Re: New Public Sector Transparency Board and Public Data Transparency Principles

*
Mike wrote:

3) "Speed may mean that the first release may have inaccuracies; more
accurate versions will be released when available."  What is the point of
velocity here, if not accuracy the most important?*

**The experience seems to be (in the UK, as well as elsewhere in the EU)
that gov departments delay publishing data because 'it's not perfect enough'
while at the same time citizens are eager to see data released. There's fear
there that faulty data will cause fall-out for the department involved.
(disregarding the fact they apparantly are content to work with faulty data
themselves)
Speed is also important to maintain the use value of data (election results
one year after the election because of quality checks are useless. We accept
preliminary reporting there, and then wait for the official results
afterwards as well)

However, experience also shows that 1) publishing data actually improves the
quality of data (both due to feedback as well as due to more attention) 2)
the public is accepting of lower quality data if it means availability now.

I read this that speed is more important, as publishing will have positive
impact on quality, and there is a real sense of urgence outside gov that
needs a response.

best,

Ton
-------------------------------------------
Interdependent Thoughts
Ton Zijlstra

ton@tonzijlstra.eu
+31-6-34489360

http://zylstra.org/blog
-------------------------------------------


On Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 5:59 AM, Mike Norton <xsideofparadise@yahoo.com>wrote:

> Thanks Chris.  My two cents as the Devil's advocate:
>
> 1) "Public data policy and practice will be clearly driven by the public
> and businesses who want and use the data..." This seems to be a dangling key
> for businesses although I'm not convinced the same key will be available to
> individual consumers of said data.
>
> 2)  "Public data will be published using open standards, and following
> relevant recommendations of the World Wide Web Consortium."   To me, this
> is sort of a blatant conflict of interest, as much of the W3C's creed stands
> to eradicate borders during its growth - borders such as national
> boundaries, places where public data resides on the fringe.
>
> *3) "Speed may mean that the first release may have inaccuracies; more
> accurate versions will be released when available."  What is the point of
> velocity here, if not accuracy the most important?
> *
> Michael A. Norton
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* "chris@e-beer.net.au" <chris@e-beer.net.au>
> *To:* public-egov-ig@w3.org
> *Cc:* pia.waugh@aph.gov.au
> *Sent:* Wed, September 8, 2010 7:06:53 PM
> *Subject:* New Public Sector Transparency Board and Public Data
> Transparency Principles
>
> Hi All
>
> For data.gov.uk :
>
>
> http://data.gov.uk/blog/new-public-sector-transparency-board-and-public-data-transparency-principles
>
> 3 months old, but I think feedback from the group would be beneficial in
> terms of Ed & Outreach, as I'm not aware of this hitting the list in the
> past. (Correct me if I'm wrong).
>
> Please cc pia.waugh@aph.gov.au into replies as above in addition to others
> outside the group who might be interested - the more feedback the better
> for our own use, and I'm sure David P., Leigh D. and others on list would
> be interested in passing feedback onto the guys at data.gov.uk as well ;)
>
> Cheers
>
> Chris Beer
> Invited Expert (Public Member) - W3C e-Government Interest Group
> Coordinator - Better Practices for using Technology to Deliver Government
> Services Online
>
> Invited Expert (Public Member) - W3C-WAI WCAG Working Group
>
>
>
>
>
>