your money/rights, to
care for you. Even when you don't want it.
Small Government: takes (theoretically) as little as
possible and always leaves you alone. Even when it isn't
fair
Extra-short history summary

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Traditional “big government” and “small government” systems both assume
(sometimes unconsciously) that:
They always know better than you what you need or need to know
Two-ways, continuous communication isn't really necessary or good
Consequence: both in small and big government there is very little
possibility (or need...) for the single citizen to take an active role or have all
the informations to make the best decisions
Extra-short history summary (2)

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Cares for you in the right, most effective (and most economic!) way:
It doesn't want to do be big and do every possible thing for you, but...
Aims to be small in the right way: not abandoning you in the dark, but
giving you all the tools, resources and channels to actually do
something good for you, in a really fair environment
Since now, for the first time in human history, it is technically
possible to do it, at an affordable cost, thanks to ICT.
A really Open Government is one that...

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...privatization and deregulation done right?
When only big organizations can offer a service, but only other big
organizations can access the all the data and infrastructure needed to compete
with them or monitor them... citizens lose
Today instead, using ICT, we could build a world where everybody can really
monitor the providers of those services or sometimes become a provider (that
is, a world where everybody can act like the Government, at least in some
moments): that's openness
May a really Open Government be ...

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Will we be all ready to make
this really happen?

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Digitizing public services and communications can also have
negative effects:
Reducing bureaucracy and controls and taking online some
procedures can favour illegal activities, unless everybody is
allowed to control
Influencing people's opinion online can be much easier, and it's
surely much cheaper, than in the pre-digital age, when it was
much, much harder to see only the news you wanted to see.
Negative effects of digitalization

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The majority of citizens are prepared and willing to actively and
regularly use it
Once the government is really open, you can't relax or blame... the
government when things don't work
This is a huge cultural shift for many people:
“Move from a vote-and-forget mentality to daily checks and
personal decisions and actions, in a world that discourages
independent thinking and refusal of responsibility??? Who,
me???”
Really Open Government and Data only work if

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Open Government and data only work if... The majority of
citizens are prepared ... to actively use it
Translation: Open Government and Data deliver all their
potential benefits only if... the majority of public employees
and other citizens will be able and willing to analyze numbers
or judge how complete, reliable and unbiased numbers are.
Otherwise, more numbers may only generate more confusion
How good are people at math?

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May 2010: subscriber to a FOSS mailing list asks to promote Linux in public
offices to save public money because... “in 2003 Microsoft got more money
from the Italian Government than the Italian state deficit”
One other subscriber feels such an assertion is unreal, makes a quick check
and provides links proving that the 2nd
number is, in reality, 150 times bigger
than the other
But several others believe the initial request anyway and copy it integrally
on their own blogs
Full story (italian): http://stop.zona-m.net/node/171
A true story of people not getting public data

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Many current high-level initiatives for open data, transparency etc.. are
short or medium-term ones
But Europe is a relatively old, and rapidly aging continent
Can a system that will only work if many people participate in it be
made to work in just a few years if senior citizens aren't involved, at the
very least to vote for it?
Can Open Government advocates afford to ignore large masses of
people with lots of time on their hands to inspect Open Data in the
common interest?
How much time do we have?

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Spain, June 8th
2010:
general strike of public sector
workers against austerity plan
What about the Job Market?

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Spain, June 9th
2010:
meeting on Open Data and reuse of Public Sector Information
www.aporta.es
What about the Job Market? (2)

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What is the connection between the strike and the meeting?
Open Data and Interoperability mean automation
Openness means disintermediation, participation of all citizens,
allowing them to do their part
“transferir conocimiento e poder a la ciudadania”
Consequence: Open Government and Data, if done right, destroy many
jobs in what is now one of the largest remaining providers of socially
stabilizing, long-term employment in many countries
What about the Job Market? (3)

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Don't hide the fact that with Open Government/Data the number of desk jobs
in the public sector will strongly decrease, and plan for it
Promote training of public employees, adult citizens, students, in basic
processing of Open Data
Make Open Data hacking cool, popular, trendy (contexts, even in schools?)
Don't snob or forget the fastest growing segment of potential Open Data
volunteer processors: senior citizens. Turn them into Open Data addicts
instead
Promote laws that protect citizens doing reporting or denounces based on
official Open Data
How do we handle all this? Some proposals

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We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and
technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about
science and technology – Carl Sagan, ca 1995
Today, the world is software- and data-driven. Therefore, we
must replace “technology” in Sagan's statement with “digital
data and technology” because...
Your civil rights and the quality of your own life heavily depend
on how software is used around you – M. Fioretti (2006?)
Technology (especially digital technology!) is legislation
Why proper training of all citizens is essential

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Effective Open Government/Open Data initiatives start local!
Focus in the short term on promoting Open Gov./ Data at city &county level
It's easier and mistakes are smaller
excellent way for local administrations to stay within budget: when possible, if
there is no money to offer a service, give away to citizens all the info needed to do
it by themselves
It creates local jobs that increase local revenues and wealth
Citizen gratification: positive results can come and become visible much sooner
Citizens learn and love Open Data and Government much sooner, in the way
that requires the less resources
How do we handle all this? Locally!

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Resources:
Slides of these talk will be available at http://mfioretti.com
Why Open Digital Standards matter in Government (stop.zona-m.net)
Open Data, Open Society research (still ongoing): (stop.zona-m.net)
Impact of file formats on economy and culture: see http://mfioretti.com
For comment and questions, please contact:
mfioretti@nexaima.net
Questions? Thanks!
Resources and contact information

Are citizens ready for Open Government?

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