[Aust-NZ] Moves to free Australian Public Sector Information

[Cameron Shorter]

Rob,
The source report is primarily about open data with a few comments about 
open source which I have highlighted.

Open Data and Open Source are two different, but complementary issues, 
and supports of one tend to be sympathisers for both.

Rob Atkinson wrote:
> This post purports to be about information, but the content is about software.
>
> I think we are confusing two separate issues.  (although its arguable
> that availability of software is an enabler for open information).
>
> The best driver for uptake of open source will be available data. But
> we wont get the data till we have the technology established in the
> mindset - much like the current standard of online access to
> government services was kick started by the WWW technology).
>
> I'll be going to FOSS4G with an eye to keeping tabs on how close we
> are to being able to drive the debate effectively. At the moment
> Google and other online mapping drive much thinking through provision
> of base mapping.  What should we focus on?
>
> Rob Atkinson
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 10:12 AM, Cameron
> Shorter<cameron.shorter at lisasoft.com> wrote:
>   
>> http://cameronshorter.blogspot.com/2009/06/moves-to-free-australian-public-sector.html
>>
>> The Victorian Parliament’s Economic Development and Infrastructure Committee
>> (“EDIC”) has released a report recommending the freeing of access to Public
>> Sector Information. Bruce Bannerman and I tabled an OSGeo
>> <http://osgeo.org/> submission for this report, as did a number of other
>> enlightened organisations.
>> Anne Fitzgerald summarises the situation well, (note that Anne has submitted
>> an abstract about Open Data for the FOSS4G <http://2009.foss4g.org/>
>> conference):
>>
>>   I, Brian Fitzgerald and other research collaborators (including
>>   those working within the Queensland Treasury’s Office of Economic
>>   and Statistical Research) made verbal and written submissions, which
>>   are extensively referred to with approval by the committee
>>   throughout its report. This is a very important report, as it is the
>>   first in Australia to consider in depth the issue of access to
>>   Public Sector Information, and is likely to provide the template for
>>   work by the Federal and other [Australian] State/Territory
>>   governments. The report recommends that the Victorian Government
>>   should establish an Information Management Framework, with open
>>   access to Government information at no or marginal cost as the
>>   default position.
>>
>> Donna Benjamin noted on the Open Source Industries Australia email list some
>> of the Open Source highlights:
>>
>>   Recommendation 42: That the Victorian Government require, as part of
>>   its whole-of-government ICT Procurement Policy, that software
>>   procured by the Government be capable of saving files in open
>>   standard formats, and that wherever possible, the software be
>>   configured to save in open standard formats by default.
>>
>>   Recommendation 43: That the Victorian Government ensure when
>>   preparing guidance for procurement, ICT personnel should be equally
>>   aware of the strengths and weaknesses of both OSS and proprietary
>>   software.
>>
>>   Recommendation 44: That the Victorian Government fully evaluate the
>>   Victorian Department of Justice open source software (OSS)
>>   workstation trial to assess the potential for wider use of OSS in
>>   Victorian public service workstations.
>>
>>   Recommendation 45: That the Victorian Government examine its policy
>>   for ICT Procurement to ensure that it continues to assist the
>>   Victorian ICT industry.
>>
>>   Recommendation 46: That the Victorian Government ensure where
>>   appropriate that tenders are neither licence specific nor have
>>   proprietary software-specific requirements; and meet the given
>>   objectives of Government.
>>
>>
>> For further information, read the press release at:
>> http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/edic/inquiries/access_to_PSI/PSI_Inquiry_Media_Release.pdf
>> The report itself is at
>> http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/edic/inquiries/access_to_PSI/final_report.html
>>
>> --
>> Cameron Shorter
>> Geospatial Systems Architect
>> Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
>> Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
>>
>> Think Globally, Fix Locally
>> Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
>> http://www.lisasoft.com
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Aust-NZ mailing list
>> Aust-NZ at lists.osgeo.org
>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/aust-nz
>>
>>     


-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Systems Architect
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

Think Globally, Fix Locally
Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
http://www.lisasoft.com