The document summarizes issues with how most governments produce and share information. It is often inaccessible, produced in outdated and proprietary formats like PDFs and stored on old systems. Information is designed for other government insiders rather than citizens, and contractors have little incentive to publish in open formats. The document proposes using Akoma Ntoso, an XML-based standard used in other countries to structure legislative information. This would allow information to be more easily shared, exported to new technologies, and accessible in the future. It provides an example of how a bill could be marked up using Akoma Ntoso.

2. 8-9 hours /day in a hot With voracious
classroom mosquitos.

3. Inaccessible Information It hurts everybody.

4. How (most) government information is
produced & shared:
W
W
W
Word Websites
Really complicated,
W W expensive,
W old systems
PDF’s
Storage
Sites
Email
W
HTML
sharing
W
proprietary
Various Formats
format
Citizens
Gov Offices
Governments Internal Partners

5. Usability #Fail
Never thought to design information for citizens’ use.
Document Management
Documents are preferred to be in image formats
instead of searchable formats (computer readable
information).
Contractor Dependency
Little incentive for contractors to publish in computer-
readable format. Government IT staff made scarce.
1st Photo by Gwen's River City Images

6. Libraries for Librarians
Information designed for & by those who use it
professionally.
Information Anachronism
Information remaining in late ’90’s technology. PDFs,
html, scanned images of documents. ‘70’s tech of
microfiche.
Pay-to-Play
You want access? That’ll cost ‘ya.
Photos by: Gwen's River City Images, DaveSag,

7. Governments
have other
options.

8. Akoma Ntoso
• UN-backed standard
format for legislative info
• XML-based
• Naming standards
• Ontologies for metadata
• Used in EU, UN, Africa,
Italy, other countries

9. Akoma Ntoso
• Systemized design in
XML, semantic markups
• Sharing is easy
• Allows for versions
• Exportable into new
technologies
• Easily deployable

10. Think of the Future
• What will we use for
documents?
• How will we interact
with government?
• We may not be able to
access our current laws.
• We’ll be more
interdependent.

11. Akoma Ntoso in Action
<akomantoso xmlns="http://www.akomantoso.org/1.0">
<bill>
<meta>
METADATA ELEMENTS HERE
</meta>
<preface>
TEXT HERE
</preface>
<preamble>
TEXT HERE
</preamble>
<clauses>
HIERARCHY OF PARTS HERE
</clauses>
<attachments>
REFERENCES HERE
</attachments>
</bill>
</akomantoso>

12. Akoma Ntoso in Action
<chapter id="chap02">
<num>CHAPTER 2</num>
<title>TRADITIONAL COMMUNITIES AND TRADITIONAL
COUNCILS</title>
<article id="art02">
<num>2.</num>
<title>Recognition of traditional communities</title>
<clause id="art02-cla01">
<num>(1)</num>
<p>A community may be recognised as...</p>
</clause>
<clause id="art02-cla02">
<num>(2)</num>
<p>The Premier of a province may, ... </p>
</clause>
</article>
</chapter>

13. Sarah Schacht
Executive Director,
Knowledge As Power
director@
knowledgeaspower.org
@SarahSchacht on Twitter