Greater access to public data generating 'government revolution' - Deloitte report

Governments around the world are in a unique position to combine the vast amounts of research and data collected over the years with technology, the internet and social media to improve social services and public policy, according to the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu report Unlocking Government: How Data Transform Democracy.

According to the report, government organisations are embracing the idea that public data, such as government officials' expenses, patent information, crime statistics and health inspections, should be broadly and easily available in a "reusable" format to all citizens, leading to greater collaboration between government and the community.

"The revolution taking place is a result of the unprecedented advances in social media and technology," said Greg Pellegrino, DTT global public sector industry leader. "The old adage that information is power is even truer today. Greater access to information leads to stronger decisions, greater and lasting change, and more effective solutions."

As outlined in the report, governments that previously focused on improving public reporting of financial information for more transparency and accountability have now expanded their mandate to the release of raw transaction data, representing a fundamentally new form of openness.

The report also explores how governments are evolving from data publishers to platform developers, making information more open, innovative, responsive and smarter.

In the end, citizens will see greater public value in the form of higher quality services, greater benefits and more effective business policy.

The report highlights that governments are using public data sources to provide information on many different aspects of a community, including real estate values, criminal activity and transportation resources, as well as creating applications that combine data from a variety of sources.

For example, the US Environmental Protection Agency gives users a snapshot of environmental conditions in their communities drawing on data from 12 different databases; and Denmark has created a National Health Portal that gives individuals and healthcare professionals a one-stop shop for health-related information and services. Citizens can use this site to access medical reports, check prescriptions and make appointments.

The report says that governments are turning to social networks to gain insight into the effectiveness of policies and programmes, take the pulse on public opinion, quickly obtain real-time feedback on policies, crowdsource ideas, and identify service delivery problems. For example, when members of a California city government decided they couldn't wait the 12-24 months it would take to hold community forums and elections to help solve their budget crisis, they developed a community feedback portal to implement a more immediate solution.

"Much of the power of public data is deep inside the transaction systems of governments," said Paul Macmillan, Deloitte Canada national public sector industry leader. "Governments have taken, and must continue to take, steps to adequately share this resource to increase their governing effectiveness."

The full study is available on www.deloitte.com/opengov.