Federal open data portal

[Michael Mulley]

http://data.gc.ca/

An pilot-project index of (largely previously extant, I think) federal
public data.

Available under what looks to my eyes like a new license:
http://www.data.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=46D15882-1. After a quick
skim, looks like the license contains strong attribution requirements
("This product has been produced by or for (your name - or corporate
name, if applicable) and includes data provided by the Government of
Canada. The incorporation of data sourced from the Government of
Canada within this product shall not be construed as constituting an
endorsement by the Government of Canada of our product.").

Other license notes:
- Weird note that you can't "decompile" the data. I think this is
boilerplate meant to refer to machine code rather than data.
- You shall not merge or link the data "in such a fashion that gives
the appearance that you may have received or had access to,
information held by Canada about any identifiable individual, family
or household or about an  organization or business." It's the
"organization or business" bit that jumped out at me.
- "You shall not use the data made available through the GC Open Data
Portal in any way which, in the opinion of Canada, may bring disrepute
to or prejudice the reputation of Canada."

[Tracey P. Lauriault]

The Treasury board should have talked to our friends at Ottawa U -
http://www.cippic.ca/open-licensing/

See the CIPPIC, Open Licensing and Risk Management:  A Comparison of
the City of Ottawa Open License, the ODC-By License and the ODC-PDDL
License, Draft 2 (February 2011)

On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 12:15 PM, Michael Mulley
<[hidden email]> wrote:

> http://data.gc.ca/
>
> An pilot-project index of (largely previously extant, I think) federal
> public data.
>
> Available under what looks to my eyes like a new license:
> http://www.data.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=46D15882-1. After a quick
> skim, looks like the license contains strong attribution requirements
> ("This product has been produced by or for (your name - or corporate
> name, if applicable) and includes data provided by the Government of
> Canada. The incorporation of data sourced from the Government of
> Canada within this product shall not be construed as constituting an
> endorsement by the Government of Canada of our product.").
>
> Other license notes:
> - Weird note that you can't "decompile" the data. I think this is
> boilerplate meant to refer to machine code rather than data.
> - You shall not merge or link the data "in such a fashion that gives
> the appearance that you may have received or had access to,
> information held by Canada about any identifiable individual, family
> or household or about an  organization or business." It's the
> "organization or business" bit that jumped out at me.
> - "You shall not use the data made available through the GC Open Data
> Portal in any way which, in the opinion of Canada, may bring disrepute
> to or prejudice the reputation of Canada."
> _______________________________________________
> CivicAccess-discuss mailing list
> [hidden email]
> http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss
>

--
Tracey P. Lauriault
613-234-2805
http://traceyplauriault.ca/

[Michael Lenczner-2]

http://www.open.gc.ca/media/0318-eng.asp

Uh, so we have:

1) a tremendously terrible license

2) a lack of new data sets

So, am I wrong in interpreting this is just basically 1) a PR stunt to
deflect from what's happening in Parliament and 2) an attempt to take
away a speaking point from the opposition (that Canada is one lagging
way behind other countries in adopting a opendata policy) before a
possible election?

Which would be neither here-nor-there if the government was going to
actually get this done. But the way this is happening makes it hard to
believe they're serious about this at all.

Other folks' opinions? (because this is very explicitly an opinion)

Mike
----------------------------------------------
Minister Day Announces Expansion of Open Government
For immediate release

March 18, 2011

Ottawa - The Honourable Stockwell Day, President of the Treasury Board
and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, today issued a statement on
expanding open government in Canada, and announced specific
commitments related to open information and open dialogue.

