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NNIP and Open Data

NNIP Semi-Annual Partners MeetingMay 12, 2011Kathy Pettit

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Selected Open Data Milestones

4/2006: Creation of the Sunlight Foundation 12/2007: Principles of Open Government Data 12/2009: White House Open Govt. Directive 1/2010: CityCamp – Chicago

UI/NNIP partners (Chicago, Milwaukee, New Orleans) 3/2010: Launch of data.gov 10/2010: Foo Camp 2010/2011: Various local open data meetings

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Foo Camp

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Goals of Open Data

Transparency and Government Oversight

Added Value (societal and private)

Citizen Participation

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Characteristics of Open Data

Complete Primary Timely Accessible Machine-processable Non-discriminatory Non-proprietary License-free Plus 8 more ...

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Impressions: Differences from NNIP

Primary data: Votes, government spending, meetings Public services, crime

Dissemination through high-tech means little mention of digital divide, equal access

Individual citizens access information directly

Less focus on cleaning, interpretation of data

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Why Is This a Topic for Local Partners and the Partnership?

Open data movement can either advance or hinder NNIP goals

Being informed will help individual NNIP partners strategize about response

Common understanding will help national messaging

NNIP has alot to offer the Open Data community

Should this be a focus of the partnership? Position papers, conferences, etc.

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Open Data Can Advance NNIP Goals

Improve Data Access Expand data sets and data formats Broaden types of data NNIP partners generally don’t

focus on like budgets and city expenditures Develop more comparable data in the long-term

(standard data schemas) Highlight need for NNIP partners’ analytic, story-

telling, and outreach skills Encourage tech folks to develop tools based on

NNIP partner data

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Open Data Can Hinder NNIP Goals ...

Eliminate partners competitive advantage of being the only holder of raw data

Exacerbate information and power divide through focus on high-tech delivery

Create need for damage control when misleading data is published and acted upon

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NNIP has a lot to contribute

Experience in getting governments to share data

Help to prioritize data needed for action

Knowledge about how to assess and clean data

Capability to transform confidential data (health, schools, etc.) and create indicators (rates)

Values about access to data for residents and organizations in low-income communities

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Options ...

Move towards more open data ... More data is democratized ....

But, opening up data broadly takes time and resources – may reduce time for other work, such as working with low-income neighborhoods (who are less likely to need raw data)

Opportunities for interest from new types of funders

But, if partners make all indicators easy to download, NNIP partners end up bearing all cost for access and processing, while competitors get data for free.

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Options ...

Move towards more open data (cont.) NNIP develop shared system to distribute data,

partners without online systems could still be “open”

Do nothing, keep going as is ... Danger that NNIP partner organizations are viewed as

(or act as) another “gatekeeper” hoarding data Nothing happens... this is just a fad.

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Discussion Questions

Are these trends already affecting the position or strategies of local NNIP partners? Is this conversation limited to tech/good government

circles, or spread to funders and community groups? Did I miss any benefits/hazards for NNIP? How explicitly should the partnership as a whole

align with open data advocates? What lessons and values does NNIP want to share

with the open data community?