HYBRID DATA and the Promise of a Modern Digital Government

peter.suber's bookmarks 2018-06-20

Summary:

"Consequently, the last 20 years have seen a transformation of public policies – legislative, regulatory, and administrative – grounded in the philosophy that access to and dissemination of government data is a public right and that any constraints on access hinder transparency and accountability. While there is broad recognition of the need to maximize access to government data, the types of government data are increasingly diverse and complex. For instance, there are many cases where the government collects or licenses private sector data, often combining this data with other data produced by the government. These datasets are often referred to as “hybrid data” or “privately curated data” – data licensed to or collected by the government that comprises both public and private sources. Access to and use of hybrid data is increasingly critical for government to transform data into actionable information....

Examples of curated, or hybrid, datasets include...peer-reviewed scientifc and technical literature that is based on government-funded academic research but published in the private sector. Subjecting this full range of information to unfettered “openness” requirements risks the availability and quality of these valuable data-driven resources. Such requirements will ultimately harm the public interest when the inevitable “tragedy of the commons” scenario compromises the quality of the dataset, as private-sector actors begin avoiding these government partnerships for fear losing control of their data. Unfortunately, some current open data policies invite unintended consequences – specifcally, well-intentioned but overly broad open data mandates that nullify intellectual property rights by extending to data produced in the private sector and collected by, or licensed to, the government....

Collecting, verifying, analyzing, and publishing accurate datasets is a resource-intensive activity that generates valuable assets and solutions which governments need. This effort demands time and money and manages several competing interests, including individual privacy, national security, and intellectual property. Entities – both private and public – who engage in this economic activity prefer not to have the fruits of their investment publicly released in a way that would undermine their value. Yet that is what some open government advocates appear to be demanding as a blanket rule – a rule that, if followed to its logical conclusion, could discourage or eliminate public– private data collaborations that result in enormous beneft for the government and taxpayers alike...."

Link:

http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/d3d43f_b9d6dda3478d4a6689b7cfede5fa2682.pdf

From feeds:

Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » peter.suber's bookmarks

Tags:

oa.new oa.terminology oa.definitions oa.psi oa.publishers oa.negative oa.quality oa.data

Date tagged:

06/20/2018, 15:44

Date published:

06/20/2018, 11:44