Introduction to open data for state and local US government. Describes open data activities in Chicago in 2012 leading up to Apps for Metro Chicago contest. Introduces groups working on open data.

1. Angry Birds’ View of Open Data
Stephen Newell
IBM Client Technical Advisor
US Public Sector
srnewel@us.ibm.com
Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Angry-Birds-in-Game-Play-1.jpg

2. What’s with the title?
Last month [January], I was talking to Colin and he used the phrase, “Angry Birds and Elephants.” Huh? He said it came
from a panel discussion where Nick Grossman called civic hackers the Angry Birds and legacy groups, like government,
data holders, and vendors, the elephants (aka Death Stars).
The Angry Birds aren’t angry but they are agile, active, restless, hip, and they want to tear down some walls.
You can’t take this analogy very far but using the term sure stops people and gets their attention.
(If you’re scratching your head wondering what’s an Angry Bird, look here.)
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3. First came the data
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4. It took new leaders with an agenda of transparency
“…a government that is transparent and accountable to its
residents is a more effective government."
-Toni Preckwinkile
President of Cook County Board
(took office 12/6/10)
“…the most open, accountable and
transparent government that the City of
Chicago has ever seen.”
-Rahm Emanuel
Mayor of Chicago
(took office 5/16/11)
“…opens the doors of state government to everyday citizens
and technology professionals alike in creating an
unprecedented level of transparency and access to
information."
- Pat Quinn
Governor of State of Illinois
(took office 1/29/09)
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5. Who appointed the staff
City of Chicago
CTO
CDO
Cook County
CIO
Director of Social Media
State of Illinois
CIO
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6. That created the platform
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7. To publish the data
Most accessed city data
• Police station information
• Fire station information
• TIF reports
• City employee salary information
• Building permits
• 311 service requests – vacant buildings
• CTA system information
• Crime data
• Neighborhood health clinics info
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8. As a step toward open data principles
1. Data Must Be Complete
All public data are made available. Data are electronically stored information or recordings, including but not
limited to documents, databases, transcripts, and audio/visual recordings. Public data are data that are not
subject to valid privacy, security or privilege limitations, as governed by other statutes.
2. Data Must Be Primary
Data are published as collected at the source, with the finest possible level of granularity, not in aggregate or
modified forms.
3. Data Must Be Timely
Data are made available as quickly as necessary to preserve the value of the data.
4. Data Must Be Accessible
Data are available to the widest range of users for the widest range of purposes.
5. Data Must Be Machine-processable
Data are reasonably structured to allow automated processing of it.
6. Access Must Be Non-Discriminatory
Data are available to anyone, with no requirement of registration.
7. Data Formats Must Be Non-Proprietary
Data are available in a format over which no entity has exclusive control.
8. Data Must Be License-free
Data are not subject to any copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret regulation. Reasonable privacy,
security and privilege restrictions may be allowed as governed by other statutes.
Finally, compliance must be reviewable.
A contact person must be designated to respond to people trying to use the data.
A contact person must be designated to respond to complaints about violations of the principles.
An administrative or judicial court must have the jurisdiction to review whether the agency has applied these
principles appropriately.
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From “Eight Principles of Open Government” from opengovdata.org

9. To improve government
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Image source: http://www.ascentstage.com/archives/2012/01/open-data-in-chicago/

10. Meanwhile the community formed
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11. Around an apps contest and cash prizes
Three rounds
• Transportation – deadline 8/15/11
• Community – 9/30/11
• Grand Challenge – 12/2/11
Cash prizes - $64,500 total
• $10,000 for Grand Challenge winner
• Top 5 in each round
• Additional categories
• Innovate Illinois – Illinois Science and Technology Consortium
• Green Opportunities – Delta Institute
• Placemaking – Metropolitan Planning Council
Sponsors
• MacArthur Foundation
• Motorola Mobility
• IBM Corporate Citizenship
• Delta Institute
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12. That brought together a diverse group of people
Researchers
Startups Journalists
Community
Developers
Groups
Government
Policy/Data
Businesses
Organizations
Universities Foundations
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Image source: http://science.psu.edu/alert/photos/miscphotos/SchusterMiller/elephant.jpg/view

13. With a different perspective
Curated data Operational data
G2C
C2G
C2C
G2G
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14. Groups
In a variety of settings
Hackathons / Hack Salons
Photo: John Tolva
Photo: Dan O’Neill
Award Ceremonies
Conferences
Photo: MPC
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15. That resulted in 70 apps with 10 winners in the final round
App Category Summary
SpotHero Transportation Find and sell parking spots
TrailBlaze Transportation Track biking routes
OwtSee Community Info on parks / events
Chicago Local Guide Community Info on events / promotions
MiParque Community Neighborhood redevelopment
FasPark Transportation Route with best chance for parking
allSchedules Transportation Bus / train / water taxi schedules
OkCopay Health Compare medical providers and prices
iFindIt Social Services Resources for low income and homeless
TaxiShare Transportation Share a cab
Why? Scratch an itch:
“$5,000 in parking tickets.”
“Met my wife sharing a cab.”
“Wanted to meet other female software developers and lead a team.”
“Build Yelp for the homeless.”
“Tell a story. Add context to the data.”
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16. Using open and free tools
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17. Along the way I got involved
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18. By working for a non-profit to build examples
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19. Back to the Chicago Angry Birds –
here’s one of the best
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20. They started with an app for the contest
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21. And just kept building more apps
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22. Then decided to disrupt software projects
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23. And are forming a non-profit to sustain their work
Allows grant funding by foundations
Hire experts
Work on government software development projects
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24. Beyond Chicago
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25. Code for America does projects
Improve government
A team of Fellows to solve complex issues with custom-built tech
Expanding with local Brigades to build a network
Chicago project starts in February
(and Austin, Detroit, Honolulu, Macon, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Santa Cruz)
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26. And wants to seize the moment
Government is ready for disruption
• Changing of the guard
• Fiscal crisis
• Huge market
New roles
• Inside – Technology Platform Evangelist
• Outside – Civic Hacker / Civic Startup
Opportunity
• Contractors based on open source and reuse
• New user interfaces for complex business processes: permitting, tax filing, 311 request
• Tools for civic engagement
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Adopted from “Civic Startups are the Next Disruption” by Jen Pahlka
Presentation at Future of Web Apps Conference 2011 in Las Vegas

27. Open Plans builds solutions
Creates open source
Plus helps open up data, provides technical assistance, reporting on issues
Focus on transit, GIS, K-12
And supports Urban Systems Collaborative
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28. And a community
Share technology
Civic Commons Marketplace
Build open platforms
Open311
Spread knowledge
Civic Commons Wiki
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29. They want to remake government
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30. Based on the concept of Government as a Platform
Lessons learned from the success of the computer platform:
• Open standards spark innovation and growth
• Build a simple system and let it evolve
• Design for participation
• Learn from your ‘hackers’
• Data mining allows you to harvest implicit participation [mostly about healthcare]
• Lower the barriers to experimentation
• Lead by example
Being a platform provider means government stripped down
to the essentials. A platform provider builds essential
infrastructure, creates core applications that demonstrate
the power of the platform and inspire outside developers to
push the platform even further, and enforces “rules of the
road” that ensure that applications work well together.
From “Government as a Platform” by Tim O’Reilly
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31. Using four layers
outside apps Non-platform apps
City Guide
UX/UI
platform apps Bus Tracker
platform Systems
Transit system
government Equipment
GPS
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Adopted from “The Opportunity for Civic Startups” by Nick Grossman
Presentation at Web 2.0 Expo 2011 Conference

32. And four business models
Civic Startup Business Model Disruptive Opportunities Challenges
Be the platform builder Open source Procurement
Cloud / SaaS / IaaS Long sales cycles
Design Product vs service
Build on the platform Design Platform risk
Simplicity
Analytics
Play outside the lines Agility Finding a business model
Design
User-centered approach
Enterprise end-run* Employ users as sale force Tension between user- and enterprise-focus
* - empower users to be the enterprise change-makers with a compelling tool.
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From “The Opportunity for Civic Startups”
and “The Enterprise End-Run” by Nick Grossman

33. To cause a disruption
A major disruption in government software is possible
Based on free open source software (FOSS)
A stack for Government as a Platform can emerge
Along with a set of standard apps
Which may move inside the government enterprise as well
A common information model and standard APIs will fuel this
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34. Want to know more?
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35. Chicago data portal http://data.cityofchicago.org/
Cook County data portal http://datacatalog.cookcountyil.gov/
State of Illinois data portal http://data.illinois.gov/
Apps for Metro Chicago http://www.appsformetrochicago.com/
Chicago Lobbyists http://chicagolobbyists.org/
Vacant Building Finder http://chicagobuildings.org/
Look at Cook http://lookatcook.com/
Chicago TIF Projects http://derekeder.com/maps/chicago-tif/
Chicago Bike Crash Reports http://derekeder.com/maps/chicago-bike-crash-reports/
Details behind Chicago Lobbyists sites http://derekeder.com/
RFP response http://blog.chicagolobbyists.org/2011/12/15/our-response-to-chicagos-lobbyist-rfp/
Open City http://opencityapps.org/
Metro Chicago Open Data Examples http://metrochicagoopendataexamples.blogspot.com/2011/08/introduction.html
Code for America http://codeforamerica.org/
Civic Commons http://civiccommons.org/
Open Plans http://openplans.org/
Urban Systems Collaborative http://urbansystemscollaborative.org/wiki/Urban_Systems_Collaborative
Nick Grossman: The Opportunity for Civic Startups http://www.slideshare.net/nickgrossman/the-opportunity-for-civic-startups-long-web-20-expo
Nick Grossman: The Enterprise End-Run http://wrkng.net/2011/04/the-enterprise-end-run/
Jen Pahlka: Civic Startups are the Next Disruption http://codeforamerica.org/2011/07/21/jen-pahlka-on-the-next-disruption-civic-startups/
Tim O’Reilly: Government as a Platform http://ofps.oreilly.com/titles/9780596804350/defining_government_2_0_lessons_learned_.html#government
_as_a_platform
Eight principles of open government data http://www.opengovdata.org/home/8principles
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