Digital Creativity

Open Data and Open Partnerships to facilitate Open

Government

WORLD IP DAY APRIL 2016

2016-04-24

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Agenda

Purpose

Introduction

Commitment

To whom does it apply?

What does open mean

Global ranking

ICT enabler

What needs to be done to ensure open data?

Conclusion

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Purpose

How can open data and open partnership across public and private sector enable economic growth and effective government services considering the benefits and cost for an integrated and Open Government civil society?

Digital creativity

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Introduction

South Africa like any other developing country is embarking on the concept of doing more with less.

The challenge is to improve the quality of service through the use of ICT while at the same time reducing the cost. Data and Information Management practices are often the best ‘unrealised or untapped’ opportunities to directly address these high-level challenges, especially when it comes to common and shared services.

One of the greatest opportunities and challenges facing policymakers today is the ever increasing significance of data. Data underpins our businesses and our economy, providing new insights into citizen needs and enabling new products and services to be developed.

Data capability is underpinned by the ability of public and private sector to access and share data appropriately.

The open data revolution will change the way in which public and private sector engage with citizens, develop policy, deliver services, and the way they are held accountable.

“Open data is data that can be freely used, shared and built-onby anyone, anywhere, for any purpose.”

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Commitment

Government is committed to develop an open data community involving the public and private sector, communities, academia, and the citizen.

The establishment of the Open Data ecosystem will benefit citizens by providing access to cradle-to-grave information irrespective of data ownership or origin.

The success of open data hinges on the insight of Government and private sector to make information transparent and available to citizens.

There must be a drive for public-private partnership towards reuse of data and information.

In light of a lack of a current Open Data Policy for Government, and to unleash the potential of Open Data, one of our next steps could be to come up with an Open data Policy that sticks within South Africa much deeper and making this fundamental change permanent. By doing piece meals, we can demonstrate the value of open governance to economic growth, inclusive development and improved citizen engagement and empowerment.

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To whom does Open Data apply?

Openness can apply to information from any source and about any topic.

Anyone can release their data under an open license for free use by and benefit to the public.

Although we may think mostly about government and public sector bodies releasing public information such as budgets or maps, or researchers sharing their results data and publications, any organisation can open information, such as public and private sector, academia, State-Owned-Companies, Non-Government-Organisations, Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises, communities and citizens).

Open data should not only concentrate on government data, but should provide access to public and private sector information and data with the aim of improving the availability of data with proper access controls on the use of the information.

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What does Open mean?

Legal openness is the permission to get data legally, to

build on it, and to share it.

Technical openness is to ensure that there are no

technical barriers to using that data.

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Across the Globe, there are a myriad of evidence reflecting the open data movement.

In the 2014/15 Open Data Barometer Global Report, published by the World-Wide-Web Foundation, indicates that the United Kingdom, United States of America, Sweden and New Zealand are the leaders at allowing open access to government data.

South Africa is currently 41st of the 86 countries covered in the study, having the highest ranking in the Sub-Saharan Africa group.

Global ranking

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What needs to be done to ensure open data?

Establish a strong commitment to opening data;

Ensure commitment to open partnerships and open data;

Develop a government-wide framework on open data, through an inclusive process –open information, open data and open dialogue.

Review and evolve enabling legislations and practises with regards to open data;

Identify and publish some information sets as open data in line with current government and private sector legislative frameworks and guiding principles;

Manage the availability of the data sets through data governance structures.

Actively promote the use of open data inside government, so that government becomes both a primary provider and a primary user of open data. This is fundamental to make sure government is truly committed and also impacts the point made earlier about internal skills. As government uses its own open data (inside and across agencies) as well as open data published by private company, openness becomes business as usual instead of being seen as a parallel, independent initiative. In order to stick, open data must go to the core of how government operates.

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ICT Enabler As the enabler of ICT for Government SITA needs to lead the implementation of the

open data for government to ensure that it committed to open government, to foster greater openness and accountability in government.

This initiative will provide opportunities to learn about, participate, drive innovation

and to partner to ensure a responsive and efficient government.

This can be done through the use of technological innovations (Such as cloud

services, big data, Internet of Government Things, etc.) to meet global and local

standards to empower the citizen (e-Services), government official and Industry players to foster innovation and reform all-inclusive public services.

Open ArchitectureOpen Data

Open Standards

Transparency

Participation

Collaboration

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Conclusion

We need to tap into the social, economic and cultural advantages of a

“inter connected government” that values information sharing and fosters

growth to allow data exchange and sharing across all spheres of

government.

With transparency and accountability being the focal points, we believe

that by sharing and opening data in a consumable form, and not just

making it a compliance issue but looking at it as fundamental.

As a way forward we will continue to consult and partner with all

stakeholders and open data communities to engage on ongoing

dialogue with government on policies and priorities to shape the

direction for open data.

Thank YouQuestions

2016 Open Government Partnership Africa Regional Conference will be

held in Cape Town, South Africa from May 5 - 6, 2016