The expansion of open government is being pursued through these three
main streams:

Open Data, which is about offering Government data in more useful and
machine-readable formats to enable citizens, the private sector and
non-government organizations to leverage it in innovative and
value-added ways.
Open Information, which is about proactively releasing information,
including on Government activities, to Canadians on an ongoing basis.
It is about proactively making Government information easier to find
and accessible for Canadians.
Open Dialogue, which is about giving Canadians a stronger say in
Government policies and priorities, and expanding engagement through
Web 2.0 technologies.
"The Government of Canada has long been a leader in making information
available to its citizens," said Minister Day. "With the expansion of
Open Government, our government is making a strong, public commitment
to continue on this path."

Open Information will link Canadians with innovative new tools on the
Web such as Working in Canada, an innovative portal that Canadians can
use to get information on jobs, training, salary, locations,
certification and more!

Today, the Working in Canada portal is introducing a new set of tools
that provide valuable labour market information for high school and
post-secondary students trying to decide what training and education
they will require for a wide variety of fields or where education
backgrounds can take them in the workforce.

Open Information, like Open Data and Open Dialogue, will continue to
add valuable Web 2.0 tools for a wide range of topics including Come
to Canada, a Citizenship and Immigration Canada tool designed to help
people who want to come to live and work in Canada.  Come to Canada is
expected to launch this spring.

Additionally, over the next few months, all departments and agencies
subject to the Access to Information Act will be expected to move
toward proactively posting summaries of completed access to
information requests.  One of the intentions of Open Information is to
post completed access to information requests online.  In future,
documents could be pre-assessed as they are created in order to better
understand what can be released under Access to Information.
Currently, this often takes many months and can delay the releasing of
information under Access to Information.  The Government will also
explore, through a pilot project, the posting to a virtual library of
completed reports commissioned by the Government.

The Harper Government is also providing greater opportunities for
Canadians to participate in a two-way consultation process through
Open Dialogue. For example, the Government has launched a number of
online consultations, such as the Border Action Plan consultation and
the National Dialogue on Healthy Weights.  Open Dialogue provides
pathways for Canadians to provide and receive feedback directly with
Government officials.

"Open Dialogue gives Canadians a stronger say in Government policies
and priorities, and empowers citizens to participate more directly in
the decision-making process," said Minister Day.

These activities are detailed at www.open.gc.ca, where the Government
will continue to identify Open Government initiatives.

This commitment to open government is part of the Harper Government's
ongoing efforts to foster greater openness and accountability, to
strengthen the Democratic Reform agenda and to drive innovation and
economic opportunities for all Canadians.

Backgrounder on Open Government
Backgrounder on the Open Data Portal
- 30 -

For more information, contact:

Jay Denney
Director of Communications
Office of the President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the
Asia-Pacific Gateway
613-952-5051

Media Relations
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
613-957-2640

On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 12:15 AM, Tracey P. Lauriault
<[hidden email]> wrote:

> The Treasury board should have talked to our friends at Ottawa U -
> http://www.cippic.ca/open-licensing/
>
> See the CIPPIC, Open Licensing and Risk Management:  A Comparison of
> the City of Ottawa Open License, the ODC-By License and the ODC-PDDL
> License, Draft 2 (February 2011)
>
> On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 12:15 PM, Michael Mulley
> <[hidden email]> wrote:
>> http://data.gc.ca/
>>
>> An pilot-project index of (largely previously extant, I think) federal
>> public data.
>>
>> Available under what looks to my eyes like a new license:
>> http://www.data.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=46D15882-1. After a quick
>> skim, looks like the license contains strong attribution requirements
>> ("This product has been produced by or for (your name - or corporate
>> name, if applicable) and includes data provided by the Government of
>> Canada. The incorporation of data sourced from the Government of
>> Canada within this product shall not be construed as constituting an
>> endorsement by the Government of Canada of our product.").
>>
>> Other license notes:
>> - Weird note that you can't "decompile" the data. I think this is
>> boilerplate meant to refer to machine code rather than data.
>> - You shall not merge or link the data "in such a fashion that gives
>> the appearance that you may have received or had access to,
>> information held by Canada about any identifiable individual, family
>> or household or about an  organization or business." It's the
>> "organization or business" bit that jumped out at me.
>> - "You shall not use the data made available through the GC Open Data
>> Portal in any way which, in the opinion of Canada, may bring disrepute
>> to or prejudice the reputation of Canada."
>> _______________________________________________
>> CivicAccess-discuss mailing list
>> [hidden email]
>> http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Tracey P. Lauriault
> 613-234-2805
> http://traceyplauriault.ca/
> _______________________________________________
> CivicAccess-discuss mailing list
> [hidden email]
> http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss
>

[David Eaves]

Things don't have to be mutual exclusive.

