Recently something interesting happened in Jakarta. We got a glimpse of what the future of the open data movement could, and hopefully will, look like.

1. Westhill Consulting Reviews
In Jakarta, Open Environmental Data
MeetsFreedom of Information Law

2. Recently something interesting happened in Jakarta. Wegot aglimpseof
what thefutureof theopen datamovement could, and hopefully will, look
like.
So what happened?
On thesurface, nothing that would ordinarily send anyone’sheartsracing.
Therewasaregional meeting of STRIPE, agroup dedicated to
Strengthening theRight to Information for Peopleand theEnvironment.
Theattendees, who hailed from China, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, the
Philippines, and Thailand included representativesfrom civil society
organizations, academia, governments, and international organizations.
So hereisthefirst interesting piece. At theconclusion of theconference
thegroup issued adocument they referred to astheJakartaDeclaration in
which they cited not just freedom of information laws, but also open data,
ascritical to tackling theregion'senvironmental challenges.

3. Consider the first three clauses of the declaration (italics
mine):
1.FOI laws assist in ensuring access to environmental
information by people and communities.However,
information on air and water quality and pollutants
released into the environment needs to be released
proactively, in formats that are easily understandable
by the public, without a request.
2.Government needs to adopt legal requirements for the
collection and production of environmental information.
3.Laws that guarantee a specific right of access to
environmental information without a requestneed to be
operationalized to ensure quick and timely access to
environmental information.

4. Thisfor meisawindow into afuturewherecallsfor open datano longer
comestrictly from traditional advocates. In many waysthiswill beasign
of success. Thefact that environmentalistsbelieveopen datacan help
advancetheir causeisavalidation of theideasof open dataadvocates. At
thesametime, I’m under no illusionsthat every new stakeholder will be
asbenign or operating in thepublic interest as, say, environmentalists, but
thisisnonethelessasign of maturity. Theopen datamovement wasonly
ever going to get so far if it wasabout anarrow group of technologistsor
transparency advocatesthat frequent thesameconferences. To succeed it
needsto find supportersacrossmany groupsand bodiesand theJakarta
Declaration isaperfect exampleof abridgebeing built to the
environmental movement. It will beinteresting to what other bridgeswill
emergein thecoming months.

5. The biggerstory
Thereisabigger story however in theJakartaDeclaration, one
I’vetried to talk about before. It isabout thedueling naturesof
FOI and Open Dataand asecond way in which theopen data
movement will haveto mature.
Takealook at clausetwo again:
2. Government needsto adopt legal requirementsfor the
collection and production of environmental information.
Thisisessentially asking for alegal structurefor open
environmental data. Thisisasignificant shift since, in many
places, open dataenjoysno legal protection. In almost every
jurisdiction, at any time, agovernment can removeand stop
sharing adataset at which point it would only becomeavailable
viaaFOI request. In other words, barring afew legislated
examples, weenjoy easy accessto open dataat thepleasureof
thegovernment.

6. Thisisoneof thecentral differencesbetween FOI and open data. FOI
providescitizenswith rightsto access. Open data, for themost part, has
simply afforded aprivilege. Our colleaguesin Jakartahaverightly pointed out
their discomfort with thisand aregiving theopen datacommunity — which,
asabroad tent, hasalwaysincluded thoseinterested in not just transparency,
but non-profit, commercial uses, scientific uses— apush to demand more.
I suspect that such aguaranteeto theright to accessdatawill requireanew
approach to legislation — wewill not simply beableto extend FOI.
Thisisbecausethereisacentral thedifferencebetween aFOI and open data.
FOI isa“document centric” process. It requiresoneto audit documents(for
privacy and secrecy) that havealready been produced. It is, by definition,
backwardslooking and non-scalable. Open data, in contrast, isa“system
centric” process. With aguaranteeto datayou arenot asking for aspecific
document or dataat aspecific moment in time, you areasking for accessto all
productsof asystem including thosein thepresent and future, and possibly
even thosefrom thepast.

7. Thisisasignificant shift. Thereisawonderful analogy in what
happened to theaccounting industry in the1990s. Previously
auditorswould audit “thebooks.” In other wordsthey would
review and sign off on specific documentsmuch likean FOI
officer reviewsaspecific document for privacy or secrecy
concerns. Thearrival of computersand theexplosion of the
amount of datacorporationscreated changed everything.
Auditorscould no longer review every document. Instead they
started to audit “systems” assessing if all thedocumentsit
produced werevalid. In other wordsthey aredetermining if all
past, current and futureproductsof thesystem would bevalid.
Thisrequired theentirefield to reskill itself. Someolder
partnerschoseto retire, younger accountantssaw it asan
opportunity to develop anew skill and grow their business. In
either case, it required new skillsand anew perspective.

8. And thisistheend gameof what JakartaDeclaration means. TheSTRIPE
delegateswant entiresystems— not individual documents— to be
cleared asopen and accessible: accountability that all past, present and
futuredatawill beopen (and accurate).
To beclear, I’m not applying ahierarchy here. I’m not saying asystems
approach isbetter than adocument approach. Thereislittledoubt that
both will berequired.
But theentireaccountability infrastructurewithin governmentswill need
to think of transparency and accountability with awholenew paradigm,
oneof systemsnot just documents. And thisreskilling and new
perspectivewill affect not just thepeoplewho haveto implement these
new rules, but also thesolicitors, civil society organizationsand accessto
information commissionerswho overseethegovernment.

9. Thiswill undoubtedly makesomepoliticiansand public
servantsstill moreuncomfortablethan they already are, for
othersit will represent an opportunity to advancetheir careers.
Regardless, it will bedisruptive. But it will also help foster a
better window for thepublic into government, and thedatathat
informsitspolicies, regulatorsand other outputs. And that
would beagood outcome.
Perso nalDemo cracy Media is gratefulto the Omidyar Netwo rk
fo r its genero us suppo rt o f techPresident's WeGo v sectio n.

10. Thiswill undoubtedly makesomepoliticiansand public
servantsstill moreuncomfortablethan they already are, for
othersit will represent an opportunity to advancetheir careers.
Regardless, it will bedisruptive. But it will also help foster a
better window for thepublic into government, and thedatathat
informsitspolicies, regulatorsand other outputs. And that
would beagood outcome.
Perso nalDemo cracy Media is gratefulto the Omidyar Netwo rk
fo r its genero us suppo rt o f techPresident's WeGo v sectio n.