CivicAccess

Mar 29, 2006; 7:54pm

sorry late deadlines today, so comments below might seem a bit blunt, I 
don't mean to be!

   1. I found this - http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/1997, and i
      have to say that I like seeing the full name even if it long - it
      is very descriptive.  I think we can use the long name in this way
      - Citizens for Open Access to Civic Information and Data
      (AccèsCivique/CivicAccess for short!).  if you google CivicAccess
      all kinds of stuff comes up!

I think the name is too long (esp with french/english). no one will 
remember "citizens for open acccess to civic information and data" (I 
can't & I'm a founding member! I can't even remember the acronym is it 
coacid? coaicd?). if you put into google: 
citizens+open+access+civic+information+data you get 5,940,000 results.

civicaccess.ca is easy to remember and is what the project is about. i 
think shorter is better. you don't have to google civicaccess if you can 
remember civicaccess.ca.

   2. It is important to keep the word  - information - along with the
      word - data - , as sometimes data come in nicely & not so nicely
      packaged formats - web pages, reports, etc. 

I'm not sure I understand the distinction. is it that data is ugly & 
info is clean? my understanding of the project is: give us the data & 
we'll make it clean. don,t worry about spending tax money on cleaning it 
(thnat would be nice, but)... we'll clean it if we have to. just give it 
to us. seems to me data does the job - though maybe it,s a scary word 
for some. information is defn easier. not sure on this one.

   3. Terms such as - freely available & should be free - are
      problematic since at the moment data and information are freely
      available and are free - as in freedom or foi - but they are not
      for free, terms such as - at no cost, gratis, etc.  are more
      precise. 

yes. maybe "at no cost" is better.

   4. Data - are plural.

ok.

   5. The geographer in me is obsessed with scale - so when i refer to
      governments i use the term levels, to ensure that counties and
      feds are included - as sometimes it is harder to get data and
      information from the smallest unit of gov or the one closest to
      you as a citizen (e.g. where are the hazardous waste sites in my
      city - cities are reluctant to publish these for insurance claim
      issues).

again, brevity. landing page should be as quick & clear as possible. 
govt levels is an important issue that should be clarified in a bigger 
document, but as a citizen/participant I am agreeing with: governemnt 
should make data available. this should imply municipal, prov, fed. etc.

   6. in the rubric of - gov, info highway, economics, life the universe

      and everything - it is important to keep the term  - information
      society - ironically canada markets itself as such and it is
      important to push walking the talk and using terms in the current
      national discourse taglines

ok. but it's an imprecise & throw-away term, but may help explain what 
we're going on about to average joes. but do people really still use the 
term? I haven't heard it since 1998 ;)

   7. the terms - reliable, accurate, authentic and timely -  are
      important, scientists want to work with good quality data not
      outdated poorly collected cheap data, currently, there are some
      scientific data, maps, remote sensing images, available for free
      in all the ways we want them to be, but alas, they are old (e.g.
      air quality data for 1992 not today!) or are not accompanied by
      metadata that explain the fit for use and the quality of the
      data.  Also, these terms are important in the world of archives,
      currently there is discussion in canada on developing a data
      archive and there is ongoing research to incorporate these
      concepts - see the InterPares Project -
      http://interpares.org/ip2/ip2_domain2.cfm

Once again, this should be clarified in main docs, but I don't think the 
landing page should deal with such important issues. they are secondary 
to a commitment on the part of the govt to provide the data. this should 
imply good data.

   8. What to do with this sentence? - " Access to civic data is impeded
      by cost recovery, IP, poor or unsuitable formatting, a lack of
      discovery strategies, security and confidentiality. "  These are
      the biggies that are keeping data out of the hands of citizens, if
      you chat with folks, you will soon find out that they are mostly
      unaware of these concepts.  So i want them there somehow.  Can you
      help make that work hugh or anyone else?  See what I did.

does not belong in objectives...maybe there needs to be a section: "why 
are we fighting and what are we fighting against." but I would suggest 
that should be elsewhere. thoughts?

   9. Keeping the word taxation is important - as once people realize
      they have already paid for the stuff, they get awfully incensed
      when they have to pay for them again.  Currently federal
      departments purchase data from statcan and provinces - which in
      effect means we pay for the same data 4 time! a rather inefficient
      use of tax dollars!

I think it was in there, but I agree fully. It's our data & we paid for 
it! this to me is the most compelling logical argument. who are you 
(governments) to be charging me for stuff I've paid for. That's a very 
powerful image.

  10. Over sensitivity to confidentiality - need advice here, i am a
      firm believer in confidentiality, however oversensitivity to this
      concept is problematic, for example, aggregated health data is not
      being released, think sars and avian flu and ebola outbreaks as
      examples.  i do not want coacid to sound like we do not support
      confidentiality but want highlight that institutions are
      withholding critical aggregated information & data and using
      confidentiality as an excuse.

yes must be careful here. it's a very important issue on both ends. the 
important point is that we don't want info about individuals.

  11. Can you look at the 5th bullet - i would like to include your
      point a) innovative solutions and also b) creatively plan - cuz
      new interesting and creative proposals are also important!  It is
      also in the spirit of what was there - re-visioning which i
      thought was really nice.

the problem i have with reenvisioning is that it means so many different 
things to different people. why would I (a ottawa beaurocrat, minister, 
or media person) support a big project to reenvision society? what does 
it mean? what,s in it for me? what's in it for the country?

hugh.

Cheers
Tracey
ps-can still be tweaked i think.

Michael Lenczner wrote:

i think it's great!  thanks hugh

On 3/28/06, Hugh McGuire [hidden email] [hidden email] wrote:

Here is my proposal for the intro text - might as well be on the front
page (?), but it's modified from the "about" on the wiki. For the
landing page, it would need more info. for consideration:
****

Accès Civique/Civic Access (ACCA) believes that government-collected
civic data should be free for citizens to use, and available in open
formats.

Our Objectives:
1. to encourage governments to make civic data free and available in
open formats
2. to encourage development of citizen projects using civic data

Making civic data freely available to citizens is important because:

*citizen participation in decision-making is fundamental to democracy
*the best decisions are made by informed citizens
*access to civic data is fundamental to keeping citizens informed
*civic data is gathered on behalf of citizens; it should be freely
available for them to use in constructive ways
*citizen projects using civic data will generate innovative solutions to
problems
*this is what a democracy looks like!

The role of this wiki is to complement [WWW] civicaccess-discuss to
create a community of people across Canada who share these beliefs.

Stephane Guidoin wrote:

I agree with both remarks :

- The sentenses on the splash screen could be more precise about our goal.

- The more it goes, the more we use CivicAccess instead of COACID. COACID gives
a clearer definition but usually people don't really notice the signification
of words in such names/acronyms. So we may simply remove COACID and remain with
CivicAccess. Is it necessary to keep an acronym like CAAC ? I don't think. We
could just use CivicAccess + the little motto Hugh sent "It's our data. Let us
use it." (for example)

Stef

Selon Hugh McGuire [hidden email] [hidden email]:

another suggestion:
why not change the name of the organization from:
*Citizens for Open Access to Civic Information and Data (COACID)/
Citoyen-ne-s pour l'Accès Libre à l'Information et aux Données Civiques
(CALIDC)

to:
*Civic Access/Accès citoyen (CAAC)

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Re: About Text/landing page