[LINK] Principles on open public sector information released

[Tom Worthington]

Greetings from the Meta 2011 Conference at ANU University House in 
Canberra, where Professor John McMillan, the Australian Information 
Commissioner, launched the new "Principles on open public sector 
information": 
<http://www.oaic.gov.au/publications/agency_resources/principles_on_psi_short.html>.

Along with the principles is a "Report on review and development of 
principles": 
<http://www.oaic.gov.au/publications/reports/Principles_open_public_sector_info_report_may2011.html>.

It is good to see that the commission released the documents in the form 
of simple and easy to read HTML files, as well as PDF and RTF. They also 
put the HTML version first, which will be most useful.: 
<http://www.oaic.gov.au/infopolicy-portal/reports_infopolicy.html>.

Professor McMillan discussed the role of metadata in information policy. 
He pointed out that metadata may contain information about individuals 
and so breach their privacy, under national provacy principles, which 
apply to government agencies and non-government organisations. 
Organisations need to check the metadata hidden in documents, before 
they release them (it can be entertaining to see what is hidden away in 
documents released by government).

Professor McMillan also pointed out that metadata is important to the 
mechanics of implementing the government's information policy. He held 
up a copy of the new report, at which point I checked it was actually 
online (which it was).

One of the audience asked about intellectual property. The Commissioner 
replied this was the responsibility of the Attorney General's 
department, but pointed out this was touched on in the information 
principles and AGs recommend use of a Creative Commons licence for 
material to be released to the public.

Here are the eight principles of open government sector information:

Principle 1: Open access to information - a default position

     Information held by Australian Government agencies is a valuable 
national resource. If there is no legal need to protect the information 
it should be open to public access. Information publication enhances 
public access. Agencies should use information technology to disseminate 
public sector information, applying a presumption of openness and 
adopting a proactive publication stance.

Principle 2: Engaging the community

     Australian Government policy requires agencies to engage the 
community online in policy design and service delivery. This should 
apply to agency information publication practices ...

Principle 3: Effective information governance

     Australian Government agencies should manage information as a core 
strategic asset. A senior executive ‘information champion' or knowledge 
officer in the agency should be responsible for information management 
and governance, including:

         * providing leadership on agency compliance with the 
Information Publication Scheme and Disclosure Log
         * ensuring agency compliance with legislative and policy 
requirements on information management and publication
         * managing agency information to ensure its integrity, security 
and accessibility
         * instigating strategic planning on information resource management
         * ensuring community consultation on agency information policy 
and publication practices.

     The senior officer should be supported by an information governance 
body that may include people from outside the agency.

Principle 4: Robust information asset management

     Effective information management requires agencies to:

         * maintain an asset inventory or register of the agency's 
information
         * identify the custodian of each information holding and the 
responsibilities of that officer
         * train staff in information management
         * establish clear procedures and lines of authority for 
decisions on information publication and release
         * decide if information should be prepared for publication at 
the time it is created and the form of publication
         * document known limitations on data quality
         * identify data that must be managed in accordance with 
legislative and legal requirements, including requirements relating to 
data security and protection of personal information, intellectual 
property, business confidentiality and legal professional privilege
         * protect information against inappropriate or unauthorised 
use, access or disclosure
         * preserve information for an appropriate period of time based 
on sound archival practices.

Principle 5: Discoverable and useable information

     The economic and social value of public sector information can be 
enhanced by publication and information sharing. This requires that 
information can easily be discovered and used by the community and other 
stakeholders. To support this objective agencies should:

         * publish an up to date information asset register
         * ensure that information published online is in an open and 
standards-based format and is machine-readable
         * attach high quality metadata to information so that it can be 
easily located and linked to similar information using standard web 
search applications
         * publish information in accordance with the Web Content 
Accessibility Guidelines version 2 (WCAG 2.0) endorsed by the Australian 
Government in November 2009.

Principle 6: Clear reuse rights

     The economic and social value of public sector information is 
enhanced when it is made available for reuse on open licensing terms. 
The Guidelines on Licensing Public Sector Information for Australian 
Government Agencies require agencies to decide licensing conditions when 
publishing information online. The default condition should be the 
Creative Commons BY standard, as recommended in the Intellectual 
Property Principles for Australian Government Agencies, that apply to 
agencies subject to the Financial and Management Accountability Act 
1997. Additional guidance on selecting an appropriate licence is given 
in the Australian Government Open Access and Licensing Framework (AUSGOAL).

Principle 7: Appropriate charging for access

     The FOI Act requires agencies to facilitate public access to 
information at the lowest reasonable cost. This principle applies when 
information is provided upon request or is published by an agency. Other 
Acts also authorise charges for specific documents or information access.

     Agencies can reduce the cost of public access by publishing 
information online, especially information that is routinely sought by 
the public. Charges that may be imposed by an agency for providing 
access should be clearly explained in an agency policy that is published 
and regularly reviewed.

Principle 8: Transparent enquiry and complaints processes

     Agency decision making about information publication should be 
transparent. This can be supported, within the agency's information 
governance framework, by an enquiry and complaints procedure for the 
public to raise issues about agency publication and access decisions. 
The procedure should be published, explain how enquiries and complaints 
will be handled, set timeframes for responding, identify possible 
remedies and complaint outcomes, and require that written reasons be 
provided in complaint resolution. ...

     From: "Principles on open public sector information", AOIC, 25 May 
2011 
<http://www.oaic.gov.au/publications/agency_resources/principles_on_psi_short.html>
---



-- 
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/
Visiting Scientist, CSIRO ICT Centre: http://bit.ly/csiro_ict_canberra