Professor Anne Fitzgerald Professor of Law Research, Queensland
University of Technology Law Faculty CODATA International
Conference: Open Data & Information for a Changing Planet 28-31
October 2012 Taipei 2012 Anne Fitzgerald. Licensed under Creative
Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia.Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Australia Slide 2 I love A sunburnt country A land of sweeping
plains Of ragged mountain ranges Of droughts and flooding rains. My
Country, Dorothea McKellar (1904) Uluru at sunset by Richard
Fisher, http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardfisher/3114503461/
Slide 3 Natural disasters as the tipping point for change in data
access and reuse Series of environmental events in eastern
Australia from 2006 to 2011 provided tipping points for the
adoption of new information access and reuse practices Adoption of
open content licensing (Creative Commons) as the default for
distribution of government copyright materials (least restrictive
licence, CC BY accepted as the default and widely used in practice)
Direct provision of raw data in open formats suitable for immediate
reuse in open platforms Use of social media to collect and
disseminate information Rapidly accepted as standard practice not
just short term and situation specific Cumulative effect Slide 4
OECD Recommendation on Access to and Reuse of PSI (2008) Openness
principle: Maximising the availability of public sector information
for use and re-use based upon presumption of openness as the
default rule to facilitate access and re-use. Developing a regime
of access principles or assuming openness in public sector
information as a default rule wherever possible no matter what the
model of funding is for the development and maintenance of the
information. Defining grounds of refusal or limitations, such as
for protection of national security interests, personal privacy,
preservation of private interests for example where protected by
copyright, or the application of national access legislation and
rules. Access and transparent conditions for re-use principle:
Encouraging broad non-discriminatory competitive access and
conditions for re-use of public sector information, eliminating
exclusive arrangements, and removing unnecessary restrictions on
the ways in which it can be accessed, used, re-used, combined or
shared, so that in principle all accessible information would be
open to re-use by all. Improving access to information over the
Internet and in electronic form. Making available and developing
automated on-line licensing systems covering re- use in those cases
where licensing is applied, taking into account the copyright
principle below. Slide 5 Towards an information policy From 2005 on
reviews of government information access and reuse practices
Queensland Government Information Licensing Framework (GILF) report
(2006) Cutler review (2008) Victorian Parliament review of access
to PSI (2009) Government 2.0 Taskforce (2009) Lawrence (Ordnance
Survey) reviews of spatial policy and practices (2011) reform of
Freedom of Information schemes introduction of RTI (right to
information) proactive disclosure principles and practices (2009
on) Slide 6 Review of the National Innovation System (Cutler
review) 2008 Information flow is a central part of the innovation
agenda The value of information/content is in its use/re-use Slide
7 Venturous Australia (Cutler report, 2008) Open gate by
chelmsfordblue (Nick) Australia should establish a National
Information Strategy to optimise the flow of information in the
Australian economy. The fundamental aim of a National Information
Strategy should be to: maximise the flow of government generated
information, research, and content for the benefit of users
(including private sector resellers of information). A specific
strategy for ensuring the scientific knowledge produced in
Australia is placed in machine searchable repositories be developed
and implemented using public funding agencies and universities as
drivers. Information, research and content funded by Australian
governments including national collections should be made freely
available over the internet as part of the global public commons,
to the maximum extent possible. Slide 8 Venturous Australia (Cutler
report, 2008) Recommendation 7.8 Australian governments should
adopt international standards of open publishing as far as
possible. Material released for public information by Australian
governments should be released under a creative commons licence.
Slide 9 Towards an information policy Vanessa Lawrence, DG and
Chief Executive of UK Ordnance Survey: Investigation into the
Spatial Capability of Australia - Final Report (October 2011)
Recommendation 14: A clear set of guidelines as to how data should
be collected, maintained and disseminated should be put in place
throughout the Australian public sector. Clear framework guidelines
should be drawn up in the following policy areas: an information
policy a spatial policy, which also could be known as a location
data policy a geospatial policy In addition, the current status of
national policy for data interoperability, data publishing and data
linking should be reviewed, taking into account similar
international initiatives such as the EU INSPIRE Directive and
Linked Data initiative. Recommendation accepted by the Federal
Government in 2012 2012 Anne Fitzgerald.. Slide 10 Cyclone Larry
Far North Queensland (March 2006) Adoption of open content
licensing (Creative Commons) as the default position for
distribution of government copyright materials Slide 11 Licence
logjams after Cyclone Larry Problem of access to data held by
different government departments (State/Federal) and
government-owned utility companies (power/gas) Governments
traditionally relied on Crown copyright to control access to
information (to restrict flow of information or to preserve
commercial rights) Survey of Queensland government departments
found that the majority of government business units did not use
any formal licensing For those that did, the legal frameworks
varied significantly - standard approaches were outdated - many
derivatives of licences Often, there was no licence, so
access/use/reuse rights are unknown high transaction cost of
negotiating new licences Where licences existed, terms were vague
or inconsistent No standard approach towards data access for users
Complexity for anyone outside dealing with multiple Potentially
more difficult for Gov agencies to deal with each other than to get
same information from outside Government Slide 12 Simplifying
information licensing How to overcome the George Street shuffle?
