this is what transparency looks like in
Germany it’s part of an investigation
into the folksmen scandal we wanted to
know what the government did to regulate
diesel emissions in 2012 and so we asked
a ministry for economics and energy and
what we got back is among other things
this observe that the administration
appears to have digitally blacked out a
scanned page printed it out scan it
again before they were sure they could
release it to us I find it pretty absurd
that information the government collects
on behalf of the citizens is not
available to the citizens in fact I
can’t really think of a good reason why
all these documents shouldn’t be made
publicly available so that anyone can
access the information they need many
countries nowadays have these freedom of
information laws by which citizens
journalists and companies can request
information from the government so say
you want to know what angular map could
received as gifts from foreign officials
last year well you can send a request to
the government and if the government has
it information you have a right to know
it given that doing so doesn’t violate
other laws such as the right to privacy
or copyright one could describe this as
the poll model of information disclosure
that is you want to know something you
request it and maybe you’ll get it but
why not go one step further why not have
a push model of information disclosure
why not open up data by default rather
than by request the government has so
many awesome data sets and thinking of
environmental data data on pollution the
weather or transport data data on
traffic accidents subway time schedules
or just whatever patents were registered
last year all this information is not
just interesting but in
relevant and useful for everybody making
these data sets publicly available is
essential idea behind open data data is
open when it is free for anyone anywhere
to use for any purpose again given the
right kinds of legal restrictions such
as privacy for governments this
translates into data is online and
published under an open license now this
vision may sound very very fanciful to
you but we’ve actually made some great
progress in the last couple of years
seventeen nations have signed the open
data charter which commits them to
releasing comprehensive timely and
accurate data sure that’s by far not all
but we’re getting there there’s a lot of
green on this map for openness but as
more and more data gets added to portals
around the world there’s one thing one
little thing that is so often overlooked
in this process access to data alone is
not enough we need to make the data
accessible we need to turn data into
knowledge we need to make a cake from
the raw ingredients so to say well what
do I mean by that accessibility is very
different from access data is accessible
when it is understandable when it is
meaningful and useful when it can be
used to empower people and affect change
in this world
to understand the difference let’s apply
a concept from political theory here in
a capitalist society I am free to buy a
car in fact I am free to buy a Porsche
that is nobody’s prohibiting me from
buying a Porsche but of course I am also
not free to buy a Porsche I have to have
the ability in this case the money to do
so
you have to distinguish between the
right to do something and the ability to
do something and so here’s what I think
it means for openness open data
describes a state where government data
is published online under an open
license this is what activists have been
focused on for a long time now
accessibility on the other hand means
that people in fact access make use of
the data that is published already now
we have a wealth of information
available to us but it is an entirely
different question to ask how many
people have actually gained access to it
I don’t know who here has actually been
to the open data portal of Germany Gulf
data de but yes there is one and people
don’t go there because they don’t know
what to do with it
freedom for the sake of freedom makes
very little sense to me because surely
the reason I want to be free to buy a
Porsche is to buy a Porsche having the
right to do so won’t help me here and
similarly for openness accessibility
alone is not enough unless I know what
to do with it
we demand open data so that we can make
use of it it has to inform us it has to
enable us to make better decisions
so I propose the following opening up
data is the bare minimum of what
governments should do the real work has
to go into providing accessibility and
now to the 1 million dollar question how
do you close this gap between access and
accessibility well first and foremost
the government has to remove barriers to
the information they provide be a
technical legal or administrative life
is too short to be scraping PDFs all day
we need to have machine readable data
and also nobody should have to submit
personal information just to submit a
Freedom of Information request the
government doesn’t have to have my name
on file just because I wanted to know
what happened during the folks buying
scandal but more than that we need
better interfaces to search and retrieve
information provided by the government
interfaces that are designed for a
diverse society with diverse needs
what we need is human centered design
and what we don’t need is bureaucracy
jargon or broken links but I think the
onus also isn’t just on the government
it is also our duty as technologists to
raise awareness of open data to promote
data literacy to build capacity for the
effective use of data we need projects
that explain the data and demonstrate
their value projects like this
visualization of ancillary revenue in
the German parliament where you can
compare the additional income of German
politicians super-quick to code and yet
very important to have or this beautiful
presentation of traffic data
commissioned by the city of Washington
you can see analyses for congestion
commuting bus reliability all on an
interface that really invites you to
explore the data and think about the
city’s infrastructure
these are fairly complex datasets but
the visualization really lowers the
threshold for citizens to engage with
the city and sometimes you need whole
global investigative teams to dive into
the data and to for example unveil
corruption as was the case with the
Panama papers we need data journalists
who tell the stories behind the data
designers that convey the meaning of
facts and figures and whole communities
of hackers and makers who build tools
and resources to empower people as a
society we need to see the value in
publishing
analyzing and interpreting data and we
need to do more of that in the open and
for the benefit of all yes access to
data is very important for transparency
for accountability but let’s not forget
that access alone does very little we
need accessibility we need open
knowledge thank you
[Applause]
