Exploring Internet Governance Implications of an Expanded Open Data Agenda: Case Study of Government Data/Information Policies from India

Sumandro ChattapadhyayHasGeek Media LLPThe Sarai Programme, CSDSwww.ajantriks.net@ajantriks

National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy

/ Drafted by Department of Science and Technology

/ First draft version made public on May 2011

/ Gazette notification on 17th March 2012

/ A policy for internal and public sharing of (Central) government data in both human- and machine-readable forms

/ Explicit recommendation of open standards, but no mention of open licenses

/ Mandates development of <http://data.gov.in/> portal, with National Informatics Centre, Department of Electronics and IT, as nodal agency for implementation

data.gov.in

data.gov.in: History

/ Powered by Open Government Platform <ogpl.gov.in>, an open source Drupal-based data and content management system, developed by NIC in collaboration with the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, General Services Administration, Government of United State of America

/ Leverages and builds upon the best practices and features of <data.gov> and <india.gov.in>

/ First public version of the portal was launched on May 21, 2012

/ Second version of the portal, moving from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7,is about to be launched in near future

data.gov.in: Functions

/ Unified catalog of datasets published by various central government agencies, including both data stored at the data portal itself and data stored in the server of the agency

/ Users, both governmental and non-governmental, can browse the dataset catalog, view the metadata, comment on and rank various aspects of the dataset, create basic visualisations by choosing variables from the dataset, download available datasets and submit request for those that are not available yet

/ Data controllers from all government agencies can contribute, edit, update datasets, and track related activities, including comments and rankings

Government data/information policies in India

/ Right to Information Act, 2005

/ National e-Governance Plan, 2006

/ National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy, 2012

/ Office memo on 'Implementation of Suo Motu Disclosure under Section 4 of RTI Act, 2005 – Issue of Guidelines', 2013

/ Towards an expanded open (government) data agenda

What this has to do with Internet governance?

/ In past, 'Internet governance implications of open data' has largely focuses on issues of access and privacy

/ Open government data and associated data-driven modes of opening up governance restructures the professional skills and cultural capital needed to engage with the state

/ The threat of 'empowering the empowered' (Michael Gurstein)

/ The threat of 'seeing like a geek' (Tom Slee) and 'solutionist' (Evgeny Morozov) approaches to government reform

/ Challenges of governance are not only challenges of datagathering and processing

A provocation: Opening up Internet data

/ If the citizens are governed (electronically) through Internet, what rights the citizens should have upon Internet, the veryspace and medium of governance?

/ What types of open data about the Internet would allow for amore democratic space of (electronic) governance?

Thank you very much.

Sumandro ChattapadhyayHasGeek Media LLPThe Sarai Programme, CSDSwww.ajantriks.net@ajantriks