[LINK] FOI, Accessibility, Data Access and Metadata for the Government Web

[Tom Worthington]

The Web Standards Group is meeting to look at recent developments with
requirements for FOI, Accessibility, data access, and metadata for
government web sites, in Canberra, 19 October, 2010:
<http://webstandardsgroup.org/meetings/index.cfm?event_id=181>.

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October 2010 Canberra WSG meeting

Date: Tuesday 19 October, 2010

Time: 2.00pm - 4.30pm ...
Cost: Free

First presentation: Neil Philips
Topic 1: FOI Legislative Requirements to Publish Information On the Web

The Australian Government announced as part of its 2007 election
policies that it would reform the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI
Act) with the principal objectives of promoting a pro-disclosure culture
across the Government and building a stronger foundation for more
openness in government. There are substantial changes to the Freedom of
Information (FOI) Act commencing on 1 November 2010. Neil will explain
what the legislation requires Government agencies to consider when
publishing information.


Second presentation: Raven Calais
Topic 2: WCAG 2.0 and the Website Accessibility National Transition Strategy

Raven from the Australian Government Information Management Office
(AGIMO), Department of Finance and Deregulation will discuss the
endorsement and subsequent implementation of the Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines version 2.0 (WCAG 2.0), providing an update on
their work since releasing the National Transition Strategy. Federal
Government web managers are encouraged to participate to learn more
about their new accessibility compliance requirements.

Break for afternoon tea


Third presentation: Gordon Grace
Topic 3: Making Better Use of On-line Data

The USA and UK govern­ments have made signif­icant progress with linked,
open data in recent months. Several funda­mental datasets from the
Australian Government are on the cusp of being exposed as mean­ingful,
reusable, machine-readable assets, further driving the adoption of
linked data within and around government.

Making better use of online data offerings using a combi­nation of
top-down policy and guidance, together with bottom-up devel­opment
efforts from agency web teams, would seem to describe a sustainable,
organic growth in linked government data.

Learn about the path to the first release of data.gov.au; a draft
roadmap to future releases; the barriers to linked data and open public
sector infor­mation (PSI); and the real-world ques­tions this
tech­nology aims to solve.


Fourth presentation: Eileen Tannachion
Topic 4: Changes to the Australian Government Locator Service Metadata
Standard

In July 2010 the AGLS Metadata Standard Version 2.0 was released. This
revised version takes into account changes introduced by the Dublin Core
Metadata Initiative (DCMI) in January 2008. It also makes technical
changes to support linked data and Semantic Web projects, recognising
that the internet is no longer just a medium for publishing
human-readable documents. Eileen represents the National Archives of
Australia and will discuss these recent changes.

RSVP: <http://webstandardsgroup.org/meetings/index.cfm?event_id=181>.
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-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science, The
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/