Office of the Chief Information Officer SA submission
11 September 2015
Fiona,
I have circulated the letter and information about the issues paper to several of our communities across SA Government and to areas of our State CIO Office. I have summarised responses as follows:
General
The paper is a very useful resource for understanding the relationships between the various Australian Government publications and the responsibilities of the stakeholder agencies, as well as setting a valuable course for future development of an information policy framework. The espoused principles are consistent with the current move at all levels of government to acknowledge information as a valuable public asset and to be more open and consistent in the provision of public sector information.
Section 5 Developments in Other Jurisdictions
Have overlooked Government Information Licensing Framework [GILF] initiatives across the States, apart from Queensland who did the pioneering work - SA has made significant progress with implementation across Government agencies following Cabinet approval.
Good work is taking place with government information in South Australia and would like to see a greater recognition of this State within the scope of activities expressed in this document.
Section 8 - Draft Principles on Open PSI
General: The text supporting each of the principles provides a useful starting point as a practical checklist for implementation at the agency level within all jurisdictions.
Principle 1: specific reference to GILF/Creative Commons is warranted
Principle 7: emphasis could be made re addressing the particular needs of the disadvantaged in the community
Principle 1 + 8: possibility of confusion between these principles – Principle 1 states that access to information should be free, but principle 8 says that access to information should be charged appropriately. Does the ‘unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary’ disclaimer of principle 1 account for this? To what degree must a reason be compelling?
Principle 9: No mention is made of the GILF. It is not clear what an open access licence is. Need to explain what the GILF is, and how it has been endorsed by the Online and Communication Council. Recommend that all public sector information be licensed using the GILF, using the most appropriate licence for the information in question. In fact, emerging policy statements around the framework are directing information practitioners towards preference of the most open licence, CC-BY.
Principle 10: The engagement of community could be scoped in a broader framework. The potential for active community participation in the process of developing government information prior to publication, rather than just responding to that information once it has been published, should be included within this principle.
Other Comments
Implementation – will there be an expectation by Federal Government for the States or all levels of Government to adopt and apply the national principles (e.g. like the WCAG 2.0 Accessibility Guidelines)?
Funding for initiatives is always crucial to support the wider use of collections and information, especially in areas such as digitisation and information storage within the cultural sector of Government (History SA) .
If you would like further information or clarification of any of these points, please let me know.
