Open data in Germany – What happened since last October? IPSG-Meeting Dublin, April 2013

1. Open data in Germany – What happened since last October?IPSG-Meeting Dublin, April 2013 Jan-Ole Beyer Division O1“Administrative Organisation, Modernization Programmes“Federal Ministry of the Interior

2. What are we talking about? “A piece of data […] is open if anyone is free to use, reuse, and redistribute it — subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and/or share-alike.” (opendefinition.org) 2

3. What are we talking about? “[…] Open data, especially open government data, is a tremendous resource that is as yet largely untapped. Many individuals and organisations collect a broad range of different types of data in order to perform their tasks. Government is particularly significant in this respect, both because of the quantity and centrality of the data it collects […]” 3

4. Some reasons for open data (apart from definitions, programmes and strategy papers…) “Data and information are essential resources in an information society.” “You can give away your data now – and generate revenue and jobs…” imageofNeelieKroes:http://www.flickr.com/photos/15237218@N00/3276750802/(license: CC-BY-SA) 4

5. Determining factors in the administrative structure of Germany • Rule of law as basic prerequisite • Federal structure of public administration ( Autonomy of the different levels of administration) • Ministerial autonomy (Art. 65 Basic Law  Autonomy of the federal ministries) source: Wikipedia (C. Löser, D. Liuzzo) 5

6. Open data in a federal republic… Lower Saxony Hamburg That patchwork doesn‘t look very user-friendly… Bremen Berlin North Rhine-Westphalia …plus some platforms on municipal level… …plus some platforms for specific data… Bavaria Rhineland-Palatinate …plus some platforms on the federal level… 6 Baden-Wuerttemberg

7. Therefore: We need a cross-level open government data Platform! standardized policies for data usage  data licenses standardized meta data structures …cultural change… “One-stop-access” to Open Government Data across Germany (innovative) re-use of data 7

8. Measures and milestones – up to the present • Contest „Apps for Germany “ • Report „Open Government Data Germany“ on legal, technical and organizational issues • Cross-level meta data structure to describe data and exchange it between platforms • Recommendation for a German (Open) Data license • Prototype of a cross-level Open Government Data portal • lectures, workshops, articles, information material etc. for different target audiences 8

9. The result: The prototype of “GovData – The data portal for Germany” 9

10. Upcoming: The next steps… • Evaluation and enhancement of the prototype • Inclusion of new data providers • (Formal) standardization of the meta data structure, in consideration of international developments • Enhancement of the German Data License • Work on the organisational and financing model for the “production release” of GovData • Facilitate „data competence“ by developing educational/information material and training courses, with lectures, workshops, articles… 10

11. Lessons learned – up to now… There is a lot more than we know: Many things are already being tried out in individual projects. Include the experts! A lot more works than we can imagine: Technical and legal obstacles are in most cases lower than expected. 11

12. Lessons learned – up to now… There a lot of civil servants, whole municipalities etc. who are really interested in Open Data – and just don’t know how to start! Some advice and a few fundamental “standards” or recommendations help them to find their way. 12

13. Lessons learned – up to now… For all the others: The mindset and culture have to be changed for a comprehensive change. It’s a long way to go from the principle „Everything is secret, unless…“ to the principle “Everything is open, unless…“. 13

14. Questions?!