1. Open Data in the Province of Ontario, Canada
Bahrain International eGovernment Forum
Samantha Liscio Corporate Chief Strategist Government of Ontario, Canada
April 8-10, 2013

2. Ontario: Quick Facts Population: 13M, 39% of Canada’s population
Nominal GDP: $655B, 37% of Canada’s GDP
400+ municipalities
Toronto is 4th largest city in North America
Diverse population, 28% born outside of Canada
93% of Ontarians have Internet access
27% deal with an Internet-only bank

3. Ontario: Federated IT Shared Services Model8
Permanent annual savings since 2007/08
Business ‘clusters’ serving similar ministries $
$989M
Spent in on IT 1
200+ 7
Consolidated infrastructure
Websites consolidated 79 63
4,728
95%
001100 
High-risk legacy systems remediated
Data sets published on Ontario.ca/opendata
IT staff serving the Ontario Public Service
Customer satisfaction rate with IT Service Desk

4. Ontario’s IT Evolution: Open Government
Emerging imperatives for governments: transparency, innovation, productivity, sustainability.
Public expectations – same level of service and ease of use from government as from private companies

5. Open Government Driver: Legal Obligations
Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
to provide a right of access to information
to protect the privacy of individuals with respect to personal information

6. Open Government Driver: Benefits
The European Commission quantified the economic potential of data release at over €33 billion a year.
Open Data White Paper. UK Cabinet Office
Open weather data in the United States is supporting a $1.5 billion industry.
Jay A. Clayton. “The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption”

7. Open Government Driver: Expectations
“Policy development should be more evidence-based – with clear objectives set based on sound research and evidence – and relevant data collected and used to evaluate programs.”
Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services, February 2012

8. Our Call to Action: Ontario ‘behind’ others
Ontario is following fast in key initiatives but lagging behind UK, US and other leaders in Open Government

9. Ontario Open Government: Information + Data
Open Information
Open Data
Web modernization & consolidation
Routinely and actively releasing government information
Open information & consultation portals
Social media policies & guidelines
Modernized information management policies & practices
FOI Modernization Initiatives
Open Data Portals:
High value data
A centralized catalogue
Open license
Visualization & web mapping Tools
Engagement:
Online engagement to increase use
Hackathons/ Application Development events

10. Where We Are Today: Ontario.ca/opendata

11. Where We Are Today: 5 Steps to Publishing Data1 2 3 4 5
Step 1: Identify Data
Step 2: Assess Data
Step 3: Prepare Data
Step 4: Get approvals
Step 5: Publish!
But…
Nervousness about risk
On-going dialogue on open licence
Only non-contentious, ‘easy’ data published so far – need to determine data value

12. Where We Are Today: Use of Open Data
Two days after the Open Data catalogue was launched, a data journalist used Ontario data to inform citizens on the quality of drinking water by analysing and overlaying the data on Google maps.

13. Challenge: Assuring Value
Currently available data sets are non contentious and have been used, but…
Demand for government open data is focused on economy, demographics, and employment*
Local consultations to identify and support local demand
Engaging data community (researchers, computer developers) to identify high-value datasets
Initial feedback indicates high demand for environment, health, transportation and education data.
* Research by Deloitte on the UK Open Data catalogue

14. Challenge: Common Licence

15. Challenges and Mitigation Strategies
Publishing challenges (data accuracy, privacy, security)
Mitigation: Ontario data sets are assessed by each ministry and centrally to ensure they do not undermine privacy, security, copyright or government credibility and that they uphold commonly accepted standards for data quality
Common Open Government licence
Mitigation: Ontario working with the Federal government, Alberta and British Columbia to reach an agreement on a common national licence template
Risk of ‘harm’ (data used for nefarious purposes)
Mitigation: Addition of “no harm” clause as part of licence; mandatory acceptance of ‘Terms of Use’

16. Program Status Phase 1 Phase 2 April 2012 November 2012 December 2012
Develop Supporting Materials & Process
Open Data Publishing Guidebook
Develop Open Data License
New Open Data Terms of Use
Launch Open Data Catalogue
63 datasets
Phase 1
Consult Internal & External Stakeholders
High-value datasets identified
Internal advisory committee and community of practice
Publish High-Value Content
~ 200 high-value datasets from multiple ministries
Evolve Platform/ Catalogue Functionality
Data visualizations and web-mapping functions
Common National Licence Template
December 2012
Spring 2013
Phase 2 16

17. What’s Next: Addressing Challenges
Additional functionality, including search and data visualization
Updated Policies to support a culture shift towards a “share first” philosophy
New Partnerships across sectors (government, academia, business)

18. Open Data in the Province of Ontario, Canada
Bahrain International eGovernment Forum
Samantha Liscio Corporate Chief Strategist Government of Ontario, Canada
@sliscio