<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">jmp</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:m.pedersen@lancaster.ac.uk">m.pedersen@lancaster.ac.uk</a>></span><br>
Date: Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 4:09 PM<br>Subject: [Commoning] Are the Open Data Warriors Fighting for Robin Hood or the Sheriff?: Some Reflections on OKCon 2011 and the Emerging Data Divide<br>To: Commoning List <<a href="mailto:commoning@lists.wissensallmende.de">commoning@lists.wissensallmende.de</a>><br>
<br><br><br>
On the potential closing in - or class consolidation - of "open", by<br>
Michael Gurstein:<br>
<br>
-------- Original Message --------<br>
<br>
<br>
(Original Blogpost with links and extensive reader comments can be found at<br>
<a href="http://wp.me/pJQl5-79" target="_blank">http://wp.me/pJQl5-79</a>)<br>
<br>
I spent the last couple of days at a fascinating (and frightening) event in<br>
Berlin-OKCon-a convention for the (in this case mostly European) uber-geeks<br>
who are in the process of recreating governments and potentially governance<br>
itself in Western Europe (and beyond).<br>
<br>
The ideal that these nerdy revolutionaries are pursuing is not, as with<br>
previous generations-justice, freedom, democracy-rather it is "openness" as<br>
in Open Data, Open Information, Open Government. Precisely what is meant by<br>
"openness" is never (at least certainly not in the context of this<br>
conference) really defined in a form that an outsider could grapple with<br>
(and perhaps critique). �Rather it was a pervasive and animating good<br>
intention-a grail to be pursued by these World of Warcraft warriors off on a<br>
joust with various governmental dragons. Their armaments in this instance<br>
(and to an outsider many of them are magical indeed) are technical skills<br>
and zeal sufficient to slay any bureaucrat or resistant politician's<br>
rationalizations and resistances to being "open"-i.e. not turning their<br>
information treasure chests into universally accessible nodes in a seamless<br>
global datascape.<br>
<br>
If I seem a bit skeptical/cynical - less than true believing - its not<br>
because I don't believe in this goal of "openness" (who could be churlish<br>
enough to support things that are closed-closed systems, closed doors,<br>
closed minds-you get the picture), its just that I see a huge disconnect<br>
between the idealism and the passionate belief in the rightness of their<br>
cause and the profound failure to have any clear idea of what precisely that<br>
cause is and where it is likely to take them (and us) in the very near<br>
future.<br>
<br>
To start at the beginning. the "open data/open government" movement begins<br>
from a profoundly political perspective that government is largely<br>
ineffective and inefficient (and possibly corrupt) and that it hides that<br>
ineffectiveness and inefficiency (and possible corruption) from public<br>
scrutiny through lack of transparency in its operations and particularly in<br>
denying to the public access to information (data) about its operations. And<br>
further that this access once available would give citizens the means to<br>
hold bureaucrats (and their political masters) accountable for their<br>
actions. In doing so it would give these self-same citizens a platform on<br>
which to undertake (or at least collaborate with) these bureaucrats in<br>
certain key and significant activities-planning, analyzing, budgeting that<br>
sort of thing. Moreover through the implementation of processes of<br>
crowdsourcing this would also provide the bureaucrats with the overwhelming<br>
benefits of having access to and input from the knowledge and wisdom of the<br>
broader interested public.<br>
<br>
Put in somewhat different terms but with essentially the same meaning-it's<br>
the taxpayer's money and they have the right to participate in overseeing<br>
how it is spent. Having "open" access to government's data/information gives<br>
citizens the tools to exercise that right.<br>
<br>
And (it is argued), solutions are available for putting into the hands of<br>
these citizens the means/technical tools for sifting and sorting and making<br>
critical analyses of government activities if only the key could be turned<br>
and government data was "accessible" ("open").<br>
<br>
Through partially technical and partially political processes of persuasion,<br>
lobbying, arm twisting and ultimately policy development and intervention,<br>
governments everywhere are in the process of redeveloping internal technical<br>
systems so as to make at least some of their information available -opening<br>
this to the folks such as those attending this conference to work on and<br>
design means to make useful and accessible.-and the conference heard from<br>
enthusiastic young people who are effecting these changes in various parts<br>
of Europe, the US, Brazil and so on.<br>
<br>
A lot of the conference took place in specialized workshops where the<br>
technical details on how to link various sets of this newly available data<br>
