urging governments to make data about canada and canadians free and accessible to citizens
The Globe’s Web-based groups urge youth to get involved in election article about new media and getting youth to vote introduces some interesting tools. A previous blog post Tools for the Elections has some for grown-ups. Project Democracy was just launched, its former self Vote for the Environment which was one of my favourite tool during the last few elections.
Youth Voting Tools:
Ci-dessous vous trouverez des extraits des plates-formes électorales des : 1) Libéraux, 2) les Verts 2) Le Bloc et 4) le NPD. Elles sont dans l’ordre du meilleur au pire. La plate-forme Libérale est la plus développée, les Verts touchent sur les principes des données ouvertes et de nombreux éléments d’un gouvernement transparent, le Bloc inclut l’accès à l’information et du droit d’auteur, le NPD ne mentionne que le droit d’auteur. Je n’ai pas inclus les conservateurs, car la transparence étant l’une de leurs plates-formes la plus importante lors des dernières élections et nous savons tout ce qui s’est passé, opacité, d’annulation du recensement, la décimation des institutions de sciences, les attaques sur le CRTC, droit d’auteur, et etc.
Les Libéraux et les Verts mentionnent les données ouvertes. En ce qui concerne la transparence du gouvernement, les Libéraux sont le seul parti à l’inclure dans leurs plate-forme et ils ont frappé sur toutes les questions : formats, sans frais, l’accès, recensement, la transparence, la reddition de comptes et des actions. Les Verts, par contre citent les données ouvertes dans le cadre d’un gouvernement ouvert, mais pas les aspects organisationnels, la culture et les aspects politiques d’un gouvernement transparent. Les Verts toutefois incorporent les principes de données ouvertes alors que les Libéraux ne vont pas dans les détails. Le Bloc discute un peu la transparence, mais non encadré dans le concept d’un gouvernement ouvert. Les Libéraux, les Bloquistes et les Verts adressent l’accès à l’information. Le Bloc est explicite sur la réforme juridique, les Verts veulent plus de transparence et Libéraux offrent des actions. Les Libéraux, Bloquistes et Néo-démocrates appuient la réforme du droit d’auteur tandis que les Verts la mentionne dans le cadre d’étudiants et de leurs capacités de faire de la recherche. Si vous désirez une analyse plus détaillée sur ce dossier, je recommande Digital Copyright Canada comme ressource. Seuls les Verts discutent des licences et les de logiciels libres. L’archivage n’est également pas inclus et il n’y a aucune mention de l’abolition du recouvrement des coûts. Les Libéraux par contre discutent de l’accès aux données en ligne gratuites. Veuillez voir mes écrits précédentes sur le recensement (en ang. et fr.). Les plate-formes parlent beaucoup de la science et je retournerai jeter un œil à ces zones plus tard. Les néo-démocrates ont manqué le bateau sur tous les fronts soient sur les données ouvertes et un gouvernement ouvert.
Défendre le principe d’un gouvernement ouvert
Le gouvernement fédéral du Canada doit avoir recours sans réserve aux technologies de l’information et à la large diffusion de données pour améliorer les services fournis aux Canadiens et rendre l’administration publique plus transparente et plus imputable de ses dépenses. Mettre en ligne les données recueillies par Statistique Canada ainsi que d’autres informations gouvernementales – dans toute la mesure du possible et dans la limite autorisée par la loi, notamment en matière de protection des renseignements personnels – facilitera le renouvellement démocratique et contribuera à l’innovation et à la dissémination de connaissances.
Concilier équitablement les droits des créateurs et ceux des consommateurs. La technologie numérique ouvre beaucoup de possibilités nouvelles, mais profiter de contenus sans indemniser leurs créateurs ne devrait pas en faire partie. Parallèlement, les consommateurs devraient être libres d’utiliser à des fins personnelles tout contenu numérique qu’ils possèdent légitimement. Les libéraux ont cherché à faire adopter une loi efficace sur le droit d’auteur, incluant un paiement compensatoire pour la copie privée au lieu d’imposer de nouvelles taxes aux consommateurs.
