The Centre for Internet and Society
http://editors.cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 61 to 70.
Opening Government: A Guide to Best Practice in Transparency, Accountability and Civic Engagement across the Public Sector
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/opening-government-best-practice-guide
<b>The Transparency & Accountability Initiative has published a book called “Opening Government: A Guide to Best Practice in Transparency, Accountability and Civic Engagement across the Public Sector”. We at the Centre for Internet & Society contributed the section on Open Government Data.</b>
<p>Cross-posted from the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.transparency-initiative.org/reports/opening-government">Transparency & Accountability Initiative blog</a>.</p>
<p>Download <a class="external-link" href="http://www.transparency-initiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Opening-Government3.pdf">the full report</a> (PDF, 440 Kb)</p>
<h3>Open Government Partnership</h3>
<p>In January 2011, a small group of government and civil society leaders from around the world gathered in Washington, DC to brainstorm on how to build upon growing global momentum around transparency, accountability and civic participation in governance. The result was the creation of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a new multi-stakeholder coalition of governments, civil society and private sector actors working to advance open government around the world — with the goals of increasing public sector responsiveness to citizens, countering corruption, promoting economic efficiencies, harnessing innovation, and improving the delivery of services.</p>
<p>In September 2011, these founding OGP governments will gather in New York on the margins of the UN General Assembly to embrace a set of high-level open government principles, announce country-specific commitments for putting these principles into practice and invite civil society to assess their performance going forward. Also in September, a diverse coalition of governments will stand up and announce their intention to join a six-month process culminating in the announcement of their own OGP commitments and signing of the declaration of principles in January 2012.</p>
<h3>'Opening Government' report</h3>
<p>To help inform governments, civil society and the private sector in developing their OGP commitments, the Transparency and Accountability Initiative (T/A Initiative) reached out to leading experts across a wide range of open government fields to gather their input on current best practice and the practical steps that OGP participants and other governments can take to achieve it.</p>
<p>The result is the first document of its kind to compile the state of the art in transparency, accountability and citizen participation across 15 areas of governance, ranging from broad categories such as access to information, service delivery and budgeting to more specific sectors such as forestry, procurement and climate finance.</p>
<p>Each expert’s contribution is organized according to three tiers of potential commitments around open government for any given sector — minimal steps for countries starting from a relatively low baseline, more substantial steps for countries that have already made moderate progress, and most ambitious steps for countries that are advanced performers on open government.</p>
<h3>Chapters and Contributing Authors</h3>
<ol>
<li>Aid – <a href="http://www.publishwhatyoufund.org/" target="_blank" title="Publish What You Fund">Publish What You Fund</a></li>
<li>Asset disclosure - <a href="http://www.globalintegrity.org/" target="_blank" title="Global Integrity">Global Integrity</a></li>
<li>Budgets – <a href="http://www.internationalbudget.org/" target="_blank" title="IBP">The International Budget Project</a></li>
<li>Campaign finance – <a href="http://www.transparency-usa.org/" target="_blank" title="TI USA">Transparency International - USA</a></li>
<li>Climate finance – <a href="http://www.wri.org/" target="_blank" title="WRI">World Resources Institute</a></li>
<li>Fisheries – <a href="http://transparentsea.co/" target="_blank" title="TransparentSea">TransparentSea</a></li>
<li>Financial sector reform <a href="http://www.gfip.org/" target="_blank" title="Global Financial Integrity">Global Financial Integrity</a></li>
<li>Forestry – <a href="http://www.globalwitness.org/" target="_blank" title="Global Witness">Global Witness</a></li>
<li>Electricity – <a href="http://electricitygovernance.wri.org/" target="_blank" title="Electricity Governance Initiative">Electricity Governance Initiative</a></li>
<li>Environment – <a href="http://www.accessinitiative.org/" target="_blank" title="The Access Initiative">The Access Initiative</a></li>
<li>Extractive industries – <a href="http://www.revenuewatch.org/" target="_blank" title="RWI">The Revenue Watch Institute</a></li>
<li>Open government data – <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/" target="_blank" title="CIS India">The Centre for Internet and Society - India</a></li>
<li>Procurement – <a href="http://www.transparency-usa.org/" target="_blank" title="TI USA">Transparency International-USA</a></li>
<li>Right to information – <a href="http://www.access-info.org/" target="_blank" title="Access Info">Access Info</a> and the <a href="http://www.law-democracy.org/" target="_blank" title="Center for Law and Democracy">Center for Law and Democracy</a></li>
<li>Service delivery – <a href="http://www.twaweza.org/" target="_blank" title="Twaweza">Twaweza</a></li>
</ol>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/opening-government-best-practice-guide'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/opening-government-best-practice-guide</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshDigital GovernanceOpen DataPublic AccountabilityOpennesse-governance2012-12-14T10:26:42ZBlog EntryComments on the draft National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/draft-ndsap-comments
