Innovation + Experimentation + Commitment + Research = Australian Open Data Inspiration
Source: European Public Sector Information (PSI) Platform
Australia’s Open Data Story by Professor Anne Fitzgerald
London: 19 July 2010
The ePSIplatform has published the 13th in a series of Topic Reports on PSI Re-use and Open Data topics.
- Title: State of Play: PSI Reuse in Australia
- Author: Professor Anne M Fitzgerald, QUT Law Faculty
- Publication Date: 16 July 2010
Professor Anne Fitzgerald’s briefing on Australian PSI re-use developments is comprehensive and up to date: it is an overview on the state of play with Australian PSI re-use policies and practice. The briefing covers developments at the federal and state levels of government as well as in the cultural sector. The conclusions point to the issues and challenges ahead for Australia in continuing to implement and develop proactive PSI re-use policies and practices.
It is a before and after story with the ‘after’ part placing Australia as a world leader and innovator in opening up access to government data at all levels and facilitating re-use by citizens and business.
A comment by Anne in the introduction to the briefing reflects how unfavourable polices and fragmentation in policy can be turned around and reasonably quickly.
“After having lagged in developing information policy frameworks during the decade up to the mid-2000s, recent developments have seen Australian governments (at federal, state and local levels) re-position themselves close to the leading edge of policy and practice in relation to access to and reuse of PSI. Until recently, the situation was fragmented and lacked a coherent policy foundation, whether viewed in terms of interactions within, or among, the different levels of government (local, state/territory and federal), or between the government, academic and private sectors.”
What brought about change in Australian PSI re-use? This comment by Anne offers some insights.
“Working in parallel to the FOI reforms at federal and state level, an important catalyst for change in Australia has been the recognition that PSI reuse can be facilitated by directly addressing the obstacles presented by the complex, protracted and restrictive licensing practices and procedures that are typically encountered. Adoption of non-exclusive open content licensing practices (for example, by using Creative Commons licences) to enable innovative reuse of PSI (commercial and non-commercial) enables governments to take effective steps towards open access, in advance of the development of comprehensive information policy frameworks or the overhaul of FOI laws.”
The news about Australian PSI re-use developments continues to make headlines and are summarised by Anne.
“The Declaration of Open Government, issued by the Australian Government on 16 July 2010, gives effect to the principal recommendation of the Government 2.0 Taskforce in its landmark 2009 report, Engage: Getting on with Government 2.0 it acknowledges the importance of better access to and reuse of government held information and the innovative use of technology in achieving a more open, participatory and transparent democracy.”
“Documents published by the Australian federal government in the course of a 2-week period in May 2010 heralded significant advances in PSI access and reuse policy and provide the legislative basis for further development and implementation of the policy framework. On 3 May 2010, the government’s formal response to the report of the Government 2.0 Taskforce was released, essentially accepting the Taskforce’s recommendations. Significantly, the response to the Government 2.0 Taskforce report was itself released under a Creative Commons licence, as were the National Broadband Network Implementation Study and accompanying wiki (6 May) and the Federal Budget Papers (11 May). Another development – apparently a world first for a national parliament – is the adoption of Creative Commons licences for the Australian Parliament’s website and the great majority of parliamentary materials.“
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About the Author
Anne Fitzgerald is a Professor in Law Research at QUT Law School where she is involved in research on several projects including Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) law and Access to and Use of Public Sector Information (auPSI). Anne has a JSD degree from Columbia University, New York (2002) a LLM degree from Columbia University (1992) and a LLM (International Business Law) from the University of London (1989). She has an extensive background in the areas of intellectual property law, internet and e-commerce law and international trade law and has taught and published in these areas since 1991. From 2005 a major focus of Anne’s work has been open access to public sector information and publicly funded research outputs and she has been a lead researcher in the collaborative project between QUT’s Faculty of Law and the Queensland Government that investigated the application of open content licences (specifically, Creative Commons licences) to PSI. In 2008 she was a consultant on intellectual property law and information policy to the review of Australia’s innovation system (Venturous Australia: Building strength in innovation) and in 2009 was commissioned to write a report on copyright for the Government 2.0 Taskforce (Engage: Getting on with Government 2.0).
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About ePSIplatform Topic Reports
Topic Reports will continue to be published on the ePSIplatform. The authors will come from a wide range of disciplines and include policy makers, business leaders, analysts, researchers and academics.
The Reports aim to:
- Provide analytical briefings on PSI re-use issues across key sectors such as geographic, meteorological, business, legal, registries and others
- Support and promote dialogue about and information sharing on developments and good practices from within Europe and internationally
- Monitor business practices and political strategies promoting PSI Re-use
Suggestions for Topic Reports are welcome and can be submitted to the European PSI Platform Team
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