Many EU countries still need to deliver on open data

Europe has moved slowly at best when it comes to open data and many European Union (EU) countries have been surpassed by India now ranking 10th and just a notch behind Germany, or Colombia equalling Sweden and the Czech Republic on rank 12 out of 97. A little progress, but also a lot of rhetoric and quite some gaps when it comes to delivering on promises in some countries – that is how Rufus Pollock, President and Founder of the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) summarises the Global Open Data Index 2014.

97 countries, 37 more than last year, were checked by local teams with regard to access to such mundane data as public transport timetables or postal codes, but also to information essential for a democracy like elections, government budgets, legislation. Is it available, also online, is it for free, how clear are the rules for accessing it?, is what the national teams from the United Kingdom to Guinea do check. With more countries on board, the overall score of openness was down from 16 percent to 11 percent.

Behind the bleak figures the index relates some interesting stories behind the data: given that it took one of the Nigerian contributors to the index three days to catch a bus to reach his destination Sokoto from Lagos Airport due to a lack of information about public transport, one will appreciate that in the same country the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency has started to publish an incident map in real time.

SOME EUROPEAN COUNTRIES IN REASONABLE SHAPE

The criteria on which many countries around the globe fail in the 10 point data score is called government spending. While prepared to make their budgets available and accessible, actual spending is not. There are notable exceptions for this, not only in the UK, which tops the ranking as it did in 2013, but also in Brazil (overall rank 26), Russia (rank 45), Greece (rank 54). This spotlight is only highlighting the fact that governments still had to deliver on earlier announcements about how they would commit to open data, Pollock said.

The OKFN president nevertheless underlines that countries like France have moved up considerably (from position 12 to three) and even in the UK, ranked first in both years, there was a little improvement. “I would still say Europe is doing well,“ he says. How the ranking will be changed with additional aspects like “government contracts and procurement“ to be added to the 10 core areas analysed now has to be seen.

THE OPEN GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP CONTROVERSY

Talking on commitments made, but not fulfilled, Pollock points to the ongoing debate in Germany over its commitment to join the Open Government Partnership. A magazine dedicated to public administration issues (Verwaltung und Management, Administration and Management) illustrated the dispute in side-by-side pro and contra commentaries on the issue. The Vice-President E-Government at Deutsche Post, Göttrik Wewer, who has held several positions in state administrations and the Ministry of the Interior before, denounced the Open Government Partnership as a strategy of the United States to advance its own economic and geopolitical interests. While fiercely opposed by experts and activists of the open government movement, this German episode illustrates that the open government and open data movement have to – post-Snowden - clarify what its goals are.

SECRET SURVEILLANCE VERSUS OPEN DATA

“We see this as an issue,“ acknowledges Pollock quickly drawing a line, though, between open public data, and government transparency on the one hand and private data of citizens on the other. “It is central that open data is not about personal data, it is not about opening up your medical record,“ he said. When a country like China gets more involved in the open data idea, “this is fantastic“, he said. Yet at the same time, it surely was not enough to open up data that would help the economic development and business. “It is about empowering citizens to hold those in power to account.“

Would some Global Open Data Index category about governments' anti-terror strategies make any sense? Pollock called it an interesting thought while difficult to realise. It would make for a lot of red dots in the index 2015, that is for sure.