Strengthening commitment to ensuring that information would be
accessible and reusable across the public sector and utilities
Crown copyright in informational works should be managed so as to
enable (not prevent) access and reuse Government Information
Licensing Framework (GILF) project (QUT and Queensland Government)
proposed the application of Creative Commons licences to government
copyright materials permission for copying and distribution From
2007/2008 GILF proposals were taken up by major federal government
departments with location and geospatial data: Geoscience
Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Bureau of Meterology
Slide 13 AUSTRALIA Slide 14 Geoscience Australia DEM data Digital
Elevation Model (DEM), arranged in 3 grids: 1 second
(DEM,DEM-S,DEM-H), 3 second (DSM,DEM,DEM-S), and 9 second
(DSM,DEM,DEM-S) elevation data (see Geoscience Australia National
Elevation Data Framework Portal ) When first released in December
2010, the 3 second and 9 second data was provided under a CC BY
licence From December 2011, non-government users can order the 1
second (DEM,DEM-S,DEM-H), 3 second (DSM,DEM,DEM-S), and 9 second
(DSM,DEM,DEM- S) elevation data which are now all licensed under
Creative Commons (CC) BY 3.0 Australia. 2012 Anne Fitzgerald..
Slide 15 Geoscience Australia - Landsat 8 data New Landsat 8
satellite to be launched in early 2013 Upon full implementation,
which involves the deployment of major infrastructure upgrades by
GA, data will be beamed from Landsat 8 on a daily basis to
GA-operated ground stations in Alice Springs and Darwin. As soon as
possible after receipt and processing, GA will make the satellite
images publicly available free of charge. GA will make Landsat 8
satellite images available under a Creative Commons CC BY Australia
3.0 licence to facilitate legal reuse of the images.Creative
Commons CC BY Australia 3.0 licence Jeff Kingwell, Section Leader
of GAs National Earth Observation Group : Our experience is that
using the Creative Commons Attribution Licence which is the default
licence for GA information makes the data more useful and easier to
apply. For example, to help the Indonesian government to monitor
forest management, GA supplies Landsat data from a number of
foreign data archives. Since we can apply the same licence
conditions to each data source, the information is much more useful
and easier to share and reuse. 2012 Anne Fitzgerald.. Slide 16
AUSTRALIA Slide 17 Slide 18 Australian Government Attorney Generals
IP Manual (2012) Attorney Generals IP Manual makes it clear that
PSI should be released by default free of charge under a Creative
Commons Attribution (CC BY) Australian licence by default. (Chapter
9 - Sharing and Granting Public Access to IP) Agencies are now
required to make licensing decisions about whether to use Creative
Commons licences (or other open content licences) when publicly
releasing their PSI. Slide 19 Black Saturday Bushfires Victoria
(February 2009) Direct provision of raw data in open formats
suitable for immediate reuse Slide 20 Burning Trees by Sascha
Grant, http://www.flickr.com/photos/oflittleinterest/374255009/
Slide 21 Mother Natures Fury by Valley_Guy (Graeme),
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40776356@N00/230021987/ Slide 22
Region of sorrow by Elizabeth Donoghue,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elizabeth_donoghue/3395598681/ Slide
23 Sam the Koala and David Tree; photo Koala, by Mark Pardew /
Associated Press http://www.ap.org/http://www.ap.org/ Slide 24
Black Saturday Over 400 individual fires recorded on 7 February
2009 Affected 78 townships, destroyed 2,030 houses and > 3,500
structures Displaced an estimated 7,562 people 414 people injured
173 deaths Australias highest ever loss of life from a bushfire
2012 Anne Fitzgerald.. Slide 25 Black Saturday Google worked with
the Victorian Country Fire Authority (CFA) to overlay the CFAs data
onto Google Maps to produce a real- time map of the locations of
the Victorian fires - CFA is responsible for managing fires on
private lands Google also wanted to plot fires on public lands -
this data was owned and controlled by the Victorian Department of
Sustainability and Environment (DSE) The DSE data is subject to
Crown (government) copyright and permission had to be obtained from
the relevant government authorities before the data could be
released to Google for use in this way - during the fire emergency,
Google was unable to obtain permission to use the DSE data and
could not plot it onto their map Google now working with fire
authorities in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia to
obtain immediate fire updates Slide 26 Google Victorian Fire Map
Slide 27 Slide 28 Floods and Cyclones Queensland (January, February
2011) Use of social media to collect and disseminate emergency
