OPENING UP LOCAL GOVERNMENT
INFORMATION
A presentation to the
Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI)
September 17, 2009
by Chris Taggart, OpenlyLocal.com

WHY OPEN UP LOCAL
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION?

WHY OPEN UP LOCAL
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION?
• Local is becoming more important All three main parties plan to
devolve power to local authorities, with a consequent increase in focus
on their workings and quality of service

WHY OPEN UP LOCAL
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION?
• Local is becoming more important All three main parties plan to
devolve power to local authorities, with a consequent increase in focus
on their workings and quality of service
• Democracy requires transparency The expenses scandal has reduced
trust in elected representatives, leading to greater demands for
transparency. Local government in many ways is worse than central
government, being poorly understood and fairly opaque, with much basic
democratic data (e.g. voting records) simply not available

WHY OPEN UP LOCAL
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION?
• Local is becoming more important All three main parties plan to
devolve power to local authorities, with a consequent increase in focus
on their workings and quality of service
• Democracy requires transparency The expenses scandal has reduced
trust in elected representatives, leading to greater demands for
transparency. Local government in many ways is worse than central
government, being poorly understood and fairly opaque, with much basic
democratic data (e.g. voting records) simply not available
• It’s our data, we have a right to it Expectations have increased about
access to data, through the FoI Act, OPSI & APPSI’s work, and sites such as
TheyWorkForYou and data.gov

WHY OPEN UP LOCAL
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION?

WHY OPEN UP LOCAL
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION?
• Local media are dying This will increase the disconnect between the
public (when they do bother to vote – local elections are generally poorly
attended, and votes often cast on national lines) and the people they elect

WHY OPEN UP LOCAL
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION?
• Local media are dying This will increase the disconnect between the
public (when they do bother to vote – local elections are generally poorly
attended, and votes often cast on national lines) and the people they elect
• The goalposts of an ‘acceptable website’ are moving As the internet is
ever more a part of our lives, and commercial websites increase in quality,
experience and functionality, our patience for messy, difficult-to-use, poorly
structured local-authority websites is diminishing fast

WHY OPEN UP LOCAL
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION?
• Local media are dying This will increase the disconnect between the
public (when they do bother to vote – local elections are generally poorly
attended, and votes often cast on national lines) and the people they elect
• The goalposts of an ‘acceptable website’ are moving As the internet is
ever more a part of our lives, and commercial websites increase in quality,
experience and functionality, our patience for messy, difficult-to-use, poorly
structured local-authority websites is diminishing fast
• Local budgets are going to be tightened and services cut This will
increase tensions if it is not done openly and with the involvement of
the community

WHY OPEN UP LOCAL
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION?
• Local media are dying This will increase the disconnect between the
public (when they do bother to vote – local elections are generally poorly
attended, and votes often cast on national lines) and the people they elect
• The goalposts of an ‘acceptable website’ are moving As the internet is
ever more a part of our lives, and commercial websites increase in quality,
experience and functionality, our patience for messy, difficult-to-use, poorly
structured local-authority websites is diminishing fast
• Local budgets are going to be tightened and services cut This will
increase tensions if it is not done openly and with the involvement of
the community
• Open access to raw information leads to innovation and added value

BUT DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT

BUT DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT
“From the performance of a local school to the most recent statistics on
crime we need to make sure that people have the facts they need to
make informed choices and hold public services to account.”
Tessa Jowell MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office, June 2009

BUT DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT
“From the performance of a local school to the most recent statistics on
crime we need to make sure that people have the facts they need to
make informed choices and hold public services to account.”
Tessa Jowell MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office, June 2009
“The founding principle of local government is that citizens have the right
to influence the decisions that affect their lives and their communities.
There is a large and untapped pool of people who would like more say in
what happens in their area”
Department of Communities and Local Government,
Strengthening Local Democracy Consultation, July 2009