Germany it’s part of an investigation
into the folksmen scandal we wanted to
know what the government did to regulate
diesel emissions in 2012 and so we asked
a ministry for economics and energy and
what we got back is among other things
this observe that the administration
appears to have digitally blacked out a
scanned page printed it out scan it
again before they were sure they could
release it to us I find it pretty absurd
that information the government collects
on behalf of the citizens is not
available to the citizens in fact I
can’t really think of a good reason why
all these documents shouldn’t be made
publicly available so that anyone can
access the information they need many
countries nowadays have these freedom of
information laws by which citizens
journalists and companies can request
information from the government so say
you want to know what angular map could
received as gifts from foreign officials
last year well you can send a request to
the government and if the government has
it information you have a right to know
it given that doing so doesn’t violate
other laws such as the right to privacy
or copyright one could describe this as
the poll model of information disclosure
that is you want to know something you
request it and maybe you’ll get it but
why not go one step further why not have
a push model of information disclosure
why not open up data by default rather
than by request the government has so
many awesome data sets and thinking of
environmental data data on pollution the
weather or transport data data on
traffic accidents subway time schedules
or just whatever patents were registered
last year all this information is not
just interesting but in
relevant and useful for everybody making
these data sets publicly available is
essential idea behind open data data is
open when it is free for anyone anywhere
to use for any purpose again given the
right kinds of legal restrictions such
as privacy for governments this
translates into data is online and
published under an open license now this
vision may sound very very fanciful to
you but we’ve actually made some great
progress in the last couple of years
seventeen nations have signed the open
data charter which commits them to
releasing comprehensive timely and
accurate data sure that’s by far not all
but we’re getting there there’s a lot of
green on this map for openness but as
more and more data gets added to portals
around the world there’s one thing one
little thing that is so often overlooked
in this process access to data alone is
not enough we need to make the data
accessible we need to turn data into
knowledge we need to make a cake from
the raw ingredients so to say well what
do I mean by that accessibility is very
different from access data is accessible
when it is understandable when it is
meaningful and useful when it can be
used to empower people and affect change
in this world
to understand the difference let’s apply
a concept from political theory here in
a capitalist society I am free to buy a
car in fact I am free to buy a Porsche
that is nobody’s prohibiting me from
buying a Porsche but of course I am also
not free to buy a Porsche I have to have
the ability in this case the money to do
so
you have to distinguish between the
right to do something and the ability to
do something and so here’s what I think
it means for openness open data
describes a state where government data
is published online under an open
license this is what activists have been
focused on for a long time now
accessibility on the other hand means
that people in fact access make use of
the data that is published already now
we have a wealth of information
available to us but it is an entirely
different question to ask how many
people have actually gained access to it
I don’t know who here has actually been
to the open data portal of Germany Gulf
data de but yes there is one and people
don’t go there because they don’t know
what to do with it
freedom for the sake of freedom makes
very little sense to me because surely
the reason I want to be free to buy a
Porsche is to buy a Porsche having the
right to do so won’t help me here and
similarly for openness accessibility
alone is not enough unless I know what
to do with it
we demand open data so that we can make
use of it it has to inform us it has to
enable us to make better decisions
so I propose the following opening up
data is the bare minimum of what
governments should do the real work has
to go into providing accessibility and
now to the 1 million dollar question how
do you close this gap between access and
accessibility well first and foremost
the government has to remove barriers to
the information they provide be a
technical legal or administrative life
is too short to be scraping PDFs all day
we need to have machine readable data
and also nobody should have to submit
personal information just to submit a
Freedom of Information request the
government doesn’t have to have my name
on file just because I wanted to know
what happened during the folks buying
scandal but more than that we need
better interfaces to search and retrieve
information provided by the government
interfaces that are designed for a
diverse society with diverse needs
what we need is human centered design
and what we don’t need is bureaucracy
jargon or broken links but I think the
onus also isn’t just on the government
it is also our duty as technologists to
raise awareness of open data to promote
data literacy to build capacity for the
effective use of data we need projects
that explain the data and demonstrate
their value projects like this
visualization of ancillary revenue in
the German parliament where you can
compare the additional income of German
politicians super-quick to code and yet
very important to have or this beautiful
presentation of traffic data
commissioned by the city of Washington
you can see analyses for congestion
commuting bus reliability all on an
interface that really invites you to
explore the data and think about the
city’s infrastructure
these are fairly complex datasets but
the visualization really lowers the
threshold for citizens to engage with
the city and sometimes you need whole
global investigative teams to dive into
the data and to for example unveil
corruption as was the case with the
Panama papers we need data journalists
who tell the stories behind the data
designers that convey the meaning of
facts and figures and whole communities
of hackers and makers who build tools
and resources to empower people as a
society we need to see the value in
publishing
analyzing and interpreting data and we
need to do more of that in the open and
for the benefit of all yes access to
data is very important for transparency
for accountability but let’s not forget
that access alone does very little we
need accessibility we need open
knowledge thank you
[Applause]
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