Interoperability and Web Applications: Opening the Door to Access and Sharing

Interoperability across the web and applications requires standardization, thought, and planning. The presentation will discuss legacy and other challenges, provide insight into the available standards and processes which exist to aid movement forward and review the

benefits of interoperability.

Kevin Novak, ChairW3C Electronic Government Interest Group

April 17, 2009

Overview of W3C Electronic Government WorkFormed/Chartered in June of 2008Participation open to W3C members and

Invited ExpertsPublic and others can join the email list to

watch and learn about activities and discussions

Promoting openness and contribution across diverse bodies and interests

Overview of CharterThe Charter of the group sets forth three areas of

focus:Usage of Web Standards (Government

Websites and use of best practices and standards)

Transparency and Participation (Enabling discovery, communications, and interaction)

Seamless Integration of Data (Use of data standards, Semantic Web, XML)

Year 1 WorkCollaborating and partnering with governments and other

organizations (The World Bank, EC, OECD, OAS, ICA, CEN, OASIS).

Identifying, validating, and documenting existing applicable standards.

Identifying gaps in the open standards that currently exist.Working collaboratively on having open standards

developed, validated, and tested. Creating, evaluating, and testing use cases.Compiling and communicating issues papers (called Group

Notes) that will offer governments the opportunity to learn what exists to aid them in their endeavors.

Creating the outline and work plan for year 2 and year 3 of the eGovernment activities at W3C.

First Draft of Issues Paper PublishedPaper available for commentFocus on:

Participation and Citizen Engagement Open Government Data Interoperability Multi-channel delivery Identification and Authentication Long term data management

Use Cases Semantic Interoperability (eg. Judicial) Persistent URIs Performance Data + Citizen Choice Data Sharing Policy Expression Digital Preservation + Authenticity + Temporal Degradation IPR Expression Identification + Authentication Data Aggregation Your Web Site is your API (eg. RDFa, sitemaps?) What Data? How does the government decide? Participation in Social Media; what are the rules ? Temporal Data

Legislation/Legal (Law Reports)Geospatial

Multi channel delivery (back/front)

What is Interoperability in Government?Interoperability is the ability of organizations,

individuals, and agencies to share and exchange information via electronic means.

Focus is in W3C Electronic Government terms:Ability for government agencies to share and

exchange informationAbility for different levels of government to

share and exchange informationAbility to share, make available, and exchange

information with organizations and individuals

Why is Interoperability a Challenge?Proprietary SystemsStove Piped Focus/implementationLack of understanding on intended audiences

and usesConsideration of open and other standards

that allow systems and applications to communicate, share, and exchange.

ExamplesLocal Government Public Safety Challenge

7 proprietary systems40 interfaces to different levels of governmentLack of standards to allow communicationNo opportunity to share, exchange or make

information availableFederal Legislative Information

Proprietary and old systems/architectureLack of standards agreement or implementationConfusing and challenging data/information

structure

How Can Interoperability be Achieved?Use or Develop common standardsDevelop a common structure/framework

(Government Interoperability Framework or GIF)shared by government organizations and agencies that promotes sharingTechnical interoperability standards including:

Data transport Data representation Semantic or other interoperability

Main Issues and LimitationsPrivacySecuritySemanticsLegal AspectsOpen StandardsOpen SourceCultureDesire to ChangeStruggle for Openness and transparency

What are the Benefits?Easier for the CitizenLess DocumentationFaster Exchange and Communication

Greater automationIncreased multi-channel delivery

Available and In Process Standards

Next StepsW3C Electronic Government Group will:

Continue to work with W3C groups and others standards bodies to address current and needed open standards.

Focus on further maturing and developing issues and solutions identified in the egov draft issues paper.

Vet, validate existing use cases and identify or develop new use cases that provide realistic and successful examples of interoperability.

Listen to the community (government and stakeholders) on what is needed and attempt to match need with relative standards and practices.

Questions?