I think they are serious about this (certainly my convo's with some of
the public servants behind the scenes suggests this is the case). Given
the timelines they have around getting more data in and who that should
be coming from, I remain optimistic.

Is it rushed? Definitely. I'm not sure that all the data that is there
was previously available - but I do think the majority was.

I also think they are trying to deflect attention before an election,
but not on the open data stuff (the constituency of people who actual
care about those detailed specifics - in voter terms - is relatively
small), but just in the overall disclosure, none-secret government sense.

I also think they are very open to make it better. It took less than 3
hours to get one provision of the license changed and the minister and
his staff have asked me to stay in contact regarding the other problems.
My sense is that there is a willingness to move on these, which is
really want you want.

For now, my sense is that we should treat this as a beta. If we love and
support this idea, we've got to let them know about what works and what
doesn't and give them a chance to get better - just like we would with a
start up whose concept we bought into. If they prove unresponsive, then
I think people should definitely get more forceful and negative. But,
that's just my opinion.

dave

On 11-03-18 3:47 PM, Michael Lenczner wrote:

> http://www.open.gc.ca/media/0318-eng.asp
>
> Uh, so we have:
>
> 1) a tremendously terrible license
>
> 2) a lack of new data sets
>
> So, am I wrong in interpreting this is just basically 1) a PR stunt to
> deflect from what's happening in Parliament and 2) an attempt to take
> away a speaking point from the opposition (that Canada is one lagging
> way behind other countries in adopting a opendata policy) before a
> possible election?
>
> Which would be neither here-nor-there if the government was going to
> actually get this done. But the way this is happening makes it hard to
> believe they're serious about this at all.
>
> Other folks' opinions? (because this is very explicitly an opinion)
>
> Mike
> ----------------------------------------------
> Minister Day Announces Expansion of Open Government
> For immediate release
>
> March 18, 2011
>
> Ottawa - The Honourable Stockwell Day, President of the Treasury Board
> and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, today issued a statement on
> expanding open government in Canada, and announced specific
> commitments related to open information and open dialogue.
>
> The expansion of open government is being pursued through these three
> main streams:
>
> Open Data, which is about offering Government data in more useful and
> machine-readable formats to enable citizens, the private sector and
> non-government organizations to leverage it in innovative and
> value-added ways.
> Open Information, which is about proactively releasing information,
> including on Government activities, to Canadians on an ongoing basis.
> It is about proactively making Government information easier to find
> and accessible for Canadians.
> Open Dialogue, which is about giving Canadians a stronger say in
> Government policies and priorities, and expanding engagement through
> Web 2.0 technologies.
> "The Government of Canada has long been a leader in making information
> available to its citizens," said Minister Day. "With the expansion of
> Open Government, our government is making a strong, public commitment
> to continue on this path."
>
> Open Information will link Canadians with innovative new tools on the
> Web such as Working in Canada, an innovative portal that Canadians can
> use to get information on jobs, training, salary, locations,
> certification and more!
>
> Today, the Working in Canada portal is introducing a new set of tools
> that provide valuable labour market information for high school and
> post-secondary students trying to decide what training and education
> they will require for a wide variety of fields or where education
> backgrounds can take them in the workforce.
>
> Open Information, like Open Data and Open Dialogue, will continue to
> add valuable Web 2.0 tools for a wide range of topics including Come
> to Canada, a Citizenship and Immigration Canada tool designed to help
> people who want to come to live and work in Canada.  Come to Canada is
> expected to launch this spring.
>
> Additionally, over the next few months, all departments and agencies
> subject to the Access to Information Act will be expected to move
