The presentation analyses the open data movement across the world and in India. The current experiments in benchmarking open data initiatives are also briefly mentioned.

1. Next Stage In Open Government
Data:
Using Data For Transparency, Accountability
and
Collaboration
Nayana RenuKumar
CENTRE FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE, INDIA

2. Web
2.0
Image source: Flat Classroom Pro

3. Open Government and Citizen Engagement




Open Government Data are data sets released by the government
on public interest. Usage is unconstrained with the right to reshare and re-purpose without further notice (Source: Linked Open
Data).
Political
paradigm
is
based
on
the
principles
of
transparency, participation, and collaboration
Open government is about how government can work with society
and individuals to co--‐create public value OECD (2010)
Core values of open government data can be summarized as:

Transparency: Governments should provide citizens information on what
they are doing, to receive feedback on government decisions and be held
accountable

Participation: Governments should actively solicit expertise and consult
with all sectors of society so that it makes policies with the best
information

Collaboration: Government officials should work together and with
citizens and the private sector as part of their job of solving local and

4. Need for Open Data






More information might lead to more informed and better
decisions
Higher degree of effectiveness & efficiency
Strengthen trust in establishment
Leverage benefits of peer production
New business models
“Peoples right to know”

Execution of controlling rights by the citizens

Self-Determination

Communication on equal information level

Better Services – better Governance – better Regulation

5. Open Government Data Definition: The 8 Principles of
Open Government Data

Government data shall be considered open if the data are made public in a
way that complies with the principles below:

Data Must Be Complete: All public data are made available. Data are
electronically stored information or recordings, including but not limited to
documents, databases, transcripts, and audio/visual recordings. Public data
are data that are not subject to valid privacy, security or privilege
limitations, as governed by other statutes.

Data Must Be Primary: Data are published as collected at the source, with
the finest possible level of granularity, not in aggregate or modified forms.

Data Must Be Timely: Data are made available as quickly as necessary to
preserve the value of the data.

Data Must Be Accessible: Data are available to the widest range of users
for the widest range of purposes.

Data Must Be Machine processable: Data are reasonably structured to
allow automated processing of it.

6. Open Government Data Definition: The 8
Principles of Open Government Data

Access Must Be Non-Discriminatory: Data are available to anyone, with
no requirement of registration.

Data Formats Must Be Non-Proprietary: Data are available in a format
over which no entity has exclusive control

Data Must Be License-free: Data are not subject to any
copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret regulation. Reasonable
privacy, security and privilege restrictions may be allowed as governed by
other statutes.

Finally, compliance must be reviewable.
A contact person must be designated to respond to people trying to use the
data.
A contact person must be designated to respond to complaints about violations
of principles.
An administrative or judicial court must have the jurisdiction to review whether
the agency has applied these principles appropriately.
Opengovdata

7. Key open data initiatives
State/Federal
Private
US Recovery.gov and USA
spending.gov to track government

data.worldbank.org/
spending and improve transparency of
public policies

data-catalog

data.gov

www.undataapi.

datasf.org

org/wiki/datasets

gov.opendata.at

data.reegle.info

OpenBelgium.be

opengovdata.ru


data.edmonton.ca/

data.gov.uk

data.london.gov.uk

digitaliser.dk

geodata.gov.gr

data.suomi.fi

8. Benchmarking Open Data Initiatives

Wide range of indicators now used
performance, especially in eGovernment

One of the challenges for the future government - design and implement
new metrics for benchmarking governments‟ performance to ensure that
citizen engagement and open government data initiatives can be monitored
and improved

to
evaluate
government
Necessary to allow benchmarking of “transformation readiness” of
governments as well as improvements in “public value” from the point of
view of citizens

qunb open data benchmark France vs UK vs US

Socrata, Inc., a leading advocate and technology enabler of Open Data
launched the inaugural Open Government Data Benchmark Study on July
21, 2010

Study offered insights into the state of Open Government Data from three
perspectives:



data producers and publishers in federal, state and local governments;
civically-engaged data consuming citizens; and
programmers who aim to build civic applications based on open, public

9. Why Open Data Benchmarking?


It‟s important to find out how far we‟ve come in this
evolution towards government data transparency and
civically-engaged citizens
Answers some key questions

How aware is the public about Open Data initiatives?