information Slide 29 Trapped Woman 2 by Tim Swinson |
http://timswinson.com,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kingbob86/5342341008/ Slide 30 It's
not open you fool! - Brisbane Floods by Erik K Veland,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikveland/5357427242/ Slide 31
IMGP6046_floods-museum-dinosaur by Rae Allen,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raeallen/5350802456/ Slide 32 Cyclone
Yasi Tropical Cyclone Yasi Headed Toward Queensland, Australia by
NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/5407540724/ Slide 33 Cyclone
Yasi_09_05Feb2011 by Michael Dawes,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tk_five_0/5492849135/ Slide 34
Queensland Floods and Cyclones 10 January 2011 flash flood (inland
tsunami) hit Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley (inland from Brisbane) In
following days, river floods hit Brisbane and Ipswich By
mid-January 2011, of Queensland declared a disaster zone In next
weeks, 2 cyclones hit North Queensland (Anthony category 1; Yasi
category 5) > 70 towns, > 200,000 people affected 20,000
houses inundated in Brisbane 37 deaths 2012 Anne Fitzgerald.. Slide
35 Disaster Management and Social Media a Case Study, Queensland
Police Service (2011) QPS Media and Public Affairs Branch began a
trial use of social media accounts Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in
May 2010, to Establish a social media presence Engage in a 2-way
conversation between QPS and the public Develop an online community
of followers before a disaster occurred Organic growth through 2010
steady and manageable growth word of mouth allowed the media team
to steadily develop social media skills and procedures By 1
November 2010 (6 months after trial began), QPS had 4,500 likes on
Facebook; 7,000 likes by 24 December TC Tasha and Rockhampton
floods: FB likes went from 7,000 (25 December 2010) to 17,000 (10
January 2011) Slide 36 Disaster Management and Social Media a Case
Study, Queensland Police Service (2011) QPS used Facebook, Twitter
(#qldfloods, #TCYasi), live video streaming, YouTube In the 24-hour
period following the flash floods, the number of likes on the QPS
Facebook page increased from approx 17,000 to 100,000. This same
day the QPS Facebook page generated 39 million post impressions,
equating to 450 post views per second over the peak 24-hour period.
The twin cyclones caused another spike in use of the QPS social
media accounts to > 170,000 on 2 Feb 2011
http://www.police.qld.gov.au/Resources/Internet/services/rep
ortsPublications/documents/QPSSocialMediaCaseStudy.pdf
http://www.police.qld.gov.au/Resources/Internet/services/rep
ortsPublications/documents/QPSSocialMediaCaseStudy.pdf Slide 37
Queensland Police Service Facebook Likes, May 2010 February 2011
Disaster Management and Social Media a Case Study, Queensland
Police Service (2011), licensed by QPS under a Creative Commons
Attribution 2.5 Australia Licence. Slide 38 Slide 39 Slide 40 Slide
41 The lessons from these events Agency responses to natural
disasters can lead to significant advances in information access
and reuse policy and practice These advances can be sustained and
become incorporated into an organisations ongoing information
management policy and practice Agencies with existing policy and
practice frameworks have been successful in integrating their
disaster responses into their standard operations Slide 42 Flooding
in Australia by NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/5348891363/ But then the grey
clouds gather, And we can bless again The drumming of an army, The
steady soaking rain. Core of my heart, my country! Land of the
rainbow gold, For flood and fire and famine She pays us back
threefold. My Country, Dorothea McKellar (1904) Slide 43 Core of my
heart, my country! Her pitiless blue sky, When, sick at heart,
around us We see the cattle die My Country, Dorothea McKellar
(1904) A Sunburnt Country by Beppie K,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bepster/467082867/ Slide 44 Fiery Opal
by sulla5, http://www.flickr.com/photos/sulla55/3290859609/ Slide
45 Thank you Professor Anne Fitzgerald, QUT Law School, Brisbane,
Australia Publications:
http://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Fitzgerald,_Anne.html Access
to Public Sector Information:
http://www.aupsi.orghttp://www.aupsi.org Creative Commons
Australia:
http://creativecommons.org.au/http://creativecommons.org.au/ CC
& Government Guide: Using Creative Commons 3.0 Australia
Licences on Government Copyright Materials Anne Fitzgerald, Neale
Hooper & Cheryl Foong http://eprints.qut.edu.au/38364/
http://creativecommons.org.au/sectors/government 2012 Anne
Fitzgerald. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Australia.Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia
