Open Data, Open Society
a research by Marco Fioretti for
the Laboratory of Economics and Management of
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa

Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net)
Laboratory of Economics and Management,Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
http://www.lem.sssup.it

September 2010, Paris
Open World Forum
Some rights reserved
Scope and focus of the project
Project financed through the DIME network (Dynamics of Institutions
and Markets in Europe, www.dime-eu.org) as part of DIME Work
Package 6.8, coordinated by Professor Giulio Bottazzi

Main focus: potential effects of local, open raw PSI (Public Sector
Information) on local institutions and businesses
Reasons for this choice
Small project (~4 man-months)
Local effects of local open PSI relatively less studied
Opening PSI at local level can give economics and
transparency benefits more quickly and with less
investments
Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net)
Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
http://www.lem.sssup.it

September 2010, Paris
Open World Forum
Some rights reserved

2
Deliverables and timetable of the project
Report on real nature of open raw PSI, its effects on local economy and
transparency, risks to take into account, guidelines for local Public
Administrations deciding if/how to open their PSI: finished, will be
online very soon!
Online Survey among all regional and cities administrations of EU-15
to find out which categories of PSI they have opened, in which formats
and under which licenses: will start in october 2010, be online for a a
few months

Final report analysing the results of the survey
More details at http://stop.zona-m.net/node/175

Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net)
Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
http://www.lem.sssup.it

September 2010, Paris
Open World Forum
Some rights reserved

3
Main conclusions in the first report
Effects of open PSI on (local) economy:
Selling access to PSI often not worth the effort
Opening PSI instead is confirmed to be very promising, even if
not quantifiable using traditional “business-case” based
approaches
and can create local jobs even outside hi-tech sectors, besides
bring many benefits to all citizens that use the services made
possible by opening the PSI

Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net)
Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
http://www.lem.sssup.it

September 2010, Paris
Open World Forum
Some rights reserved

4
Main conclusions in the first report (2)
Effects of open PSI on transparency in government, active democracy:
There is potential for delusion here

Unlike in economy, where opening PSI is enough to get benefits for
everybody, because it only takes ONE entrepreneur to start a business
using those data
Opening PSI achieves transparency only if coupled to:
(relatively easy to achieve)

Effective laws

(much harder to achieve)
MANY citizens interested in
personally using open PSI to make decisions (e.g. when
voting) and able to do it effectively!
Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net)
Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
http://www.lem.sssup.it

September 2010, Paris
Open World Forum
Some rights reserved

5
What next? The survey, of course!
Very simple structure: basically will only ask, for several
categories of PSI (geographic, budgets, real estate, local
transportation...):
City or region
Do you already publish online these raw data?
In which format?
Under which license? (All rights reserved, Creative
Commons, Open Database license...)

Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net)
Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
http://www.lem.sssup.it

September 2010, Paris
Open World Forum
Some rights reserved

6
Conclusion

Please help to spread the invitation to
participate in the survey as much as
possible across EU!

To know how, or to know more about the project, please write to

Marco Fioretti, marco@digifreedom.net

Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net)
Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
http://www.lem.sssup.it

September 2010, Paris
Open World Forum
Some rights reserved

7

Open Data, Open Society

  • 1.
    Open Data, OpenSociety a research by Marco Fioretti for the Laboratory of Economics and Management of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net) Laboratory of Economics and Management,Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa http://www.lem.sssup.it September 2010, Paris Open World Forum Some rights reserved
  • 2.
    Scope and focusof the project Project financed through the DIME network (Dynamics of Institutions and Markets in Europe, www.dime-eu.org) as part of DIME Work Package 6.8, coordinated by Professor Giulio Bottazzi Main focus: potential effects of local, open raw PSI (Public Sector Information) on local institutions and businesses Reasons for this choice Small project (~4 man-months) Local effects of local open PSI relatively less studied Opening PSI at local level can give economics and transparency benefits more quickly and with less investments Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net) Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa http://www.lem.sssup.it September 2010, Paris Open World Forum Some rights reserved 2
  • 3.
    Deliverables and timetableof the project Report on real nature of open raw PSI, its effects on local economy and transparency, risks to take into account, guidelines for local Public Administrations deciding if/how to open their PSI: finished, will be online very soon! Online Survey among all regional and cities administrations of EU-15 to find out which categories of PSI they have opened, in which formats and under which licenses: will start in october 2010, be online for a a few months Final report analysing the results of the survey More details at http://stop.zona-m.net/node/175 Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net) Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa http://www.lem.sssup.it September 2010, Paris Open World Forum Some rights reserved 3
  • 4.
    Main conclusions inthe first report Effects of open PSI on (local) economy: Selling access to PSI often not worth the effort Opening PSI instead is confirmed to be very promising, even if not quantifiable using traditional “business-case” based approaches and can create local jobs even outside hi-tech sectors, besides bring many benefits to all citizens that use the services made possible by opening the PSI Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net) Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa http://www.lem.sssup.it September 2010, Paris Open World Forum Some rights reserved 4
  • 5.
    Main conclusions inthe first report (2) Effects of open PSI on transparency in government, active democracy: There is potential for delusion here Unlike in economy, where opening PSI is enough to get benefits for everybody, because it only takes ONE entrepreneur to start a business using those data Opening PSI achieves transparency only if coupled to: (relatively easy to achieve) Effective laws (much harder to achieve) MANY citizens interested in personally using open PSI to make decisions (e.g. when voting) and able to do it effectively! Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net) Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa http://www.lem.sssup.it September 2010, Paris Open World Forum Some rights reserved 5
  • 6.
    What next? Thesurvey, of course! Very simple structure: basically will only ask, for several categories of PSI (geographic, budgets, real estate, local transportation...): City or region Do you already publish online these raw data? In which format? Under which license? (All rights reserved, Creative Commons, Open Database license...) Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net) Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa http://www.lem.sssup.it September 2010, Paris Open World Forum Some rights reserved 6
  • 7.
    Conclusion Please help tospread the invitation to participate in the survey as much as possible across EU! To know how, or to know more about the project, please write to Marco Fioretti, marco@digifreedom.net Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net) Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa http://www.lem.sssup.it September 2010, Paris Open World Forum Some rights reserved 7