{"id":97840,"date":"2017-05-05T09:30:37","date_gmt":"2017-05-05T14:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ict-pulse.com\/?p=97840"},"modified":"2017-05-05T09:30:37","modified_gmt":"2017-05-05T14:30:37","slug":"snapshot-open-governments-2017-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2017\/05\/snapshot-open-governments-2017-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Snapshot: how open are our Governments? (2017 update)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A brief examination of the state of Open Government in the Caribbean, based on the results of the latest global study, published by Open Knowledge International<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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In this age, in which words like \u2018transparency\u2019 and \u2018accountability\u2019 \u2013 and more so the lack thereof \u2013 have resulted in the downfall of many companies and governments, there has been a concerted effort over the past 20 to 30 years for governments, in particular, to become more open. Although many governments have been making records available under freedom of information laws, technology and the digitisation of records have been making it easier to not only access, but also process, the sizeable datasets that governments tend to possess.. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Global Open Data Index (GODI) is an annual exercise, conducted by Open Knowledge International, to determine the extent to which countries worldwide have been publishing open government data. To be clear, \u201c<\/span>Open data and content can be freely used, modified, and shared by anyone for any purpose<\/span><\/i>\u201d (Source: \u00a0<\/span>Open Definition<\/span><\/a>). \u00a0Hence this principle would be at odds with the proprietary posture many Caribbean government ministries, departments and agencies frequently adopt when asked to provide or share material that should (in fact) \u00a0be publicly available.<\/span><\/p>\n

Methodology<\/span><\/h3>\n

For the 2016\/2017 GODI exercise, and according to the <\/span>Open Knowledge International website<\/span><\/a>, the openness of data for the following 15 categories was examined, each of which had to provide useful information to the public:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. Administrative Boundaries<\/li>\n
  2. Air Quality<\/li>\n
  3. Budget<\/li>\n
  4. Company Register<\/li>\n
  5. Draft Legislation<\/li>\n
  6. Election Results<\/li>\n
  7. Government Spending<\/li>\n
  8. Land Ownership<\/li>\n
  9. Locations<\/li>\n
  10. National Laws<\/li>\n
  11. National Maps<\/li>\n
  12. National Statistics<\/li>\n
  13. Procurement<\/li>\n
  14. Water Quality<\/li>\n
  15. Weather Forecast<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Further, for each category, the data published ought to have specific properties, or characteristics, which the survey would need to confirm. For example, and in order for government budget data to qualify for assessment, it must be online and include the following:<\/p>\n