Metadata in the Public Sphere

Day 2 of the the Meta 2011 Conference at ANU University House in Canberra included myself on "Designing for Democratic Dialogue: More than Mating iPads", followed by with Senator Lundy on "Public Sphere" and Chris Winter, from the ABC on "Developing an ABC Program Information Model - the WCMS project".

Metadata, privacy and information policy

Greetings from the opening of the Meta 2011 Conference at ANU University House in Canberra. Professor John McMillan, the Australian Information Commissioner, is discussing the role of metadata in information policy. He pointed out that metadata may contain information about individuals and so breach their privacy, under national provacy principles, which apply to government agencies and non-government organisations. Organisations need to check the metadata hidden in documents, before they release them (it can be entertaining to see what is hidden away in documents released by government).

Professor McMillan also pointed out that metadata is important to the mechanics of implementing the government's information policy. He held up a copy of the new "Principles on open public sector information", which were released today. (along with a "Report on review and development of principles". It is good to see that the commission released the documents in the form of simple and easy to read HTML files, as well as PDF and RTF. They also put the HTML version first, which will be most useful.

One of the audience asked about intellectual property. The Commissioner replied this was the responsibility of the Attorney General's department, but pointed out this was touched on in the information principles and AGs recommend use of a Creative Commons licence for material to be released to the public.

Here are the eight principles of open government sector information:

Principle 1: Open access to information - a default position

Information held by Australian Government agencies is a valuable national resource. If there is no legal need to protect the information it should be open to public access. Information publication enhances public access. Agencies should use information technology to disseminate public sector information, applying a presumption of openness and adopting a proactive publication stance.

Principle 2: Engaging the community

Australian Government policy requires agencies to engage the community online in policy design and service delivery. This should apply to agency information publication practices. Agencies should:

• consult the community in deciding what information to publish and about agency publication practices
• welcome community feedback about the quality, completeness, usefulness and accuracy of published information
• respond promptly to comments received from the community and to requests for information
• employ Web 2.0 tools to support community consultation.

Principle 3: Effective information governance

Australian Government agencies should manage information as a core strategic asset. A senior executive ‘information champion' or knowledge officer in the agency should be responsible for information management and governance, including:

• providing leadership on agency compliance with the Information Publication Scheme and Disclosure Log
• ensuring agency compliance with legislative and policy requirements on information management and publication
• managing agency information to ensure its integrity, security and accessibility
• instigating strategic planning on information resource management
• ensuring community consultation on agency information policy and publication practices.

The senior officer should be supported by an information governance body that may include people from outside the agency.

Principle 4: Robust information asset management

Effective information management requires agencies to:

• maintain an asset inventory or register of the agency's information
• identify the custodian of each information holding and the responsibilities of that officer
• train staff in information management
• establish clear procedures and lines of authority for decisions on information publication and release
• decide if information should be prepared for publication at the time it is created and the form of publication
• document known limitations on data quality
• identify data that must be managed in accordance with legislative and legal requirements, including requirements relating to data security and protection of personal information, intellectual property, business confidentiality and legal professional privilege
• protect information against inappropriate or unauthorised use, access or disclosure
• preserve information for an appropriate period of time based on sound archival practices.

Principle 5: Discoverable and useable information

The economic and social value of public sector information can be enhanced by publication and information sharing. This requires that information can easily be discovered and used by the community and other stakeholders. To support this objective agencies should:

• publish an up to date information asset register
• ensure that information published online is in an open and standards-based format and is machine-readable
• attach high quality metadata to information so that it can be easily located and linked to similar information using standard web search applications
• publish information in accordance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2 (WCAG 2.0) endorsed by the Australian Government in November 2009.

Principle 6: Clear reuse rights

The economic and social value of public sector information is enhanced when it is made available for reuse on open licensing terms. The Guidelines on Licensing Public Sector Information for Australian Government Agencies require agencies to decide licensing conditions when publishing information online. The default condition should be the Creative Commons BY standard, as recommended in the Intellectual Property Principles for Australian Government Agencies, that apply to agencies subject to the Financial and Management Accountability Act 1997. Additional guidance on selecting an appropriate licence is given in the Australian Government Open Access and Licensing Framework (AUSGOAL).

Principle 7: Appropriate charging for access

The FOI Act requires agencies to facilitate public access to information at the lowest reasonable cost. This principle applies when information is provided upon request or is published by an agency. Other Acts also authorise charges for specific documents or information access.