> toward proactively posting summaries of completed access to
> information requests.  One of the intentions of Open Information is to
> post completed access to information requests online.  In future,
> documents could be pre-assessed as they are created in order to better
> understand what can be released under Access to Information.
> Currently, this often takes many months and can delay the releasing of
> information under Access to Information.  The Government will also
> explore, through a pilot project, the posting to a virtual library of
> completed reports commissioned by the Government.
>
> The Harper Government is also providing greater opportunities for
> Canadians to participate in a two-way consultation process through
> Open Dialogue. For example, the Government has launched a number of
> online consultations, such as the Border Action Plan consultation and
> the National Dialogue on Healthy Weights.  Open Dialogue provides
> pathways for Canadians to provide and receive feedback directly with
> Government officials.
>
> "Open Dialogue gives Canadians a stronger say in Government policies
> and priorities, and empowers citizens to participate more directly in
> the decision-making process," said Minister Day.
>
> These activities are detailed at www.open.gc.ca, where the Government
> will continue to identify Open Government initiatives.
>
> This commitment to open government is part of the Harper Government's
> ongoing efforts to foster greater openness and accountability, to
> strengthen the Democratic Reform agenda and to drive innovation and
> economic opportunities for all Canadians.
>
> Backgrounder on Open Government
> Backgrounder on the Open Data Portal
> - 30 -
>
> For more information, contact:
>
> Jay Denney
> Director of Communications
> Office of the President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the
> Asia-Pacific Gateway
> 613-952-5051
>
> Media Relations
> Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
> 613-957-2640
>
> On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 12:15 AM, Tracey P. Lauriault
> <[hidden email]>  wrote:
>> The Treasury board should have talked to our friends at Ottawa U -
>> http://www.cippic.ca/open-licensing/
>>
>> See the CIPPIC, Open Licensing and Risk Management:  A Comparison of
>> the City of Ottawa Open License, the ODC-By License and the ODC-PDDL
>> License, Draft 2 (February 2011)
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 12:15 PM, Michael Mulley
>> <[hidden email]>  wrote:
>>> http://data.gc.ca/
>>>
>>> An pilot-project index of (largely previously extant, I think) federal
>>> public data.
>>>
>>> Available under what looks to my eyes like a new license:
>>> http://www.data.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=46D15882-1. After a quick
>>> skim, looks like the license contains strong attribution requirements
>>> ("This product has been produced by or for (your name - or corporate
>>> name, if applicable) and includes data provided by the Government of
>>> Canada. The incorporation of data sourced from the Government of
>>> Canada within this product shall not be construed as constituting an
>>> endorsement by the Government of Canada of our product.").
>>>
>>> Other license notes:
>>> - Weird note that you can't "decompile" the data. I think this is
>>> boilerplate meant to refer to machine code rather than data.
>>> - You shall not merge or link the data "in such a fashion that gives
>>> the appearance that you may have received or had access to,
>>> information held by Canada about any identifiable individual, family
>>> or household or about an  organization or business." It's the
>>> "organization or business" bit that jumped out at me.
>>> - "You shall not use the data made available through the GC Open Data
>>> Portal in any way which, in the opinion of Canada, may bring disrepute
>>> to or prejudice the reputation of Canada."
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> CivicAccess-discuss mailing list
>>> [hidden email]
>>> http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Tracey P. Lauriault
>> 613-234-2805
>> http://traceyplauriault.ca/
>> _______________________________________________
>> CivicAccess-discuss mailing list
>> [hidden email]
>> http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss
>>
> _______________________________________________
> CivicAccess-discuss mailing list
> [hidden email]
> http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss