The liberation of public information

Ants have been in the news a lot recently. They fill holes in the road with their bodies so that their colleagues can move swiftly. In an emergency, they slow down and proceed in an orderly fashion, thus speeding the escape of the whole community. Most things that ants do are for the good of the community as a whole because, without the community, they wouldn't thrive.

The government's agonising over public information has been in the news a lot too. And it's interesting to note the differences between its approach to life and the ants'. First of all, if you read any of the public pronouncements on public information, a lot of attention is paid to its 'value'. Yes, 'social value' is chucked in for good measure, but it's clear where the obsession lies.

Imagine yourself in a government department that is custodian of some public information and you are rewarded according to how much you can extract from others for the privilege of sharing it. How would you feel if someone came along and said "hey, the taxpayer has already paid for this information, you should be giving it back at no more than the cost of delivery." Gulp.

It's not an attractive thought is it? But this is exactly what has been facing those who govern us for several years. I think that opening up public information was first mooted in the year 2000. Only this year, when the clamour from outside is too loud to ignore, is the government really giving the appearance of trying to address the issue.

But, the people whose departmental funding depends on getting outside revenue aren't going to like it and they will talk endlessly about the commercial value of the IP or the need to provide a return on the public's investment. Or the need to create a 'data mashing' function within government in order to add more commercial value to the stuff we've already paid for.

The idea that liberating the data so that others can do a better job of the 'mashing' does not sit at all well with them.

Watch these people closely. They claim they will have a set of proposals ready for public comment by the end of this year. We should all be poised to scrutinise this and give our feedback. It will be a good test of whether they really want to listen or just try and put off the evil (to them) day when they have to give us back what was ours in the first place.

Unlike ants, one senses that government departments aren't actually interested in the greater good, only in their parochial needs, their bonuses and their career advancement.

Here are a few links you might find useful, should you wish to get involved:

The government's response to the Power of Information report by Ed Mayo and Tom Steinberg.

Yesterday, the Guardian published a piece on Ordnance Survey coming under fire from inside the government.

And here's the transcript of an interview (you can draw your own conlcusions) with Michael Wills, minister for information, and representatives from the Guardian Technology's "Free Our Data" campaign.