We talk with John McMillan, the Australian Government’s Information Commissioner, about what the OGP might mean for a nation well-known for its early adoption of Gov 2.0 and other forms of connected government.

Professor McMillan is a long-time advocate of the principles and practices of open government. His model for open government balances freedom of information with privacy protection and the promotion of information policy, and he offers some thoughts about the practical challenges facing Australia and other governments in the pursuit of greater openness, and the opportunities that OGP membership presents for collaboration.

One of the strong themes in information policy reform has been the need for a better framework to enable information sharing within government, between governments, and between government and the community, and that involves a commitment to open data, it involves a commitment to proper privacy and security protection – so governments need to be cooperative and [the OGP] is another platform for them to do that..

About Professor John McMillan

Prof John McMillan AO was appointed Australian Information Commissioner in November 2010 to head a new office responsible for freedom of information, privacy protection and advice to government on information management policy.

John was formerly the Commonwealth Ombudsman from 2003–2010 and the Integrity Commissioner (Acting) for the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity in 2007. He is an Emeritus Professor of the Australian National University. He is co-author of a leading student text, Control of Government Action.

In the 1970s, John was a founding member of the Freedom of Information Campaign Committee, which led the public campaign for enactment of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 . He is a National Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and former President of the Australian Institute of Administrative Law.

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Episode links and resources

• Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) website and on Facebook
• Open Government Partnership
• OAIC Report: Open public sector information: from principles to practice
• Govhack
• My School website
• US Government’s OGP Action Plan

60-second snapshots

On the role of all tiers of government:

On the economic impetus of open government:

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For instance, the decision by the Danish Government to open up their address register so anyone could use it had a ROI over its first 4 years of 2200% – that’s 22 times as much in benefits as in cost.

Andrew also highlights some of the key themes emerging from open government practitioners at the Open Knowledge Festival recently held in Helsinki, Finland.

About Andrew Stott

Andrew Stott was the UK’s first Director for Transparency and Digital Engagement and a former Deputy CIO for the UK Government.  He led the work to create “data.gov.uk” and the implementation of the UK Government’s commitments on Transparency of central and local government.  Following his retirement in December 2010 he was appointed to the UK Transparency Board to continue to advise UK Ministers on open data and e-government policy.  He also advises other governments on Open Data both bilaterally and through the World Bank and the World Wide Web Foundation, and he continues to contribute to the international development of the Open Data and Open Government agendas.

Episode feature background image courtesy FloApps

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Episode links and resources

• Manchester Open Data project
• Danish addressing data return on investment study
• EU POPSIS study (PDF)
• Open Government Partnership
• Open Knowledge Foundation
• Open Knowledge Festival

Andrew Stott – Implementing an Open Data programme within government at the Open Knowledge Foundation

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• Tags: #opengov  #ogov #opendata #okfn #okfest #OGP

The Sunlight Foundation brings together developers, journalists and citizens to explore issues of transparency and openness in the public sphere.

Sunlight’s Director of Policy John Wonderlich shares national and international perspectives on open government, where collaboration between government and civil society, and good decision-making about data are the next open government frontiers for public agencies.

John also highlights key learnings from their 2012 Transparency Camp as well as the Open Government Partnership meeting in Brazil.

A vision for open government has to be developed collaboratively or else it’s not open government – it’s going to turn into something else because there’s lots of different kinds of stakeholders. In a sense, it’s one of the broadest issues imaginable becuase anyone who works on any other kind of issue us going to have a stake in open government.

About John Wonderlich

John Wonderlich is the policy director for the Sunlight Foundation and one of the nation’s foremost advocates for open government. John spearheads Sunlight’s goal of changing the government by opening up key data sources and information to make government more accountable to citizens. He is one of the foremost authorities on transparency policy, from legislation and accountability in Congress to ethics and information policy in the executive branch.

John has spoken internationally on technology and transparency and has testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He has appeared on NPR, Fox News and C-SPAN, and his expertise has been cited by The New York Times, The Washington Post and other media outlets..

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Episode links and resources

• Sunlight Foundation website and blog
• Transparency Camp
• Open Government Partnership
• Scout alerts initiative
• Reporting at Sunlight Foundation
• Influence Explorer
• Other Sunlight Foundation projects
• Blog post on the Missing Open Data Policy

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• Tags: #opengov #opendata #transparency

We’re joined by Julio Gonzalez Altamirano from Open Austin and Matt Esquibel from the City of Austin to talk about open government, open data, and civic application development in the city.

A lot of credit goes to the Austin community – the technical expertise and the energy helps the City develop that kind of mindframe as we’re going forward.

About Julio Gonzalez Altamirano and Matt Esquibel

• Julio Gonzalez Altamirano is the founder and a key leader in the Open Austin network, working closely with the City to support greater open govenrment outcomes and mobilizing local citizens to participate in Open Austin activities.
• Matt Esquibel is Programmer Analyst Supervisor for Internet/Intranet Web Design in the Office of Communications & Technology Management at the City of Austin in Texas. Matt has been leading the open government initiatives for the City of Austin, and is the key liaison point with the Open Austin community.

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Episode links and resources

• Interview with Matt Esquibel on GovFresh
• Open Austin website for civic activists and participants
• The new City of Austin website and Open Data Portal

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When a small group of open data enthusiasts in Montreal wanted greater openness in government data they took matters into their own hands and created “Montréal Ouvert,” a multi-sector citizen-led initiative to increase access to civic information.

Join us as we speak with Michael Lenczner, free wifi pioneer and CEO of Ajah, as he explains the origins of Montreal’s open data group and its successes in bringing together bureaucrats, politicians, journalists and software developers around data hacking events and actionable transparency initiatives.