Agencies can reduce the cost of public access by publishing information online, especially information that is routinely sought by the public. Charges that may be imposed by an agency for providing access should be clearly explained in an agency policy that is published and regularly reviewed.

Principle 8: Transparent enquiry and complaints processes

Agency decision making about information publication should be transparent. This can be supported, within the agency's information governance framework, by an enquiry and complaints procedure for the public to raise issues about agency publication and access decisions. The procedure should be published, explain how enquiries and complaints will be handled, set timeframes for responding, identify possible remedies and complaint outcomes, and require that written reasons be provided in complaint resolution. ...

From: "Principles on open public sector information", AOIC, 25 May 2011

Publishing BBC Metadata on the Web

Greetings from the opening of the Meta 2011 Conference at ANU University House in Canberra. Tom Scott, from the BBC is the first speaker, on Publishing BBC Metadata. Tom mentioned the Semantic Web in his first few words. He asked "What is the web?", showing Tim Berners-Lee's original paper "Information Management: A Proposal" ( CERN, March 1989).

Tom demonstrated the BBC Nature website, which in addition to ordinary web pages, provides structured data, using RSS and RDF and semantic mark-up using microformats. This data is available for others to use and is also used by the BBC to create new stories.

Tom also mentioned dbpedia, an attempt to structure Wikipedia data. At this point he argued that there is no metadata and what is commonly though of is data is actually metadata. In a reference to Stephen Hawking, Tom said "Turtles all the way down". This is an metaphor for infinte recursion, however, I would argue it is "metadata all the way down". James Gleick argues in his book "The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood", that the ability to reason abstractly came after writing ("if all horses are white ..."). That seems unlikely, as I am sure horse breeders reasoned on the nature of a good horse, before written language. Data and metadata are intertwined by their nature, not due to a human invention.

Tom argued that we needed to move from the document web to the data web, the web of things, which is what the semantic web is for. However, after spending many years trying to understand the semantic web and teach it to university students (supervising several masters students doing project on using it for cataloguing indigenous cultural material), I think this is a concept which needs to be further refined and simplified to be widely used. Tim Berners-Lee's key contribution with the World Wide Web was to take an existing complex electronic document standard (SGML) and simplify it to make something easy enough to use (HTML). Ever since, information professionals have argued that HTML is flawed, some tinkered with SGML and produced XML, others tinkered with HTML to make XHTML, but lost was the simplicity of HTML In my view the semantic web similarly needs simplification, even if the purists then say it is incomplete.

Tom then explained that the BBC use metadata for program guides. The importance is not the metadata but the information it describes. This is the key point which information professionals tend to find so obvious, that they forget to explain. While they may say metadata is data about data, but do not say why this is useful. That is a topic I will explore in my talk to the conference tomorrow, with Senator Lundy on "Designing for Democratic Dialogue: More than Mating iPads" (11.00 am on Thursday 26th May, 2011).

Next on the program today we have Greg Stone, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Australia and Professor John McMillan, Australian Information Commissioner, who is launching the new government information policy.

BBC on Semantic Web in Canberra

Tom Scott, Executive Product Manager and Technical Projects Lead at the BBC will be speaking on semantic web publishing and metadata at the Meta 2011 conference at University House, the Australian National University, in Canberra, 25 May 2011.

... The BBC is an acknowledged leader in semantic web publishing and the use of metadata to create dynamically linked sites. Tom Scott has executive responsibility for three of the broadcast giant's sites, which are often held up as exemplary projects within the Linked Data community. These are: the BBC Nature site (bbc.co.uk/nature) incorporating a major Linked Data and video publishing element; the BBC Programme Support site (bbc.co.uk/programmes), a website that publishes a page (URI and metadata) for every programme the BBC broadcasts; and the BBC's Music site (bbc.co.uk/music), a website that integrates into the BBC broadcast systems and BBC Programmes.

As an active blogger and expert in semantic web publishing, Tom will paint the picture of both the current and future demands of digital publishing and information management and how metadata can enable that using real live examples. “The idea is to help people think about the Web from a different perspective, one that is ultimately empowering because in doing so you can more easily deliver real benefits to your organisation and users” said Scott....

From: BBC Tom Scott to present at Meta2011, Press Release, IMM, 12 May 2011

Australian Principles on Open Public Sector Information

Australian Information Commissioner, Professor John McMillan AO, will formally launch the Australian "Principles on Open Public Sector Information" in Canberra on 25 May 2011. This will be during the Meta 2011 Conference, at University House, the Australian National University. I have been teaching the draft principles to students in the ANU course COMP7420 and am speaking along with with Senator Lundy at the conference the next day on "Designing for Democratic Dialogue".