<b>A draft of the 'National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy', which some hope will be the open data policy of India, was made available for public comments in early May. This is what the Centre for Internet and Society submitted.</b>
<p>These are the comments that we at the Centre for Internet and Society submitted to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure on the draft <a class="external-link" href="http://dst.gov.in/NDSAP.pdf">National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy</a>.</p>
<h2>Comments on the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy by the Centre for Internet and Society</h2>
<p>We would like to begin by noting our appreciation for the forward-thinking nature of the government that is displayed by its pursuit of a policy on sharing of governmental data and enabling its use by citizens. We believe such a policy is a necessity in all administratively and technologically mature democracies. In particular, we applaud the efforts to make this applicable through a negative list of data that shall not be shared rather than a positive list of data that shall be shared, hence making sharing the default position. However, we believe that there are many ways in which this policy can be made even better than it already is.</p>
<h2>1. Name</h2>
<p>We believe that nomenclature of the policy must accurately reflect both the content of the policy as well as prevailing usage of terms. Given that 'accessibility' is generally used to mean accessibility for persons with disabilities, it is advisable to change the name of the policy.</p>
<h3>Recommendation:</h3>
<p>A. We would recommend calling this the "National Open Data Policy" to reflect the nomenclature already established for similar policies in other nations like the UK. In the alternative, it could be called a "National Public Sector Information Reuse Policy". If neither of those are acceptable, then it could be re-titled the "National Data Sharing and Access Policy".</p>
<h2>2. Scope and Enforceability</h2>
<p>It is unclear from the policy what all departments it covers, and whether it is enforceable.</p>
<h3>Recommendation:</h3>
<p>A. This policy should cover the same scope as the Right to Information (RTI) Act: all 'public authorities' as defined under the RTI Act should be covered by this policy.</p>
<p>B. Its enforceability should be made clear by including provisions on consequences of non-compliance.</p>
<h2>3. Categorization</h2>
<p>The rationale for the three-fold categorization is unclear. In particular, it is unclear why the category of 'registered access' exists, and on what basis the categorization into 'open access' and 'registered access' is to be done. If the purpose of registration is to track usage, there are many better ways of doing so without requiring registration.</p>
<h3>Recommendation:</h3>
<p>A. Having three categories of:</p>
<ul><li>Open data</li><li>Partially restricted data</li><li>Restricted data</li></ul>
<p>B. Data that is classified as non-shareable (as per a reading of s.8 and s.9 of RTI Act as informed by the decisions of the Central Information Commission) should be classified as ‘restricted’.</p>
<p>C. The rationale for classifying data as 'open' or 'partially restricted' should be how the data collection body is funded. If it depends primarily on public funds, then the data it outputs should necessarily be made fully open. If it is funded primarily through private fees, then the data may be classified as 'partially restricted'. 'Partially restricted' data may be restricted for non-commercial usage, with registration and/or a licence being required for commercial usage.</p>
<h2>4. Licence</h2>
<p>No licence has been prescribed in the policy for the data. Despite India not allowing for database rights, it still allows for copyright over original literary works, which includes original databases. All governmental works are copyrighted by default in India, just as they are in the UK. To ensure that this policy goes beyond merely providing access to data to ensure that people are able to use that data, it must provide for a conducive copyright licence.</p>
<h3>Recommendation:</h3>
<p>A. The licence that has been created by the UK government (another country in which all governmental works are copyrighted by default) may be referred to: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/</p>
<p>B. However, the UK needed to draft its own licence because the concept of database rights are recognized in the EU, which is not an issue here in India. Thus, it would be preferable to use the Open Data Commons - Attribution licence:</p>
<p>http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/by/</p>
<p>The UK licence is compatible with both the above-mentioned licence as well as with the Creative Commons - Attribution licence, and includes many aspects that are common with Indian law, e.g., bits on usage of governmental emblems, etc.</p>
<h2>5. Integrity of the data</h2>
<p>Currently, there is no way of ensuring that the data that is put out by the data provider is indeed the data that has been downloaded by a citizen.</p>
<h3>Recommendation:</h3>
<p>It is imperative to require data providers to provide integrity checks (via an MD5 hash of the data files, for instance) to ensure that technological corruption of the data can be detected.</p>
<h2>6. Authenticity of the data</h2>
<p>Currently, there is no way of ensuring that the data that is put out by the data provider indeed comes from the data provider.</p>
<h3>Recommendation:</h3>
<p>It is preferable to require data providers to authenticate the data by using a digital signature.</p>
<h2>7. Archival and versioning</h2>
<p>The policy is silent on how long data must be made available.</p>
<h3>Recommendation:</h3>
<p>There must be a system of archival that is prescribed to enable citizens to access older data. Further, a versioning and nomenclature system is required alongside the metadata to ensure that citizens know the period that the data pertains to, and have access to the latest data by default.</p>
<h2>8. Open standards</h2>
