@ihenshaw Civic EngagementJanuary 13, 2016

Open Data andCivic Engagement

Presentation for:UNC-CH ICMA Student Chapter

Ian HenshawManaging PartnerTechnology Tank LLCian.henshaw@technologytank.org

@TechnologyTank@ihenshaw

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About Ian Henshaw

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Citizen Engagement Programs

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Dilemma of Government

● Need to provide a level of service at all times under all situations.

● Any change provides risk.

● Thus a Conservative approach.

● Enter the Disruptive Economy.

● Question: How do you provide dramatically improved services at lower costs?

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Government Transparency

● Public Records Laws

● Public Meetings Laws

● Sunshine Laws

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Key US laws

● Federal– 17 U.S.C. § 105

– Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

– Executive Order 13642

– Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA)

● State– Public Records Law - NCGA General Statute § 132

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Public Domain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript_culture#/media/File:Escribano.jpg

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Technology Change

● Xerographic office photocopying was introduced by Xerox in 1959, and it gradually replaced copies made by Verifax, Photostat, carbon paper, mimeograph machines, and other duplicating machines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photocopier

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FOIA Law

● The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, is a federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. This amendment was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, despite his misgivings, on July 4, 1966, and went into effect the following year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act_(United_States)

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Open Philosophy

Mertonian Tradition – 1942

● Open Science discouraged the proprietary exploitation of data (as opposed to inventions derived from data) and required as a condition of publication the availability of the datasets on which the work was based.

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The “Opens”

● Open Government

● Open License

● Open Standard

● Open Source

– Software and Hardware

● Open Service

● Open Data

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Open government is the governing doctrine which holds that citizens have

the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight.

- Wikipedia

Open Government

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Open Source

● Open-source software (OSS) is computer software with its source code made available with a license in which the copyright holder provides the rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose. Open-source software may be developed in a collaborative public manner. Open-source software is the most prominent example of open-source development.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software

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Open Data Definition

Open data is data that can be freely used, reused and redistributed by anyone - subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and share alike.

- Open Knowledge FoundationInteroperability

● Availability and Access● Reuse and Redistribution● Universal Participation

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The DIKW Pyramid

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Open Data Defined

● Non-Proprietary Format● Machine Readable● Easy to Access● Easy to Use● Reusable Without Restrictive License● No Cost

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What is not Open Data?

● Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

● Security Data● Confidential Information●

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Examples of Open Data● Government Data ● Commercial Data

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Examples of Open Data

● Crowd Sourced Data

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Justifications

Trust and Transparency

Enabling the Economy

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Benefits of Open Data

● Data Driven Decision Making

● Performance Measurement

● Reduction of Government Costs

● Support an Open Government Initiative

– e.g. Transparency

● Economic Development

● Increased Citizen Engagement

● Talent Attraction / Retention

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Change of Paradigm

● Waterfall Engineering vs. Lean Agile Development

● User Centric Design

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Waterfall Model

● The waterfall model is a sequential design process, used in software development processes, in which progress is seen as flowing steadily downwards (like a waterfall) through the phases of conception, initiation, analysis, design, construction, testing, production/implementation and maintenance.

● The waterfall development model originates in the manufacturing and construction industries: highly structured physical environments in which after-the-fact changes are prohibitively costly, if not impossible. Since no formal software development methodologies existed at the time, this hardware-oriented model was simply adapted for software development.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model

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Agile Process

● Agile Software Development is a set of software development methods in which requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams. It promotes adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, continuous improvement, and encourages rapid and flexible response to change.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development

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User Centered Design (UCD)

● User-centred design (UCD) is a framework of processes (not restricted to interfaces or technologies) in which the needs, wants, and limitations of end users of a product, service or process are given extensive attention at each stage of the design process. User-centred design can be characterized as a multi-stage problem solving process that not only requires designers to analyse and foresee how users are likely to use a product, but also to test the validity of their assumptions with regard to user behavior in real world tests with actual users at each stage of the process from requirements, concepts, pre-production models, mid production and post production creating a circle of proof back to and confirming or modifying the original requirements. Such testing is necessary as it is often very difficult for the designers of a product to understand intuitively what a first-time user of their design experiences, and what each user's learning curve may look like.

● The chief difference from other product design philosophies is that user-centered design tries to optimize the product around how users can, want, or need to use the product, rather than forcing the users to change their behavior to accommodate the product.

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Smart Cities

● A smart city uses information and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance quality, performance and interactivity of urban services, to reduce costs and resource consumption and to improve contact between citizens and government.

● Characteristic: Engage effectively with local people in local governance and decision by use of open innovation processes and e-participation, improving the collective intelligence of the city’s institutions through E-Governance, with emphasis placed on citizen participation and co-design.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_city

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Question

How do you bridge the gap between what government can provide and

what citizens need?

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Code for America

● Code for America believes government can work for the people, by the people in the 21st century.

● We build open source technology and organize a network of people dedicated to making government services simple, effective, and easy to use.

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Code for America

Changing people and practices● Code for America brings technologists into

government and supports new practices among existing teams to change how government delivers services.

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Code for America

What we focus on● We focus our iterative, user-centered, and data-

driven approach to government.

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Code for America

How we do it● Code for America helps show what's possible

and changed tools, platforms, skills, and practices of government in hundreds of cities.

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Citizen Engagement

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