2. Plate-forme des Verts (anglais seulement)
6.7 Open Government Data
For all public data where there are no privacy, security or other legal concerns preventing the data from being shared, data will be reviewed by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada via Personal Information Protection and Electronic Document Act (PIPEDA) and made publicly available under the following conditions:
- With the highest level of granularity and detail possible which still maintains the privacy of individual citizens.
- In a timely fashion so that the value of the data is preserved.
- Accessible to the widest range of users for the widest range of purposes in a nonproprietary format.
- Machine processable and structured to allow automated processing, without having to mechanically harvest the data before using it.
- Non-discriminatory and available to everyone without having to register or self-identify
as being interested in the data.- With a license that does not encumber the user, and ideally without a license at all.
1.9 Open source computer software
As computer hardware improves, it is important that software programs are readily modifiable by the people who buy and use them. Developing alongside the proprietary software sector is Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS). This software is generally available at little or no cost, making it very popular in the developing world. It can be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed with little or no restriction. Businesses can adapt the software to their specific needs.
Under the free software business model, vendors may charge a fee for distribution and offer paid support and customization services. Free software gives users the ability to work together enhancing and refining the programs they use. It is a pure public good rather than a private good.
The Green Party supports the goals and ideals of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) and believes that Canada’s competitiveness in global information technology (IT) will be greatly enhanced by strongly supporting FLOSS. Green Party MPs will:
- Ensure that all new software developed for or by government is based on open standards and encourage and support a nationwide transition to FLOSS in all critical government IT systems. This will make Canada’s IT infrastructure more secure and robust, lower administration and licensing costs, and develop IT skills.
- Support the transition to FLOSS throughout the post-secondary educational system.
6.2 Increasing government accountability and ethical conduct
- Update the Access to Information Act to permit greater transparency of government activities.
3) La plate-forme du Bloc Québecois
2.3.2 Le Bloc Québécois s’assurera que la nouvelle Loi sur le droit d’auteur soit équitable et ne désavantage ni les créateurs ni les consommateurs, notamment en modernisant le système de copie privée en appliquant aux lecteurs MP3 et autres baladeurs numériques des redevances raisonnables en redistribution aux artistes, en abolissant l’exemption du monde de l’éducation quant aux paiements des droits d’auteur, et en reconnaissant le droit de suite pour les artistes en arts visuels.
Loi sur l’accès à l’information La commissaire à l’information est formelle. Le gouvernement Harper ne démontre pas une culture de transparence et cette attitude est dictée par le premier ministre. En effet, son ministère, le Bureau du Conseil privé, passe en revue les demandes d’accès à l’information sensibles adressées au gouvernement, puis les retient et les retarde.
Un employé du ministère des Travaux publics a même ordonné à des fonctionnaires de retarder indûment la publication de documents compromettants pour le gouvernement. La situation est telle que la commissaire à l’information a entrepris une enquête formelle sur trois ministres, dont Christian Paradis, de laquelle pourraient découler des peines de prison.
1.4.2 Le Bloc Québécois présentera au Parlement un projet de loi pour réformer complètement la Loi sur l’accès à l’information.Ce projet de loi, rendu public en juin 2008, est inspiré du projet de loi préparé par l’ancien commissaire à l’information, John Reid, et favorise un meilleur accès à l’information.
Le NPD s’engage à déposer un projet de loi visant à réformer le droit d’auteur afin que le Canada respecte ses obligations stipulées dans les traités internationaux, tout en s’assurant que les droits des consommateurs et des créateurs soient respectés.
Je n’incorpore pas une analyse concernant la bande passante, facturation à l’utilisation, sans fil, car je n’ai tout simplement pas l’expertise nécessaire pour bien le faire. Par conséquent toutes les plate-formes avaient des positions concernant ceux-ci. De plus, une politique de données ouvertes et d’un gouvernement ouvert exigerait de de la fibre optique pour déplacer toutes ses données et une infrastructure de diffusion devrait être considérés. La plupart des plates-formes ont également inclus des points sur la concentration des médias, qui est aussi associé à l’idée d’un gouvernement ouvert, mais cela est au-delà du champ d’application pour ce poste.