<p>While the document does mention standards-compliance, it is preferable to require open standards to the greatest extent possible, and require that the data that is put out be compliant with the Interoperability Framework for e-Governance (IFEG) that the government is currently in the process of drafting and finalizing.</p>
<h3>Recommendation:</h3>
<p>A. The policy should reference the National Open Standards Policy that was finalised by the Department of Information Technology in November 2010, as well as to the IFEG.</p>
<p>B. The data should be made available, insofar as possible, in structured documents with semantic markup, which allows for intelligent querying of the content of the document itself. Before settling upon a usage-specific semantic markup schema, well-established XML schemas should be examined for their suitability and used wherever appropriate. It must be ensured that the metadata are also in a standardized and documented format.</p>
<h2>9. Citizen interaction</h2>
<p>One of the most notable failings of other governments' data stores has been the fact that they don't have adequate interaction with the citizen projects that emerge from that data. For instance, it is sometimes seen that citizens may point out flaws in the data put out by the government. At other times, citizens may create very useful and interesting projects on the basis of the data made public by the government.</p>
<h3>Recommendation:</h3>
<p>A. The government's primary datastore (data.gov.in) should catalogue such citizen projects, including open and documented APIs that the have been made available for easy access to that data.</p>
<p>B. Additionally the primary datastore should act as a conduit for citizen's comments and corrections to the data provider. Data providers should be required to take efforts to keep the data up-to-date.</p>
<p>C. Multiple forms of access should preferably be provided to data, to allow non-technical users interactive use of the data through the Web.</p>
<h2>10. Principles, including 'Protection of Intellectual Property'</h2>
<p>It is unclear why ‘protection of intellectual property’ is one of the guiding principles of this policy. Only those ideals which are promoted by this policy should be designated as ‘principles’. This policy, insofar as we can see, has no relation whatsoever with protection of intellectual property. The government is not seeking to enforce copyright over the data through this policy. Indeed, it is seeking to encourage the use of public data. Indeed, the RTI Act makes it clear in s.9 that government copyright shall not act as a barrier to access to information.</p>
<p>Given that, it makes no sense to include ‘protection of intellectual property’ amongst the principles guiding this policy. Further, there are some other principles that may be removed without affecting the purpose or aim of this document: ‘legal conformity’ (this is a given since a policy wouldn’t wish to violate laws); ‘formal responsibility’ (‘accountability’ encapsulates this); ‘professionalism’ (‘accountability’ encapsulates this); ‘security’ (this policy isn’t about promoting security, though it needs to take into account security concerns).</p>
<h3>Recommendation:</h3>
<p>A. Remove ‘protection of intellectual property’, ‘legal conformity’, ‘formal responsibility’, ‘professionalism’, and ‘security’ from the list of principles in para 1.2.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/draft-ndsap-comments'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/draft-ndsap-comments</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshOpen StandardsOpen DataSubmissionsOpenness2011-08-24T06:32:55ZBlog EntryOpen Government Data Study
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-government-data-study
<b>CIS produced a report on the state of open government data in India, looking at policy, infrastructure, and particular case studies, as well as emerging concerns, future strategies and recommendations. The report is authored by Glover Wright, Pranesh Prakash, Sunil Abraham, and Nishant Shah. We are grateful to the Transparency and Accountability Initiative for providing generous funding for this report.</b>
<p> </p>
<p>Cross-posted from the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.transparency-initiative.org/reports/open-government-data-study-india">Transparency and Accountability Initiative website</a>.</p>
<h2>Open Government Data Study: India</h2>
<p>India provides one of the most fascinating examples of the use of open government data in a developing country context. It has one of the best right to information laws in the world and the government’s approach to open data builds on this legacy of making open data relevant to Indian citizens. An estimated 456 million Indians live on less than $1.25 a day and a key issue for India, and other developing countries, is how open data can be accessible to them.</p>
<p>This paper reviews the progress being made towards open government data in India. Using case studies, it examines some of the pressing challenges facing the adoption of OGD in India. These include infrastructural problems, privacy concerns and the power imbalances that improved transparency can unwittingly create. It also examines government attitudes towards open data and related policies and reviews the relationships between open government data, the media and civil society.</p>
<p>The authors argue that the Indian Government’s responsibility should not stop short at just providing information, but also extend to making it available and accessible in a way that facilitates analysis and enhances offline usability – and ultimately makes it accessible to the poorest.</p>
<p>The paper concludes by suggesting technical and policy strategies to develop, promote, implement and maintain a robust open government data policy in India.</p>
<p>Download the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/open-government.pdf" class="internal-link" title="Open Government Data">report</a> [PDF, 1.03 MB]</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-government-data-study'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-government-data-study</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshOpen DataFeaturedPublicationsOpenness2015-09-03T08:08:22ZBlog EntryCall for Comments for Report on Open Government Data in India
