The conservative party of Canada has yet to adopt an open-data policy, but the British “equivalent” is at least talking the right talk. Agree or not with his policies, David Cameron, the new UK PM, gives a solid TED talk on open-data.
The first public meeting of Montréal Ouvert took place last thursday. We are happy to report that it was a great success, with over 50 (60?) Montréalers turning up to make their support known for municipal open-data!
Participants were invited to a public discussion of what open-data would mean for Montréal as well as a deliberation on how we could best collectively proceed towards an open-data policy. The large majority of the participants were well informed about the topic of open-data and were up-to-date on the developments in other cities in Canada and around the world. Some had already worked on open-data projects such as OpenStreetMap Montreal and OpenParliament.ca. It was a surprisingly diverse group, with many representatives from the educational, developer, non-profit, and private sectors, and even some participants from the city who shared an inside view of this issue.
The participants were introduced to the people behind Montréal Ouvert and had the opportunity ask questions about our experience and knowledge of the issues. In addition, participants inquired about Montréal Ouvert’s contact with stakeholders in other cities who have developed and implemented open-data policies. They also asked about our next steps and reported that they were happy with our direction of encouraging and supporting the city towards the goal of passing an open-data policy. Specific issues discussed included privacy, security, cost-benefit, technical questions for implementation, and licences.
We wish to thank all the citizens who came out to manifest their interest and support for this issue and we look forward to working with them to make this goal a reality!
We also want to thank Station-C for their hospitality. Without places like Station-C, un-financed, citizen activities like MontréalOuvert would have a hard time finding places to hold this type of public event.
Below is a classic presentation on the importance of visualizing data from government databases that has been seen more than 3 million times and is now a TED and open-data classic. Doctor Hans Rosling uses open-data from the UN and government agencies to demonstrate the enormous progress that has been made in the wealth and health in Asia and South America. His use of simple, but innovative technology clearly demonstrates the power of access to open-data.
Via Open Government Mailing List
Danish Enterprise and Construction Authority (DECA), has published an analysis of the social and economic benefits associated with a 2002 decision to offer official Danish address data free of charge online for public and commercial re-use.
The study concludes that the direct financial benefits from the agreement for society in the period 2005-2009 amounts to EUR 62 million while the associated costs are only 2 million euros.
For 2010 it is estimated that social benefits from the agreement will be EUR 14 million, with costs of about EUR 0.2 million.
An 8-page memo presenting the study and the results is available in Danish and English at the www.adresse-info.dk or through these direct links:
(Danish): http://www.adresse-info.dk/Portals/2/Benefit/Vaerdien_af_danske_adressedata_2010-07-07l.pdf
(English): http://www.adresse-info.dk/Portals/2/Benefit/Value_Assessment_Danish_Address_Data_UK_2010-07-07b.pdf
More info : http://www.epsiplatform.eu/news/news/value_of_danish_address_data
Interested in Open Data for Montreal?
We are organizing an open meeting for anyone who wants to see Montreal join the growing list of cities that have embraced Open Data. The goal of the event is to have a fruitful discussion about open data for Montreal and for everyone to have the opportunity to meet your fellow citizens, developers, activists and businespeople who care about this issue.
Beer and chips available (donations).
Sign-up at our doodle: http://doodle.com/ec39xdymv267mhgw
We hope to see you there!
6-8 pm
Thursday, August 26th, 2010
Station C
5369 St-Laurent, #430
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