Kevin Novak, Chair W3C Electronic Government Interest Group April 17, 2009

Overview of W3C Electronic Government Work Formed/Chartered in June of 2008 Participation open to W3C members and Invited Experts Public and others can join the list to watch and learn about activities and discussions Promoting openness and contribution across diverse bodies and interests

Overview of Charter The Charter of the group sets forth three areas of focus: Usage of Web Standards (Government Websites and use of best practices and standards) Transparency and Participation (Enabling discovery, communications, and interaction) Seamless Integration of Data (Use of data standards, Semantic Web, XML)

Year 1 Work Collaborating and partnering with governments and other organizations (The World Bank, EC, OECD, OAS, ICA, CEN, OASIS). Identifying, validating, and documenting existing applicable standards. Identifying gaps in the open standards that currently exist. Working collaboratively on having open standards developed, validated, and tested. Creating, evaluating, and testing use cases. Compiling and communicating issues papers (called Group Notes) that will offer governments the opportunity to learn what exists to aid them in their endeavors. Creating the outline and work plan for year 2 and year 3 of the eGovernment activities at W3C.

First Draft of Issues Paper Published Paper available for comment Focus on: Participation and Citizen Engagement Open Government Data Interoperability Multi-channel delivery Identification and Authentication Long term data management

Use Cases Semantic Interoperability (eg. Judicial) Persistent URIs Performance Data + Citizen Choice Data Sharing Policy Expression Digital Preservation + Authenticity + Temporal Degradation IPR Expression Identification + Authentication Data Aggregation Your Web Site is your API (eg. RDFa, sitemaps?) What Data? How does the government decide? Participation in Social Media; what are the rules ? Temporal Data Legislation/Legal (Law Reports) Geospatial Multi channel delivery (back/front)

What is Interoperability in Government? Interoperability is the ability of organizations, individuals, and agencies to share and exchange information via electronic means. Focus is in W3C Electronic Government terms: Ability for government agencies to share and exchange information Ability for different levels of government to share and exchange information Ability to share, make available, and exchange information with organizations and individuals

Why is Interoperability a Challenge? Proprietary Systems Stove Piped Focus/implementation Lack of understanding on intended audiences and uses Consideration of open and other standards that allow systems and applications to communicate, share, and exchange.

Examples Local Government Public Safety Challenge 7 proprietary systems 40 interfaces to different levels of government Lack of standards to allow communication No opportunity to share, exchange or make information available Federal Legislative Information Proprietary and old systems/architecture Lack of standards agreement or implementation Confusing and challenging data/information structure

How Can Interoperability be Achieved? Use or Develop common standards Develop a common structure/framework (Government Interoperability Framework or GIF)shared by government organizations and agencies that promotes sharing Technical interoperability standards including: Data transport Data representation Semantic or other interoperability

Main Issues and Limitations Privacy Security Semantics Legal Aspects Open Standards Open Source Culture Desire to Change Struggle for Openness and transparency

What are the Benefits? Easier for the Citizen Less Documentation Faster Exchange and Communication Greater automation Increased multi-channel delivery

Available and In Process Standards

Next Steps W3C Electronic Government Group will: Continue to work with W3C groups and others standards bodies to address current and needed open standards. Focus on further maturing and developing issues and solutions identified in the egov draft issues paper. Vet, validate existing use cases and identify or develop new use cases that provide realistic and successful examples of interoperability. Listen to the community (government and stakeholders) on what is needed and attempt to match need with relative standards and practices.

Questions?