How do they feel about it?

What percentage of people believe Open Data is important enough to fund
with taxpayer money?

Would the public be more likely to support elected officials who champion
data transparency?

How would people expect to consume and interact with public data?

For that matter, what would be examples of high-value datasets in their
view?
Source: Socrata

10. OPEN GOVERNMENT AND
OPEN DATA IN INDIAN
CONTEXT

11. Open data in India

India provides one of the most fascinating examples of the use of open
government data in a developing country context. It has one of the best right
to information laws in the world and the government‟s approach to open
data builds on this legacy of making open data relevant to Indian citizens.

Right to Information Act 2005

Sec 4 1(b) : Proactive disclosure of information

National eGovernance Plan

National Knowledge Commission

Public Information Infrastructure

National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy-2012

Open Government Platform created through India- Us collaboration

to Promote Transparency and Citizen Engagement

by making more government data, documents, tools and processes publicly available

Government portal data.gov.in

National Spatial Data Infrastructure

National Knowledge Network

12. Prime Minister‟s Advisor on
Public Information Infrastructure & Innovations

Operationalising the National Knowledge Network to interconnect all educational and
research institutions

Overseeing broadband connectivity to local governments and enabling citizen interface
to improve delivery of public services and citizen empowerment

Promoting greater use of Information Communications Technology in Public Transport
Systems

Promoting greater use of Information Communications Technology in the Justice
System

Developing an Action Plan for a Decade of Innovation

Undertaking other activities that impact the creation of a knowledge society

INDIAN GOVT HOLDS FIRST TWITTER SESSION


Sam Pitroda, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and
Innovations, held the Indian government‟s first ever Twitter session to interact with
citizens on 25th September, to discuss public access to information.
The virtual conference, entitled „Democratisation of Information‟ which Pitroda
defined as “information access for everyone”, invited questions regarding the
PIII
release of information by government departments, public information
infrastructure, government initiatives in this field, and problems that participants
could observe and foresee

13. National Knowledge Network

State-of-the-art multi-gigabit pan-India network for
providing a unified high speed network backbone for all
knowledge related institutions in the country

Comprises of an ultra-high speed CORE (multiples of
10 Gbps), complimented with a distribution layer at
appropriate speeds

Participating institutions at the Edge will connect to the
National Knowledge Network seamlessly at speeds of 1
Gbps or higher

Network
is
designed
to
support
Overlay
Networks, Dedicated Networks, and Virtual Networks

Advanced
applications
in
areas
such
as
Health, Education, Science & Technology, Grid
Computing,
Bio
informatics,
Agriculture,
and
Governance will be an integral part of NKN

The entire network will seamlessly integrate with the
global scientific community at multiple gigabits per
second speed
NKN

14. Benchmarking
Efforts


India eReadiness
Assessment reports
since 2003
Jointly prepared by
NCAER and DIT

15. Key challenges for India‟s open data efforts







Absence of adequate eGovernance infrastructure to
place identified government data online in an machine
readable, reusable, and easily interpretable format
Issues of privacy
Language barriers
Semantic and system interoperability issues
Most data provided in „raw data‟ not amenable to
sophisticated analysis
Need for evolving and propagating open standards
Elite capture of access

16. Final comments : Benchmarking Open
Data

A very effective open method coordination for eGovernment, where
most common policies and objectives are set on a voluntary
basis, and implementation is ensured not by regulation but by peer
pressure

Resulting rankings expose both the achievers and the laggards

Depending on the acceptance and exposure they receive, these
rankings can have a significant impact on policy development

Benefits: simplicity, accountability and capacity to influence policy

Need to be mindful about drawbacks

Over-simplification and excessive focus on indicators
rankings, rather than on actual needs and benefits
and

17. Thank You