Independent review calls for better access to public sector information
This morning sees the release of The Power of Information, an independent review, commissioned by Hilary Armstrong MP at the Cabinet Office, into “state- and citizen-generated information”. The report, authored by Tom Steinberg (MySociety) and Ed Mayo (National Consumer Council), calls for the government to thoroughly examine the economic case for keeping some public sector information locked into trading funds (like the Ordnance Survey).
The review recognises that the money generated from trading funds selling on public sector information is tiny compared to the wider value of public sector information to the economy as a whole. Moreover, the reivew suggests that citizens, communities and NGOs would benefit if all public sector information was made available in open formats under licenses that allow innovative re-purpose and reuse.
The Government will respond to the review “in due course”. Let’s hope they see the wisdom in its call for a beginning of evidence-based policy in this area.
June 7th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Link?
June 7th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Sorry, had no access to the Internet this morning:
http://steiny.typepad.com/premise/2007/06/the_power_of_in.html
ta ta,
Tom
July 30th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Access to public information? Like births, deaths and marriages? I wanted to begin research into my family history and found I needed expensive “vouchers” so to do. OK.
Ten pounds poorer and with no improvement in my knowledge of publicly-recorded data on my family I gave up. I’m too poor to play this game of enriching yet another money-grubbers’ “agency”.
Debarring me financially from access to history? No wonder Thatcher and her kids are still grinning …
Don Williams
July 30th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Hi Don
You might be interested in the award-winning website FreeBMD:
“FreeBMD is an ongoing project, the aim of which is to transcribe the Civil Registration index of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales, and to provide free Internet access to the transcribed records.”
It lives at http://www.freebmd.org.uk/