Below you will find excerpts from the platforms of: 1) Liberals, 2) Greens 2) Bloc, and 4) NDP . They are in order from best to very minimalist. The Liberal platform is the most developed, the Greens include the key Open Data principles and many elements of open government throughout their vision document, the Bloc includes Access to information and copyright, the NDP only talks about copyright. I did not include the Conservatives, since they said they would do all these things, with transparency being one of their most important platforms in past elections, and, well we all know what happened, opaqueness, cancellation of the census, decimation of science institutions, attacks on the CRTC, copyright nefariousness, and etc.
The Liberals and the Greens mention open data. As for open government, the Liberals are the only party to include this in their platform and they hit all the right items: formats, no costs, access, census online, transparency, accountability and actions. The Greens mention open government data, but not the organizational, culture and policy aspects of open government. The Greens do however include the principles of open data whereas the Liberals do not go into much detail. In French, the concept of open government is called Gouvernement transparent, the Bloc discusses transparency quite a bit but not framed as open government. Both the Liberals, Bloc and Greens address Access to Information, the Bloc is explicit about legal reform, Greens want more transparency and the Liberals offer actions. The Liberals, Bloc and NDP address Copyright reform and the Greens mention copyright in the context of students and the ability to do research. If you want more detailed analysis on that file I recommend Digital Copyright Canada as a resource. Only the Greens mention open data Licences and only the Greens discuss open source. Archiving is also not included nor is there mention of the abolition of cost recovery although the Liberals discuss access to free data online. I already created two earlier posts on the Census (Eng. and Fr.). There is much talk about science in all the platforms, and I want to go back and take a look at those areas as often data issues can be found there. The NDP have missed the boat on all fronts on open data and open government.
Open Government.
Canada’s federal government must embrace information technology and open data in order to improve services to Canadians and make government more transparent and accountable for public spending. Putting Statistics Canada and other government data online wherever possible, after meeting all privacy and other legal requirements, will strengthen Canadian democracy, help create and disseminate knowledge and spur innovation.
A key element of the Liberal plan for democratic renewal is Open Government. Liberals will adopt a new approach to information, issuing government-wide direction that the default position for all departments and agencies will be to release information to the public, both proactively and responsively, after privacy and other legal requirements are met. This initiative will see as many government datasets as possible available to the public online, free of charge in an open and searchable format.
Furthermore, all Access to Information requests and responses will be posted online. This new presumption of openness will also drive a new level of accountability for public finances. We will establish a searchable, online database for grants, contributions and contracts.
All levels of government, civil society, researchers, business and the public must have access to independent and reliable statistics and demographic information to make informed decisions and develop sound public policy to benefit all Canadians. Therefore, a Liberal government will restore the mandatory long form census.
Fair balance Between Creators and Consumers. Digital technology offers many new opportunities, but enjoying content without compensating its creators shouldn’t be among them. At the same time, consumers should have freedom for personal use of digital content they rightfully possess. Liberals have worked to pass effective copyright legislation, including a private copying compensation fund instead of any new tax on consumers.
6.7 Open Government Data
For all public data where there are no privacy, security or other legal concerns preventing the data from being shared, data will be reviewed by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada via Personal Information Protection and Electronic Document Act (PIPEDA) and made publicly available under the following conditions:
- With the highest level of granularity and detail possible which still maintains the privacy of individual citizens.
- In a timely fashion so that the value of the data is preserved.
- Accessible to the widest range of users for the widest range of purposes in a nonproprietary format.
- Machine processable and structured to allow automated processing, without having to mechanically harvest the data before using it.
- Non-discriminatory and available to everyone without having to register or self-identify
as being interested in the data.- With a license that does not encumber the user, and ideally without a license at all.
1.9 Open source computer software
As computer hardware improves, it is important that software programs are readily modifiable by the people who buy and use them. Developing alongside the proprietary software sector is Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS). This software is generally available at little or no cost, making it very popular in the developing world. It can be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed with little or no restriction. Businesses can adapt the software to their specific needs.
Under the free software business model, vendors may charge a fee for distribution and offer paid support and customization services. Free software gives users the ability to work together enhancing and refining the programs they use. It is a pure public good rather than a private good.
