[LINK] itNews: 'Feds wrestle with public information access'

[Roger Clarke]

Feds wrestle with public information access
John Hilvert
Aug 28, 2012 7:31 AM (33 minutes ago)
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/313283,feds-wrestle-with-public-information-access.aspx

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has produced a 
survey of 191 federal agencies to determine the challenges they have 
meeting open government principles.

While the survey report (pdf) claims the results confirm that 
Australian Government agencies are embracing an open access and 
proactive disclosure culture, its findings suggest otherwise.

[Has the Information Commissioner been 'embedded' in the public 
service sufficiently long to catch the disease of 'being economical 
with the truth'?]

The OAIC said that "work is underway in most agencies" to make a 
greater amount of information easily discoverable and available via 
the web.

[Um, doesn't that mean that the rest are in breach of the law?]

However, this is proving to be the most challenging principle to 
implement for almost a third of the agencies surveyed.

The survey found 30 percent of respondents have the most trouble with 
meeting public sector information (PSI) principle five, 'Providing 
useful and discoverable information'.

This principle requires that:
-   information be published online in a machine-readable, 
standards-based and open format;
-   high-quality metadata be attached for searchability; and
-   published data meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 
2 (WCAG 2.0).

Two out of every five agencies surveyed don't "routinely apply 
metadata to the information they publish".

[I guess most of those consultancy reports a decade ago got ignored.]

"Lack of technical capacity in the agency may be a big factor," the 
OAIC highlighted in its brief report.

In addition, almost 25 percent of agencies were challenged by WCAG 
2.0 compliance.

"A major area of difficulty is in converting special categories of 
information into an accessible text format (e.g. images, maps, 
dynamic content such as radar captures)," the OAIC said.

[All sarcasm aside, there's a vast amount of data inside government 
agencies, in a vast array of content-formats, on a vast array of 
storage devices.  I think statements are entirely credible along the 
lines of 'we're having some challenges getting this done, 
particularly when the priority set for it isn't all that high'.]

"Lack of technical expertise and the inherent difficulty in 
translating images to text are also contributing factors."

Other PSI principles that typically cause agencies grief include 
principle one (Open access to information as the default position) 
and principle four (Robust information asset management).

Agencies volunteered several reasons why principles were proving 
challenging to implement, including that:
*   existing systems for record keeping and information release 
aren't designed to support openness.
*   information management is siloed across branches and locations.
*   cultural change and more active internal sponsorship is required.
*   information is in legacy documents that need digitising.
*   it is difficult to identify information that can be voluntarily published.
*   budgetary restrictions limit the capacity of agencies to 
implement an open PSI culture.

On the other hand, less than five percent of agencies had 
difficulties in rolling out charging for access, offering transparent 
complaint procedures or engaging with the community.

The OAIC plans to release a full report, using the survey results, in November.


-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law               University of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University