BUT DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT
“From the performance of a local school to the most recent statistics on
crime we need to make sure that people have the facts they need to
make informed choices and hold public services to account.”
Tessa Jowell MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office, June 2009
“The founding principle of local government is that citizens have the right
to influence the decisions that affect their lives and their communities.
There is a large and untapped pool of people who would like more say in
what happens in their area”
Department of Communities and Local Government,
Strengthening Local Democracy Consultation, July 2009
“Because [councils] all present... information differently, it’s impossible for
the public, charities or private companies to effectively collate this data,
compare and contrast [their] performance and hold [them] to account.
David Cameron, Feb 2008

BUT DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT

BUT DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT
“Increasing citizen awareness of government functions to enable greater
accountability; contributing valuable information about the world; enabling
the government, the country, and the world to function more efficiently.”
“Whatever else, the raw data should be made available as soon as
possible... As a lower priority, nice user interfaces should be made to it - if
interested communities outside government have not already done it”
Tim Berners-Lee, Putting Government Data Online, June 2009

BUT DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT
“Increasing citizen awareness of government functions to enable greater
accountability; contributing valuable information about the world; enabling
the government, the country, and the world to function more efficiently.”
“Whatever else, the raw data should be made available as soon as
possible... As a lower priority, nice user interfaces should be made to it - if
interested communities outside government have not already done it”
Tim Berners-Lee, Putting Government Data Online, June 2009
“Local Government forms possibly the largest conduit of citizen centric
governance within the UK where ‘policy directives’ impact directly on the
local electorate... Local Government as a sector needs to be seen as an
active participant and partner in the process.”
APPSI’s response to Power of Information Task Force Report

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE DREAM
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmcl/50806774

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE DREAM
• A rich universe of local and hyperlocal
sites generating awareness of and
involvement with the community
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmcl/50806774

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE DREAM
• A rich universe of local and hyperlocal
sites generating awareness of and
involvement with the community
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmcl/50806774

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE DREAM
• A rich universe of local and hyperlocal
sites generating awareness of and
involvement with the community
• Local data becomes part of the linked
data universe bringing myriad benefits
or shared knowledge, increased
efficiency and greater transparency
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmcl/50806774

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE DREAM
• A rich universe of local and hyperlocal
sites generating awareness of and
involvement with the community
• Local data becomes part of the linked
data universe bringing myriad benefits
or shared knowledge, increased
efficiency and greater transparency
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmcl/50806774

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE DREAM
• A rich universe of local and hyperlocal
sites generating awareness of and
involvement with the community
• Local data becomes part of the linked
data universe bringing myriad benefits
or shared knowledge, increased
efficiency and greater transparency
• A renewed public relationship with
local authorities which reassert their
position at the heart of their
community
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmcl/50806774

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE DREAM
• A rich universe of local and hyperlocal
sites generating awareness of and
involvement with the community
• Local data becomes part of the linked
data universe bringing myriad benefits
or shared knowledge, increased
efficiency and greater transparency
• A renewed public relationship with
local authorities which reassert their
position at the heart of their
community
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmcl/50806774

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE REALITY

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE REALITY
• Council websites – as far as reuse of data
goes – are largely basic, verging on hopeless

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE REALITY
• Council websites – as far as reuse of data
goes – are largely basic, verging on hopeless

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE REALITY
• Council websites – as far as reuse of data
goes – are largely basic, verging on hopeless
• Many local councils, even large, well-funded
ones, have little awareness of the issues and
commission websites that actively prevent
access to the data and underlying structure

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE REALITY
• Council websites – as far as reuse of data
goes – are largely basic, verging on hopeless
• Many local councils, even large, well-funded
ones, have little awareness of the issues and http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?
commission websites that actively prevent c=Page&childpagename=Member-Services
%2FPageLayout&cid=1223092734434&pagename
access to the data and underlying structure =BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FWrapper

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE REALITY
• Council websites – as far as reuse of data
goes – are largely basic, verging on hopeless
• Many local councils, even large, well-funded
ones, have little awareness of the issues and http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?
commission websites that actively prevent c=Page&childpagename=Member-Services
%2FPageLayout&cid=1223092734434&pagename
access to the data and underlying structure =BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FWrapper
• Councils guard their territories fiercely
and many have not even embraced
Freedom of Information, let alone
considered opening up their raw data

