The subject was “building bridges” between the open data and freedom of information communities and a little construction occurred during a one-hour session held Oct. 29 during the Open Government Partnership summit meeting in Mexico City.
After several speakers sketching out exaggerated differences, various similar interest and interrelationships were explored.
Representatives from the Philippines and Paraguay described experiences merging FOI and OD interests in legislation and regulation.
The session began with jibes such as “without access to information there would not be no open data” and assertions such as “open data is inherently not always political.”
Later, there were suggestions of joint interests.
“We need each other,” began Laura Neuman, director of the Global Access to Information Program at the Carter Center, who later would stress, “We need to be co-advocates.” She suggested imbedding in open data provisions in new FOIA laws and trying to develop “a joint language.”
Mark Levene, a Canadian government open data specialist, observed, “Without proper information management systems you cannot do any of these things.” Laws to prevent the destruction of information are important, he said.
Melanie Pustay, director of the Office of Information Policy at the US Justice Department, said, “The whole point of an access to information law is that it covers everything, so of course it covers data.” Under the FOIA requesters seeking data have the same rights to get access to data as to get access to documents, she said.
The data revolution, Pustay said, has helped encourage access to information professionals to think more about making information proactively available and more useable. She cited an example, saying that the frequency of requests for information about contaminated land led to the wholesale disclosure of maps of contaminated land.
Helen Darbishire, executive director of Access Info Europe, urged resistance to “the bureaucratic paradigm where documents are different than data.”
Several speakers observed that government found it easier to promise to release data than to strengthen access laws.
A representative of Philippines government explained that the pending FOI bill contains open data provisions.
The experience in Paraguay the recent law did not address open data, but the regulations were finessed to include open format requirements and more.
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