Presentation by Chris Taggart and Emer Coleman given at City Camp London, October 8, 2010.

1. Can open data save the
public realm?

2. Chris Taggart
• Developer of OpenlyLocal,
opening up local government
information (whether they
like it or not)
• Developer of OpenCharities,
an open version of the
Register of Charities
• Member of Local Public
Data Panel
• Member of London Digital
Advisory Board
2

3. Emer Coleman
• Director of Digital
Projects Greater London
Authority
• London Datastore
• TFL data
• WIFI London
• Crime & Health data next
3

4. Can open data save the
public realm?

5. No

6. No
The End

7. Can open data help
save the public realm?

8. Can open data help
save the public realm?
aka: opening up the black box of
government to keep it relevant

9. What’s the problem
with government?
7

10. http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/art/big-images/
It’s a black box. You can't see
the workings, still less understand them

11. It cares about process.
People care about results

12. It's a complex system that’s
failing under today’s demands
http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielproulx/3594842434/

13. It’s obsessed with ‘scoping’ everything
out, resulting in inflexible, unsuitable,
unexplainable & unworkable plans

14. It doesn’t understand failure

15. It doesn’t understand failure
2. 8m
£
But failure is how things evolve

16. Always looking for the silver bullet
(but there are no silver bullets)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eschipul/4160817135/

17. But the problem for the future is...

18. But the problem for the future is...
Government is
becoming less powerful,
less relevant

19. But the problem for the future is...
Government is
becoming less powerful,
less relevant
and with it the public sector

20. Facebook vs the British govt
Who has more power?
15

21. Tesco vs any council:
who decides whether a new store
should be built
16

22. BP vs Rest of the World
In which country is it
really based?

23. How do you get things improved?
The ‘proper channels’ vs Twitter/Facebook/
hyperlocal blog
18

24. So what’s it really all about...

25. So what’s it really all about...
It's the network,
stupid

26. So what’s it really all about...
It's the network,
stupid
It always has been

27. The network then..

28. http://www.flickr.com/photos/psychemedia/5029872394/sizes/l/in/photostream/

29. http://www.flickr.com/photos/10727183@N07/2497817756
22

31. The network now

32. http://www.flickr.com/photos/psychemedia/5029872394/sizes/l/in/photostream/
25

33. http://www.flickr.com/photos/thusihaveseen/2200266653/sizes/o/in/photostream/

34. 27
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdlasica/506378526

35. What defines their network?

36. Slow

37. Closed

38. Has difficulty evolving
http://www.flickr.com/photos/86624586@N00/112835575/sizes/l/in/photostream/

39. Predicated
on scarcity of
connections
32

40. Geographically
rooted
33

41. ...and our network?
34

42. Fast
35
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shindotv/2550829907/sizes/l/in/photostream/

43. Promiscuous
36
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pokpok/114311823/

44. Next to zero cost of connecting
37
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimpurbrick/1287419645

45. http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/flickr-2397881577-original.jpg
formed in a second,
critical mass in a day

46. But...

47. ...geography still matters
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cayusa/3338803775/lightbox/

48. ...and who will clean our streets in
the Facebook world
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brabantbekijken/3838710109

49. ..and how will we have a say in
how it’s done
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grievousangel/140482370/size
42

50. ...and who would bother to vote
for something that is powerless
and irrelevant
43

51. ...and by the way, outsourcing
services is currently just a black
box talking to other black boxes
Government
Mega Big Monolithic
Service Co Solutions Co Processes Co

52. so...
Open data

53. opens up the box
and in the process...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcarlbom/4381005273/

54. ...allows rich, complex
connections, approaches
Opposite to one size fits all

55. through, learning from both
...allows failures & successes to shine
Original photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippie/2742566760/sizes/o/in/photostream/

56. ...encourages complex dynamic
networks, not sterile hierarchical
organisations

57. ...encourages complex dynamic
networks, not sterile hierarchical
organisations

58. Has the potential to make it
trivially easy to get involved
aka Big Society™

59. Makes government accountable
and makes all of us responsible

60. So, open data is a silver bullet
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eschipul/4160817135/

61. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eschipul/4160817135/
So, open data is a silver bullet
WRONG! There are no silver bullets

62. But it does give the public realm
a chance to stay relevant

63. In brief
• the rewards of failure
• there are no silver bullets
• open data is not just about data
• government as a platform vs
government as an irrelevance