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE REALITY
• Council websites – as far as reuse of data
goes – are largely basic, verging on hopeless
• Many local councils, even large, well-funded
ones, have little awareness of the issues and http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?
commission websites that actively prevent c=Page&childpagename=Member-Services
%2FPageLayout&cid=1223092734434&pagename
access to the data and underlying structure =BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FWrapper
• Councils guard their territories fiercely
and many have not even embraced
Freedom of Information, let alone
considered opening up their raw data

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE REALITY
• Council websites – as far as reuse of data
goes – are largely basic, verging on hopeless
• Many local councils, even large, well-funded
ones, have little awareness of the issues and http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?
commission websites that actively prevent c=Page&childpagename=Member-Services
%2FPageLayout&cid=1223092734434&pagename
access to the data and underlying structure =BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FWrapper
• Councils guard their territories fiercely
and many have not even embraced
Freedom of Information, let alone
considered opening up their raw data
• Hyperlocal sites rarely have the technical
know-how to extract information from
their council website, and depend on a
huge investment in time from dedicated
individuals just to maintain basic information

LOCAL DATA FUTURE: THE REALITY
• Council websites – as far as reuse of data
goes – are largely basic, verging on hopeless
• Many local councils, even large, well-funded
ones, have little awareness of the issues and http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?
commission websites that actively prevent c=Page&childpagename=Member-Services
%2FPageLayout&cid=1223092734434&pagename
access to the data and underlying structure =BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FWrapper
• Councils guard their territories fiercely
and many have not even embraced
Freedom of Information, let alone
considered opening up their raw data
• Hyperlocal sites rarely have the technical
know-how to extract information from
their council website, and depend on a
huge investment in time from dedicated
individuals just to maintain basic information

ENTER OPENLYLOCAL.COM
Clean, bare, simple and easy-to-use

Scrapes Local Authority websites...
(basic info for all, scraped info for over 70 so far)

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Parses the rough and ready information...

...into structured data
(linking members to committees, wards, for example)

Matches up council data with other references (ONS SNAC
code, WhatDoTheyKnow id, Wikipedia url) and datasets from
central government and Guardian Datastore

• Makes the whole thing available in open form as...
an accessible web page (great for screenreaders)

Available as...
XML or JSON data

or as...
RDFa (linked data)

PLUS, WITH
OPENLYLOCAL
YOU CAN...

PLUS, WITH
OPENLYLOCAL
YOU CAN...
• Subscribe to meetings to
your online diary (iCal,
Outlook, Google Calendar)

PLUS, WITH
OPENLYLOCAL
YOU CAN...
• Subscribe to meetings to
your online diary (iCal,
Outlook, Google Calendar)

PLUS, WITH
OPENLYLOCAL
YOU CAN...
• Subscribe to meetings to
your online diary (iCal,
Outlook, Google Calendar)
• Filter minutes and agendas
by keyword

PLUS, WITH
OPENLYLOCAL
YOU CAN...
• Subscribe to meetings to
your online diary (iCal,
Outlook, Google Calendar)
• Filter minutes and agendas
by keyword

PLUS, WITH
OPENLYLOCAL
YOU CAN...
• Subscribe to meetings to
your online diary (iCal,
Outlook, Google Calendar)
• Filter minutes and agendas
by keyword
• Subscribe to RSS feed for
alerts when more
documents with that
keyword are added

PLUS, WITH
OPENLYLOCAL
YOU CAN...
• Subscribe to meetings to
your online diary (iCal,
Outlook, Google Calendar)
• Filter minutes and agendas
by keyword
• Subscribe to RSS feed for
alerts when more
documents with that
keyword are added

AND... Import the data into Google Spreadsheets, Yahoo
Pipes, or your own mashup

BUT...