The Green Party supports the goals and ideals of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) and believes that Canada’s competitiveness in global information technology (IT) will be greatly enhanced by strongly supporting FLOSS. Green Party MPs will:
- Ensure that all new software developed for or by government is based on open standards and encourage and support a nationwide transition to FLOSS in all critical government IT systems. This will make Canada’s IT infrastructure more secure and robust, lower administration and licensing costs, and develop IT skills.
- Support the transition to FLOSS throughout the post-secondary educational system.
6.2 Increasing government accountability and ethical conduct
- Update the Access to Information Act to permit greater transparency of government activities.
2.3.2 Le Bloc Québécois s’assurera que la nouvelle Loi sur le droit d’auteur soit équitable et ne désavantage ni les créateurs ni les consommateurs, notamment en modernisant le système de copie privée en appliquant aux lecteurs MP3 et autres baladeurs numériques des redevances raisonnables en redistribution aux artistes, en abolissant l’exemption du monde de l’éducation quant aux paiements des droits d’auteur, et en reconnaissant le droit de suite pour les artistes en arts visuels.
Loi sur l’accès à l’information La commissaire à l’information est formelle. Le gouvernement Harper ne démontre pas une culture de transparence et cette attitude est dictée par le premier ministre. En effet, son ministère, le Bureau du Conseil privé, passe en revue les demandes d’accès à l’information sensibles adressées au gouvernement, puis les retient et les retarde.
Un employé du ministère des Travaux publics a même ordonné à des fonctionnaires de retarder indûment la publication de documents compromettants pour le gouvernement. La situation est telle que la commissaire à l’information a entrepris une enquête formelle sur trois ministres, dont Christian Paradis, de laquelle pourraient découler des peines de prison.
1.4.2 Le Bloc Québécois présentera au Parlement un projet de loi pour réformer complètement la Loi sur l’accès à l’information.Ce projet de loi, rendu public en juin 2008, est inspiré du projet de loi préparé par l’ancien commissaire à l’information, John Reid, et favorise un meilleur accès à l’information.
4. The NDP
We will introduce a bill on copyright reform to ensure that Canada complies with its international treaty obligations, while balancing consumers’ and creators’ rights.
I did not include an analysis of broadband, Internet metering, wireless, etc. as I just do not have the expertise to do so. All platforms had positions here. Open data and an open government require pipes to move all that data, and these should also be considered. Many of the platforms also included items on media concentration, associated to the idea of open government but beyond the scope for this post.
Le NPD et les Libéraux ont explicitement déclaré dans leurs plate-formes qu’ils rétablisseront le long formulaire du recensement. Le Bloc québécois mentionne l’annulation, mais n’est pas explicite sur le rétablissement. Les Verts ne font pas mention du recensement.
| NPD | Libéral | Bloc |
|---|---|---|
| 5.15 Réinstaurer le questionnaire complet du recensement | Un gouvernement ouvert p.78 | 1.4.5 L e Bloc Québécois fera montre de vigilance pour s’assurer que toutes les institutions indépendantes fédérales demeurent réellement à l’abri des pressions idéologiques ou partisanes du gouvernement. |
| Le NPD s’engage à réinstaurer le questionnaire complet du recensement | Tous les paliers de gouvernement, la société civile, les chercheurs, les entreprises et le public doivent avoir accès à des statistiques et renseignements démographiques indépendants et fiables afin de prendre des décisions informées et de développer de saines politiques publiques pour le bien de tous les Canadiens. Un gouvernement libéral rétablirait donc le questionnaire détaillé obligatoire du recensement. | Annulation mentionnée, mais pas la rétablissement |
| 3.1 L’indifférence à l’égard du fait français | ||
| Annulation mentionnée, mais pas la rétablissement |
The NDP and the Liberals have explicitly stated in their platform that they will reinstate the Long-Form Census. The Bloc Québecois mentions the cancellation but is not explicit on reinstatement. The Greens do not mention the Census.
| NDP | Liberals | Bloc |
|---|---|---|
| 5.15 Restoring the Long-Form Census | Open Government p. 71 | 1.4.5 L e Bloc Québécois fera montre de vigilance pour s’assurer que toutes les institutions indépendantes fédérales demeurent réellement à l’abri des pressions idéologiques ou partisanes du gouvernement. |
| We will restore the long-form census. | All levels of government, civil society, researchers, business and the public must have access to independent and reliable statistics and demographic information to make informed decisions and develop sound public policy to benefit all Canadians. Therefore, a Liberal government will restore the mandatory long form census. | Cancelation mentioned but not reinstatement |
| 3.1 L’indifférence à l’égard du fait français | ||
| Cancelation mentioned but not reinstatement |
Our Open Data / Transparency Favourites
You can see how those in office have done and then decide if you want them back!