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-government-data-report
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society is pleased to announce a public call for comments on the Report on Open Government Data in India prepared by Glover Wright, Pranesh Prakash, Sunil Abraham and Nishant Shah.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This report situates the current move towards open government data in India in the context of the country’s growingly sophisticated information and communications technology (ICT) practices as well as the Right to Information Act. It relies primarily on conversations—both on the record and off—with government officials, businesses, civil society organizations, and individual activists. For background it relies on a review of the literature relevant to OGD and RTI generally, to present a snapshot of where India stands now in respect to OGD, and to predict where it is likely to go in the near future. It seeks to understand what “open government data” means in an Indian context, and what effects institutionalized open data practices and ideas might have on Indian society. Finally, it suggests certain technical and policy strategies for developing, promoting, and implementing, and maintaining a robust open government data policy in India.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Please do write in to Pranesh Prakash (pranesh at cis-india.org) with any suggestions, criticisms, or general comments that you have by 30 January 2011.</p>
<p>Download the complete report <a class="internal-link" href="http://www.cis-india.org/openness/publications/ogd-report" title="Open Government Data Report">here</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-government-data-report'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-government-data-report</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpen DataFeaturedOpenness2013-03-01T05:50:49ZBlog EntryCivic Hacking Workshop
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/civic-hacking-workshop
<b>CIS, with the UK Government's Foreign Office and the Cabinet Office Team for Digital Engagement, and Google India, is organizing a workshop on open data (or the lack thereof) and 'civic hacking'.</b>
<p>The UK Government's Foreign Office and the Cabinet Office Team for Digital Engagement, Google India and the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore are organizing a 'Civic Hacking Workshop' on Wednesday, July 28, 2010, bringing together civic-minded technologists who've been working with governmental data in India and Britain.</p>
<p>The workshop will discuss the problems of obtaining data, especially in India, the technological solutions that these various groups have encountered, the difficulties of technology as a mass-based civic solution, and the visions that these groups have for a more engaged civil society and the contributions they seek to make to the public.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The people attending are, from India (Bangalore):</p>
<ol><li>Alok Singh (Akshara Foundation)</li><li>Shivangi Desai (Akshara Foundation)</li><li>Arun Ganesh (Geohackers / National Institute of Design)</li><li>A. Pandian (Mapunity)</li><li>Sridhar Raman (Mapunity)</li><li>S. Raghavan Kandala (Mapunity)</li><li>Thejesh GN (Janaagraha / Infosys)</li><li>Sushant Sinha (IndianKanoon.com / Yahoo)</li><li>Vijay Rasquinha (Mahiti)</li><li>P.G. Bhat (SmartVote.in)<br /></li><li>Pranesh Prakash (CIS)</li><li>Raman Jit Singh Chima (Google)</li></ol>
<p><br />And from Britain:</p>
<ol><li>David McCandless (Information Is Beautiful)</li><li>Harry Metcalfe (TellThemWhatYouThink.org / Open Rights Group)</li><li>Tim Green (Democracy Club)</li><li>Edmund von der Burg (YourNextMP)</li><li>Rohan Silva (Special Adviser to the PM)</li></ol>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/civic-hacking-workshop'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/civic-hacking-workshop</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshOpen DataWorkshopDigital GovernanceOpenness2011-08-23T03:14:03ZBlog EntryDraft Report on Open Government Data in India (v2)
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/ogd-draft-v2
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/ogd-draft-v2'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/ogd-draft-v2</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshOpen DataPublicationsOpenness2011-08-23T02:47:22ZFileOpen Government Data Study: India
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/open_data_india_final.pdf
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/open_data_india_final.pdf'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/open_data_india_final.pdf</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshOpen DataPublicationsOpenness2011-08-23T02:43:49ZFileOpen Government Data
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/open-government.pdf
<b>pdf</b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/open-government.pdf'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/open-government.pdf</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpen DataPublicationsOpenness2011-08-23T02:43:15ZFileOpen Government Data
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/open-government-data.pdf
<b>pdf</b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/open-government-data.pdf'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/open-government-data.pdf</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpen DataPublicationsOpenness2011-08-23T02:42:46ZFileOpen Government Data Report
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/ogd-report
<b>Open Government Data Report (PDF) published by CIS.</b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/ogd-report'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/ogd-report</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpen DataPublicationsOpenness2011-08-23T02:40:59ZFile