together with other sets, how to structure this data so that it could serve<br>
various purposes and perhaps most importantly how to design the architecture<br>
and ontology (ultimately the management policies and procedures) of the data<br>
itself within government so that it is "born open" rather than only<br>
liberated after the fact with this latter process making the usefulness of<br>
the data in the larger world of open and universally accessible data much<br>
much greater.<br>
<br>
Again, so far so good. But as I sat through the first day of the conference<br>
and as the time came for my own presentation I suddenly realized that there<br>
was a dog, and a very large and important dog that wasn't barking. During<br>
that first day and with only one or two exceptions on the second what I<br>
didn't hear even indirectly was a discussion of who the ultimate users would<br>
be of this data (the beneficiaries of this "openness") and what ultimate<br>
uses this open data was being designed towards.<br>
<br>
Some might wonder why I think that this non-barking dog is of such<br>
significance-why does it matter who the user is-what is important is that<br>
they/we have access to the data and the best approach is to effect a design<br>
that "anyone" can use i.e. for a universal user-the argument being that what<br>
is being built is not a vehicle but a platform and it doesn't matter who the<br>
drivers are as long as everyone can use the highway.<br>
<br>
So, in the absence of any articulated expression of who the (assumed) user<br>
is let's speculate a bit about who this phantom figure might (or might not)<br>
be. �Given that in instances like these one tends, in the absence of other<br>
influences, to default to the known and familiar. Thus here one can almost<br>
certainly assume that the user is expected to be more or less like the folks<br>
in this room-young and bright, speaking English well, very well educated,<br>
overwhelmingly male, few or no minorities of colour or race, with firm<br>
middle class backgrounds, very very technically skilled and with the set of<br>
values and assumptions that go with the above i.e. strongly individualistic,<br>
slightly competitive, and not suffering fools (or the non-technical) easily.<br>
<br>
My assumption then is that the anticipated user for this "open data" and for<br>
the kind of measures (policies, procedures, programs) which are being<br>
lobbied for and designed into government policy and practice looks very much<br>
like these folks at this conference-which scares me a very great<br>
deal.especially when combined with the VERY fragmentary evidence that is<br>
coming out on who is actually using this "open data" (which corresponds<br>
quite closely to my assumption) and what benefits are being realized as a<br>
result of its use.<br>
<br>
Perhaps the most significant example to date of a national "openness" policy<br>
is the Government of India's Right to Information law which by any standard<br>
is one of the strongest pieces of legislation supporting "open" government<br>
anywhere in the world. But it turns out that there were �flaws (and it<br>
appears quite fatal flaws) in the legislation/program that are now coming to<br>
light-the most significant of those flaws being a lack of enforcement<br>
mechanisms and perhaps most importantly the lack of a strategy for<br>
widespread broad based implementation focused on the end user.<br>
<br>
What has happened in India is that by making the (quite false) assumption<br>
that the end users i.e. citizens would have the means to use this law to<br>
realize their right to information without additional support or<br>
intervention India has created a circumstance where citizens themselves need<br>
to engage in an often quite unequal struggle to access and use the<br>
information and the result has been a rash of murders by those wishing to<br>
use the information to expose corruption, self-dealing and misuse of pubic<br>
funds.<br>
<br>
The legislation did not provide mechanisms for enforcement and thus<br>
individuals and groups had to take it upon themselves to attempt to gain<br>
access to desired information through individual action. �Thus rather than<br>
having legislation that focused on the potential end user in their Indian<br>
multitudes it simply provided for a notional "access" and left the rest to<br>
the individual citizen with these results:<br>
<br>
First Right to Information Murder<br>
<br>
Another Right to Information Activist Murdered in India<br>
<br>
Three Right to Information (RTI) activists were murdered in this country in<br>
three months<br>
<br>
But why should this matter to these enthusiastic young people five thousand<br>
miles away from village India. �Well if we take a look at one of the very<br>
few detailed studies of the end users (Escher) of an "open data" project<br>
(and a project that has been reproduced in a number of other national<br>
jurisdictions) that of the TheyWorkForYou.com online citizen democracy tool<br>
we begin to see a pattern:<br>
<br>
The overall demographics of these users extend the traditional biases in<br>