How to Vote tools:
Electoral Reform
I sure hope the Census will influence your vote!
Sunday morning musings;
Open Data should not just be raw data in open formats suitably discovered in catalogues, properly described with metadata and available under open licences, interoperable, released under the principle of open government and within government institutions with cultural leanings towards openness and transparency and the rapprochement of citizen and state.
Lets not forget that at the moment, open data is part of the evolution of democratic ideals in liberal minded well off countries. Also, open data are also text, stories, atlases, scientific publications, narrative, journalism, etc. With the popularity of app contests & hackathons, with so few ladies as part of the open data discourse, it seems, we are all not reflecting on who is framing the conversation and the politics behind our actions.
Open data is political and is more than numbers & apps, it is about a cultural change, is is evolutionary and it needs to be considered socially, culturally and politically and situated.
Wot!
I have been thinking about this for a while and this morning it all came together.
Friends have invited me to a passover dinner and the theme is Revolution. I reflected on my favorite line – If you can’t dance you can’t join my revolution (Emma Goldman Living My Life ). I was hoping that Living my Life was in the public domain, so I went looking for a reading of it in Librivox.
In Librivox I discovered this timely gem for the women in Egypt and Libya – The Hypocrisy of Puritanism. Women, as we have seen in Afghanistan, are told that their issues are secondary to the goals of freedom, and in fact, they should set their needs aside for the freedom of the nation. What is the point of a revolution if not freedom for all, if women are not free, then in my mind the revolution has failed – evolution becomes more interesting perhaps for women? Now, with these revolutions in full force women are being stripped searched, gang raped, electrocuted, cattle prodded, undergoing virginity tests by the military, and being threatened with the label of prostitution. Activism for men is political, for women, immoral.
Listening to the reading of this essay on Librivox, written in 1911 reminded me that text is also open data. The words in this essay are as relevant today as they were in 1911 – we just need to change the geography:
The other important author I reflected upon is Erich Fromm, Escape From Freedom.
Interestingly, for me, who is not Jewish but participating in a modified Jewish tradition, both Goldman and Fromm are the descendants of Jews or are Jewish. Also, both Eastern Europeans who revolutionized our thinking from their new homes in the US.
This week I have been invited as a guest speaker at a Girl Geek Dinner in Ottawa, and some of these readings and listenings may make their way into that discussion.
I am speaking at a Girl Geek Dinner this week – YES!
The National Science Foundation describe Data as:
numbers, images, video or audio streams, software and software versioning information, algorithms, equations, animations, or models/simulations.
Data, according to the Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology, are also
facts, ideas, or discrete pieces of information, especially when in the form originally collected and unanalyzed.
The art of photograffeur JR could then be data originally collected and assembled in such a way that the viewer can analyze their meaning. His data are large photographs of regular people in caricatured poses that are displayed on trains, buses, rooftops, elevations of favela homes, the Palestinian/Israeli wall, sunken roads, staircase and surface all over – pervasive art. His photos include basic metadata, such as the name, age, address of of subjects. The stories associated / the analysis / the abstract of these data are found in the streets and neighbourhoods where context is, these are posted, told by the subjects and the dwellers.
These are data in action which shape and are shaped by the faces and place from whence they come. These are embedded in the social scape and in the imaginary of the cultural sphere, one of the many locals of social change.n “It is not about changing the world, but the changing the way we look at it” JR.
Read this EFF post: Riding the Fences of the “Urban Homestead”: Trademark Complaints and Misinformation Lead to Improper Takedowns!
Urban Homestead Day of Action
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