BUT...
• Copyright is a BIG problem -- we would like to release the data under an
open license (e.g. OpenDatabase or Click-Use) but can’t, and could be
forced to remove data by “rights holders”

BUT...
• Copyright is a BIG problem -- we would like to release the data under an
open license (e.g. OpenDatabase or Click-Use) but can’t, and could be
forced to remove data by “rights holders”
• Some websites are so bad that the information is REALLY difficult to get
out (e.g. Birmingham), never mind adhering to best standards, and others
actively try to block access to the data (West Lothian)

BUT...
• Copyright is a BIG problem -- we would like to release the data under an
open license (e.g. OpenDatabase or Click-Use) but can’t, and could be
forced to remove data by “rights holders”
• Some websites are so bad that the information is REALLY difficult to get
out (e.g. Birmingham), never mind adhering to best standards, and others
actively try to block access to the data (West Lothian)
• Lack of core infrastructure data to tie things together (e.g. council/ward
boundaries), and also of unified IDs that are actually used by government

BUT...
• Copyright is a BIG problem -- we would like to release the data under an
open license (e.g. OpenDatabase or Click-Use) but can’t, and could be
forced to remove data by “rights holders”
• Some websites are so bad that the information is REALLY difficult to get
out (e.g. Birmingham), never mind adhering to best standards, and others
actively try to block access to the data (West Lothian)
• Lack of core infrastructure data to tie things together (e.g. council/ward
boundaries), and also of unified IDs that are actually used by government
• Much of the information just isn’t online (e.g. councillor voting records), or
is very patchy (election results)

BUT...
• Copyright is a BIG problem -- we would like to release the data under an
open license (e.g. OpenDatabase or Click-Use) but can’t, and could be
forced to remove data by “rights holders”
• Some websites are so bad that the information is REALLY difficult to get
out (e.g. Birmingham), never mind adhering to best standards, and others
actively try to block access to the data (West Lothian)
• Lack of core infrastructure data to tie things together (e.g. council/ward
boundaries), and also of unified IDs that are actually used by government
• Much of the information just isn’t online (e.g. councillor voting records), or
is very patchy (election results)
• Huge amounts of stuff is unnecessarily in PDF and Word docs -- it’s trivial
to turn structured data into a PDF; darned hard to do it the other way

WHAT DO WE NEED?
(AND BY WE I MEAN THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE)

WHAT DO WE NEED?
(AND BY WE I MEAN THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE)
• All local authority democratic data, data generated as part of its statutory
role, and data released as a result of a Freedom of Information request
must be reusable under an open licence (e.g. similar to Crown Copyright
Click Use Licence)

WHAT DO WE NEED?
(AND BY WE I MEAN THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE)
• All local authority democratic data, data generated as part of its statutory
role, and data released as a result of a Freedom of Information request
must be reusable under an open licence (e.g. similar to Crown Copyright
Click Use Licence)
• Basic infrastructure data to allow us (or anyone else) to tie things
together, especially geo data for Local Authority and Ward boundaries

WHAT DO WE NEED?
(AND BY WE I MEAN THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE)
• All local authority democratic data, data generated as part of its statutory
role, and data released as a result of a Freedom of Information request
must be reusable under an open licence (e.g. similar to Crown Copyright
Click Use Licence)
• Basic infrastructure data to allow us (or anyone else) to tie things
together, especially geo data for Local Authority and Ward boundaries
• Government Departments to use ONS SNAC ids (or some other
universal id) when publishing local data/stats

WHAT DO WE NEED?
(AND BY WE I MEAN THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE)
• All local authority democratic data, data generated as part of its statutory
role, and data released as a result of a Freedom of Information request
must be reusable under an open licence (e.g. similar to Crown Copyright
Click Use Licence)
• Basic infrastructure data to allow us (or anyone else) to tie things
together, especially geo data for Local Authority and Ward boundaries
• Government Departments to use ONS SNAC ids (or some other
universal id) when publishing local data/stats
• Simple, best-practice recommendations to Local Government to follow
re websites and open data (see Birmingham fiasco)

LINKS
• http://OpenlyLocal.com
• http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/GovData.html
• http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23bccwebsite