Prioritizing Open Data Sets

3 simple rules

Rule 1: Look Backward, Look Sideways

• Look Backwards:– Most governments know what data and information has

been heavily requested by the public in the past– Past requests reveal both latent demand and potential

community– This is a good place to start

• Look Sideways:– Look at requests other governments make public, there are

trends– Examples of data sets that regularly top the list:

procurement, budget, crime, transit and transportation data

Rule 2: Target Policy Objectives

• Release data that will advance specific policy goals– Health– Accountability/anti-corruption– Education– Transport– Environment

No one visits your website

This is Vancouver Coastal Health’s Restaurant Inspection site.

No one visits it.

Repeat, no one visits your website

The only time anyone searches for restaurant inspection data...

..is after they’ve been food poisoned

e.g. Health Objectives

• When citizens see restaurant inspection data– Consumer behavior drives compliance:

• Well rated restaurants experience more business• Badly rated restaurants experience less business

– Consumer behavior and compliance create savings:• In Los Angeles County, Emergency Room Visits due to food

born related illnesses declined by 16% in year one, 6% in year two, 3% in year three

– Focused transparency can improve health outcomes and lower costs

Put the data where the citizen is

Rule 2: This is your goal

Rule 3: Partner when you must, Follow when you can

• Open data in structures that are common across multiple jurisdictions is much, much more powerful

• The power of a common structure: the General Transit Feed Specification allows access to transit schedules in 160+ cities in dozens of languages in Google Maps

• Copy others structure whenever you can

Rule 3: Partner when you must, Follow when you can

• Rule 3a:– Help foster cross jurisdictional standards by

copying other people’s data structures• Rule 3b:– When there is no standard, find private sector or

community actors who want to consume your data, and get them to help you create the data structure

– Tell the world about your structure!

Partnering• Creating a new standard requires scale, access to a

large user base, and an ability to compromise. E.g. For Transit, Portland engaged Google

• 4 Do’s and Don’ts– DON’T start by forming a standards committee, we

don’t have 10 years to spend coming to agreement– DO find a partner with scale and market penetration– DON’T promise exclusivity to that partner– DO create a governance model after the standard

succeeds

David Eaveswww.eaves.cadavid@eaves.ca@daeaves