political participation: �In the "TheyWorkForYou.org audience people above<br>
the age of 54 tend to be over-represented, while those younger than 45 are<br>
under-represented in comparison to the Internet population. In terms of<br>
demographics there is a strong male bias and a strong overrepresentation of<br>
people with a university degree that also translates into strong<br>
participation from high income groups.One in five users (21%) of the site<br>
has not been politically active within the last year," This means, if I am<br>
understanding this that 79% of the users of this site (and the related<br>
expense information) have been politically active within the last year!<br>
<br>
So this attempt to enhance democratic participation has ended up providing<br>
an additional opportunity for those who already, because of their income,<br>
education, and overall conventional characteristics of higher status (age,<br>
gender etc.) already have the means to communicate with and influence<br>
politicians. The additional information and an additional communications<br>
channel thus has the effect of reinforcing patterns of opportunity that are<br>
already there rather than widening the base of participation and influence.<br>
<br>
Similarly with the case that I quoted in an earlier post which examined the<br>
outcome of a program to digitize land records in Bangalore and which had the<br>
quite perverse and unanticipated effect of providing a means for the<br>
wealthier land owners to extend their holdings and thus their wealth at the<br>
expense of the poor because they had the knowledge in how to use the<br>
information newly made available as well as the resources to hire the<br>
professionals to help them interpret the information in the way which was<br>
most immediately useful.<br>
<br>
Thus it matters very much who the (anticipated) user is since what is being<br>
put in place are the frameworks for the data environment �of the future and<br>
these will include for the most part some assumptions about who the ultimate<br>
user is or will be and whether or not a new "data divide" will emerge<br>
written more deeply into the fabric of the Information Society than even the<br>
earlier "digital (access) divide".<br>
<br>
In each of these instances, by NOT paying attention to (and thus intervening<br>
to redefine) who the ultimate users of the "open data/information" would be,<br>
the effect has been to reinforce or even extend existing structures of power<br>
and influence rather than to have this newly open data be the basis for more<br>
inclusive and democratic participation. In the absence of making explicit<br>
the model of the ultimate user and thus designing appropriate processes of<br>
opening the data and making it available for the widest (and least<br>
implicitly discriminatory) range of users, the result will be as we have<br>
seen which is a user who is already in a position to make use of the<br>
information because of prior existing skills, knowledge, power, or status.<br>
<br>
For these processes to NOT have these outcomes the data designer must base<br>
his work on an implicit model of user who is NOT technically skilled, who is<br>
NOT financially well off, who does NOT have the characteristics of colour,<br>
gender or class which automatically gives them influence and power.<br>
<br>
I've dealt with the matter of how to ensure opportunities for a broader base<br>
of effective use (and users) elsewhere but in this context as a<br>
recommendation to the folks espousing and doing Open Data could I suggest<br>
that there be a formal commitment to devote 10% of project (and programme)<br>
resources including time and funds to ensuring Open Data use by groups and<br>
individuals who are not technically skilled, are not middle income and<br>
above, who are not currently active in the political process but who might<br>
ultimately make the most beneficial use of the resources now being made<br>
available.<br>
<br>
For anyone interested in my thoughts on the "hot to's" of this I can refer<br>
them to the earlier blog post �<a href="http://wp.me/pJQl5-3b" target="_blank">http://wp.me/pJQl5-3b</a> and edited version of<br>
which appeared in a recent issue of First Monday<br>
<a href="http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/" target="_blank">http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/</a>.<br>
<br>
Michael Gurstein<br>
Vancouver, July 2, 2011<br>
<br>
===================================================<br>
<br>
Add to that the material costs of the open-techno-topia and what comes<br>
to mind is hardly news: means justifying the ends, while waiting for the<br>
trickle down effect (or Godot).<br>
<br>
m<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
<br>
<br>
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<a href="http://commoning.wordpress.com" target="_blank">http://commoning.wordpress.com</a><br>
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"...I thought we were an autonomous collective..."<br>
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