Joey Coleman - Building an Open Data Ecosystem for all to access
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Transcript of Joey Coleman - Building an Open Data Ecosystem for all to access
Open Data and the non-dev citizen Ensuring success for open data
Joey Coleman, April 29, 2013 #DevTO
Open Data and Accessibility
• Open Data is vital to the future of participatory democracy
• Participatory democracy only functions when all citizens are able to access the mechanisms of government
• Open Data can be inaccessible, especially when behind an API
• Developers must ensure Open Data is accessible for all, especially non-developers
Citizens need to experience value In an era of conflicting budget priorities, non-developer
citizens need to experience value from open data.
Citizens need to experience value It's not enough for citizens to just receive high-quality
applications o non-developers need to be engaged in the process
o it's not enough to get citizens ideas, we need to get them involved in the process, including: workshops forums hangouts
Without engagement ... Statistics Canada
• Produced data that was very useful to academics, researchers, government, and marketers o Data was locked behind expensive pay barriers o General public's involvement was solely filling out the
census o General public did not directly see the value of data
• Government cut StatsCan funding and long-form census o Academics, researchers, government, and marketers
launched a campaign against the cuts o General public yawned
Hamilton compared to TorontoStarting Points
Toronto Government Led
Dedicated Staff
Large Developer Community loosely organized
Extensively used daily government services with wide-adoption such as transit and recreation
Useful city website and 311 service
Hamilton Citizen Led
No dedicated staff
Small Developer Community organized in Open Hamilton
No widely-adopted daily government services
Useless city website - www.hamilton.ca
Building the Citizen Movement
A citizen-movement for open data success is fundamental to the development community to create a substantial climate for open source philosophies to spread into the wider civic society
It starts at the neighbourhood level o Neighbourhood Associations, maker/hackerspaces, your workplace,
classroom.
Spreads to a larger area, but never exceeds 50 people before branching into new chapters
How to build Much like real-neighbourhoods: • Champions - who is going to lead in the tough times? • mixed is best - have developers, information specialists,
artists, designers, information junkies, statisticians, and engaged citizens
• you need a hub - be it the local library, maker/hackerspace, municipal office, or corporate campus
• you need supporters - who will benefit from your early projects? Who will give you some pizza?
Business model of Open Data • Data is a micro-economy, the money is in
platform and services. • Platform is big - think AWS, Azure,
AppEngine • Services can be as simple as billboards at
local pizza parlour • Value is in networking and connections
o Open Data apps can only sell for up to $2, it's too easy for others to reproduce
o Open Data app building communities provide networking and self-development opportunities Pace of web development is
accelerating, no developer (or journalist) can be an island
The future of Open • Open Data is one branch of Open Source philosophy
that is fundamentally changing all aspects of our society • It will continue to grow and will create innovations not
yet foreseen or imaged
• New tools are being developed to support Open Data and other Open initiatives o I've crowdfunded my journalism successfully - twice o I receive many in-kind contributions, it's not just
monetary
Next Steps for you • Think about what you what to do with Open Data:
o Learn new skills o Challenge yourself o Meet new people o Network o Community-build o Build a business
• Find others interested and plan a coffee-meet-up o Open Hamilton started on four days notice, 25
people showed up
Questions
Questions