1. Information Management Services from ISIS Ben Plouviez Head of Information Management The Scottish Executive

2. This presentation…  Will ask some questions about how we navigate around the web  Will explain a bit about what IPSV is and how it works  And will ask some questions and raise some challenges

3. How does the internet work?  By links  By competition  By words

4. What day is my bin emptied – in England?  Go to DirectGov - 3 clicks to “Find out what day the refuse is collected”  Enter postcode and click, then click to confirm council  Transferred to council’s page on waste  Click on “Find out when your bins are collected”  Enter postcode and click  Click on correct house  BINGO! – after 8 clicks and entering my postcode twice

5. What day is my bin emptied – in Scotland?  Go to Council front page  Click on “Services”  Click on “Bins”  Click on “Collection days”  Enter full address and postcode and click  Select house and click  BINGO! – after 5 clicks and identifying my house twice

6. How to buy “The Bumper Book of Government Waste”  On Amazon’s home page, search for “waste”  Click on the title  Click on “Add to shopping basket”  Click on “Proceed to checkout”  Enter email address and password and click  Click on “Place your order”  BINGO! – 5 clicks – if I’m a regular customer

7. And the moral of this story is…?  Buying something excuses a lot  The more you know, the faster you find stuff  The more a site knows you, the faster you can do stuff  Words matter

8. What is IPSV?  Created by the Cabinet Office e-Govt Unit  ISO2788 mono-lingual thesaurus  3080 preferred terms and 4843 non-preferred  Mandated by e-GIF and OSIAF

9. … and why?  Provides subject terms for information assets  Primarily aimed at interoperability  “Relevant links”; “More like this”

10. How does IPSV work?  Not intended to be a list of everything!  Owned by a Governing Board  Hosted at http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/ipsv/http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/ipsv/  Developed by user community  Scottish input recognised but not co-ordinated

12. So what’s wrong with IPSV?  Too large to use?  Unclear usage –  is it a hierarchy or not?  inconsistent in level of detail?  2 versions – or 3 (Internal, Abridged, Full)  UK government support unclear

13. The point is: what’s the point?  Is interoperability a real issue?  Where are the benefits?  User experience?  Efficiencies?  Linking.. Competition.. Words

14. So…  IPSV is only one part of the equation  Imperfect IPSV may be better than no IPSV at all  Can we get at the real benefits?  A rich web of services and information..  Why aren’t we collaborating to make it richer?