Let me start by
saying that I am new to this “OpenGov”, “OpenData” business. The first time I
heard about it was a few weeks ago when a fellow Tunisian tweeple used the
hashtag #OpenGovTN in a tweet. I briefly
researched the topic then, and was immediately intrigued by this idea or “governing doctrine which holds that citizens
have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to
allow for effective public oversight” [Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_government]. Like many Tunisians who experienced decades of
information blackout –and often dis-information-, it wasn’t hard for me to get
interested and decide to join OpenGovTN, a group of 200+ other like-minded
people advocating an Open Government for
Tunisia.
This
initiative is still at the stage of “idea” today. Members of the Group are
getting to know each other, case studies in other countries are being discussed
and isolated actions are being initiated (e.g. an informal consultation on the
Internal Laws draft proposed by the National Constituting Assembly). The Group
activity has been significant to date and this only reflects the level of
enthusiasm of its members. However, it also calls for a “plan” that can
transform the “idea” into “reality”. The Group needs to set a clear vision and
objectives for this initiative and establish a clear governance.
In
this blog entry, I wanted to share my own initial thoughts on the above:
- An Open Government must allow for a two-way open and constructive dialogue between the Government and the People. The information must flow in both directions where the Government describes its strategies and ongoing activities and where the People can voice their opinions, raise their concerns, inform priority setting and express their satisfaction or non-satisfaction. Regular polling should be used for this purpose.
- The Open Government platform must be accessible by all Tunisians and should not be restricted to only those who have Internet access. Open source crowd-sourcing platforms such Ushahidi (www.ushahidi.com) present a tremendous opportunity to gather input and feedback via SMSs sent from the simplest mobile phones.
- The information exchanged must also be of good quality and intelligible. The Government and the People must establish a common language based on quantitative and qualitative indicators that are understood by all. E.g. when talking about poverty, more specific measures must be defined such as income thresholds, accessibility to food, shelter, healthcare, education and information…etc
- The platform should be flexible to cover as many issues as possible; however, in its initial phase it must be focused on the burning issues; those affecting the well being of individuals and communities.
- Access to information must be timely. Government activity typically follows a four stage process: (1) issue identification, (2) strategy development, (3) implementation of actions and (4) evaluation of results. The People must influence each stage.
- A particular attention must be given to the way information will be communicated to a variety of user groups. Effective communication will require mechanisms for data filtering, sharing and visualization. The use of succinct infographics and mapping though Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) are effective tools for this purpose.
- The group needs an official presence and could be set up as an NGO or a research institute.
- The Group’s governance could be made of (1) an advisory board of experts, (2) a framework committee to set and maintain the initiative’s vision and objectives and (3) working groups to tackle: content, technical infrastructure, outreach and operations.
Through this
initiative, we need to ensure that the flame that started the Tunisian
revolution keeps burning and that the tremendous energy and solidarity
displayed in theses early days is maintained and channeled in the most
pertinent and effective way to inform decision making in the new Republic.
