Updating Victoria’s Open Data Policy
Victoria has had an open data policy since 2012. We had 188 responses to our recent consultation on our update. The feedback reflects the increasingly complex nature of open data in government.
How did open data begin?
Openness as a way to bring about public sector efficiency, transparency, and contribution to economic growth started to become a priority for governments around the world on the 21st of January 2009.
That was the day Barack Obama was inaugurated as US President, and the day his administration delivered its memorandum of “Transparency and Open Government”.
At around the same time in 2010, the beta version of data.vic was launched to support the “App my State” competition which called for developers to create new applications for the Victorian Government.
Leading the pack
Victoria’s open data portal went live before open data policy and legislation. Its first open data policy was launched in 2012, administered by the Department of Treasury and Finance.
Its guiding principles were:
- data would be open by default unless restricted for reasons of privacy, public safety, security and law enforcement, public health, and compliance with the law
- data would be flexibly licensed
- government data would be made available for no or minimal cost to the user
- data would be easily accessible and provided in a format that promoted re-use and enabled processing by machines
- standards and guidelines relating to release would be followed and data releasing agencies would be accountable for what they publish
Over the 8 years since the policy was established, IT infrastructure, data ecosystems and the data skills of public servants have become more complex.
At the same time, many of the early-adopting governments have faced a number of challenges. These include maintaining a commitment to open data publishing quotas, and demonstrating the proactive release of data leads to better policy outcomes or stimulates economic development.
To ensure the policy settings are pointing in the right direction, public engagement is essential. Our public consultation on the policy was open during December 2019 and January 2020. We received over 100 responses.
What we heard
Although respondents were in support of the revised policy overall, we identified a range of concerns that will be factored into revisions.
We will update the policy and its implementation guidelines, the incorporation of new features into our open data portal and prioritise future data releases.
Through the consultation, we heard a range of views on what a fit-for-purpose open data policy should include. Most of this feedback fell into the following themes:
- The relationship between the purpose of having an “open by default” position on data and the perceived outcomes of the policy.
- The frequency with which the policy would be reviewed, updated and reported on.
- Clearly defining data sharing between government departments and the release data into the public domain under principles of “openness” as separate functions.
- Providing guidance on licensing and cost-recovery for releasing enriched data.
- Balancing the risks of data release against the responsibility to share it with those wanting to use it.
What’s next
We will be working closely with the Victorian Centre for Data Insights to finalise the policy and implementation guidelines.
Reporting back on the public consultation is scheduled for April 2020.
We will be working with departments across the VPS over the coming months on planning future open data initiatives in line with the revised policy.
We’ll be sharing our plans through the Data insights community of practice on the Innovation Network.
