The Victorian Parliament is conducting an Inquiry into Improving Access to Victorian Government Public Sector Information and Data.
Public submissions are invited from individuals, groups and organisations. Submissions close on Friday 22 August 2008.
The Inquiry has produced a 50-page Discussion Paper that explores some of the questions and issues to be addressed. In particular, they are considering:
- potential risks, costs and benefits of maximising the availability of Victorian Government information for commercial and/or non-commercial purposes
- whether the currently-available licensing models, such as Creative Commons, would be appropriate and useful for publishing government information
(I have paraphrased from the terms of reference. If you’re thinking of making a submission, you should read the Discussion Paper yourself — just in case I’ve misinterpreted something.)
We tackled some related questions in the Consultation Paper (February 2008) for the Information Futures Commission.
In November 2007 Nat Torkington pointed to some US and UK initiatives, including a campaign by The Guardian (newspaper) to Free Our Data — ie, to persuade the British Government to make public data publicly available.
What are the practicalities of doing such a thing? Geographic and demographic data are obvious candidates for this kind of public release: what other kinds of government information could be made available, and how might people use it?
Tags: open access, research data management, public data, Information Futures Commission, public policy
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