Institute of Metadata Management

Press Release

Contact: Michele Berkhout
Phone: +61 415 875 132
E-mail: press(a)metalounge.org

13 May 2011

Information Commissioner to launch
“The Principles on Open Public Sector Information” at Meta 2011

The Institute of Metadata Management is delighted to announce that the Australian Information Commissioner, Professor John McMillan, will be formally launching the Principles on Open Public Sector Information at Meta 2011 to be held at University House, ANU, Canberra, from Wednesday 25th May 2011 to Friday 27th May, 2011.

“The Open Public Sector Information Principles present a core vision for government information management in Australia. They mark a shift in thinking about public sector information. There is now greater recognition that government information is a national resource that should be published for community access and use,” Professor McMillan said.

“The Principles set out the central values of open public sector information: that it be freely available, based on open standards, easily discoverable, understandable, machine-readable, and freely reusable and transformable.” As well as the formal launch there will be a practical demonstration of the benefits of the Principles in a workshop jointly facilitated by the Commissioner’s Office and linked data experts, Dr Armin Haller from the CSIRO and Dr Tudor Groza from the University of Queensland. This workshop will clearly show how, by adopting best practice in the publication of data according to the Principles, the power of linked data and semantic technologies can be leveraged to provide new insights and business intelligence for government, business and the community.

IMM President Mel Taylor is delighted with the collaboration between the IMM and the OAIC as it demonstrates the joint objectives of promoting both the capability and expertise around better information management within the Australian government and, in particular the Metadata community of practice more broadly.

Meta2011 is the fourth conference to be held in Australia and is themed Business Realities and Implications. The 3 days conference will cover topics such as Business intelligence and analytics; Technology solutions; Data integration; Management, governance and stewardship and more.

By attending this conference, delegates are expected to go away with knowledge which can be shared and implemented in their businesses. Registration is still open and there are a range of sponsorship opportunities available. Contact us here to find out how to be part of the IMM community.

For more information related to IMM and Meta2011 please visit http://www.metalounge.org

Information Awareness Month

Greetings from the launch of Information Awareness Month 2011 in the Brindabella Room of the National Library of Australia in Canberra. The Director General of the library opened proceedings by mentioning the need to keep access to information for the public and the excellent way the NLA helps this with the Trove system.

One of the less well known bodies involved in Information Awareness Week, is Disaster ACT (DISACT) , which helps protect cultural materials. Better known are NLA, IIM, AIIA, ACS, RIMPA, ALIA, ACTKM, AGLIN, HIMAA, PROV and ASA.

The official launch was by the Australian Information Commissioner, Professor John McMillan AO. He mentioned three dimensions of information:

1. Information is valuable: The FOI act identifies government information as a public resource. Agencies are now required to publish details of what they do and what information they have.
2. Legal Obligations with Information: Organisations have obligations to keep personal information private. The Commissioner gave examples of companies which have "learnt" from failures to keep information private. But from the long list of recent examples, it appears that corporations have not learnt, or they have learnt there are few penalties for failure.
3. Managing Information Professionally: The commissioner pointed out that while there are numerous organisations involved with information, there is limited coordination between them. Many government organisations now use the FOI recommended icon on their front page.

ps: I will be speaking at the Meta 2011 Conference, as part of information awareness month.

Meta 2011 Conference Program

The Meta 2011 Conference is at ANU University House in Canberra, 25 to 27 May 2011. Notable speakers include: Tom Scott, BBC; Professor John McMillan, Australian Information Commissioner; Tim Dale, Director, Gov 2.0 Strategy & Services, Department of Finance and Deregulation; and Greg Stone, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Australia. I am speaking on "Designing for Democratic Dialogue: More than Mating iPads" 11.00 am on Thursday 26th May, 2011. Here is the full program for the conference:

Day 1 - Wednesday 25th May, 2011

Hall Sessions

Hall	Session Speaker	Session Title
Registration
Welcome and Introduction
Opening Address	Mel Taylor, Inaugural IMM President	Conference overview and context
Day One Theme The Market Today and Where it is Going - Current Challenges & Issues		Current Challenges & Issues
KEYNOTE 1	Tom Scott, BBC	Publishing BBC metadata
Sub Keynote 1 Business Intelligence & Analytics	Greg Stone, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Australia	TBC
Sub Keynote 2 Management, Governance and Stewardship	Professor John McMillan, Australian Information Commissioner	The Open Government Reform Agenda
Energy & Contact Break
Business Intelligence & Analytics
Speakers:
Session One	Paul Madden, CIO and CKO, Department of Health & Ageing
Session Two	Peter Harper, Deputy Australian Statisician
Session Three	Craig Mudge, University of Adelaide
Lunch
Case Study Sessions
Case Study One	Bettina Konti, ATO
Case Study Two	Barbara Reed, Recordkeeping Innovation
Case Study Three	TBC
Energy & Contact Break
Speaker Debate with Q & A	Voted around the Market and its Challenges and potential solutions
Close
Drinks - Fellows Bar, University House, ANU

Common Room Sessions

Time	Foyer	Common Room	Session Title
10:30 AM	Energy & Contact Break
11:00 AM		Management, Governance and Stewardship - including Professional & Capability Development
		Speakers: Session One	Craig Thomler
		Session Two	Tim Dale, Director, Gov 2.0 Strategy & Services, Department of Finance and Deregulation
		Session Three	Professor Andy Koronios, University of South Australia
12:30 AM	Lunch
1:30 PM		Case Study Sessions
		Case Study One	Tim Hart, CIO, Museum of Victoria
		Case Study Two	Michael Beahan, Australian Bureau of Statistics
		Case Study Three	Sally Goodenough, ANDS
		Case Study Four	Matt Moore, Innotecture
3:00 PM	Energy & Contact Break

Day 2 - Thursday 26th May, 2011

Hall Sessions

Time	Foyer	Hall	Session Speakers
9:00 AM		RECAP FROM DAY ONE Overview of Day Two
9:00 AM		DAY TWO THEME Emerging solutions and applications in market and in development
9:10 AM		Sub Keynote 3 What's out there now (the market)	Peter Williams, Deloitte
9:30 AM		Chair:
		Case Study One	Warwick Graco, ATO
		Case Study Two	Cassandra Findlay, State Records NSW
		Case Study Three	Anne Stevenson, CSIRO
10:30 AM	Energy & Contact Break
11:00 AM		Overcoming obstacles in the Execution process - challenges and solutions
		Case Study One	Professor Tom Worthington, ANU
		Case Study Two	Tim Drury, Department of Immigration
		Case Study Three	Australian Broadcasting Corporation
12:30 AM	Lunch
1:30 PM		Sub Keynote 4 Research Overview (emerging technologies)	Dr Renato Ianella, Semantic Identity
		Case Study	Dr Tudor Groza (UQ) and Dr Armin Haller (W3C, CSIRO)
		Case Study	Leanne Fry, Fair Work Ombudsman
2:30 PM	Energy & Contact Break
3:00 PM		Linked Data Mashup Challenge
		Facilitators	Dr Tudor Groza (UQ) and Dr Armin Haller (W3C, CSIRO)
4:30 PM	Close
7:00 PM	Speakers' and Sponsors' Dinner

Common Room Sessions

Time	Foyer	Common Room	Session Speakers
10:30 AM	Energy & Contact Break
11:00 AM		Overcoming obstacles in the Execution process - challenges and solutions
		Case Study One	Dennis Doolette, ASG
		Case Study Two	John Weaver, Office of Spatial Data Management Margie Smith, Office of Spatial Data Management
		Case Study Three	TBC
12:30 AM	Lunch

Day 3 - Friday 27th May, 2011

Hall Sessions

Time	Foyer	Hall	Session Speakers
9:00 AM		RECAP FROM DAY ONE AND TWO Overview of Day Three
9:10 AM		Sub Keynote 5 Bringing Diversity Together	Tim Turner, ADFA
		Case Study One	Stephen Machin, Data Consultant
		Case Study Two	Les Kneebone, Schools Online Thesaurus
		Case Study Three	Mohsen Kalantari, University of Melbourne
10:30 AM	Energy & Contact Break
11:00 AM		PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
		Professional Development 1 - Hands On Workshop	Gov 2.0 and data.gov.au - Lisa Cornish, Department of Finance & Deregulation
		Professional Development 1 - Hands On Workshop	Data Visualisation - Mitchell Whitelaw, University of Canberra
12:30 AM	Lunch
1:30 PM		SPEAKER DEBATE
		Speakers	Speakers from throughout the programme
		CASE STUDY AWARDS
		CLOSING SESSION
3:00 PM	Onsite Drinks
3:30 PM		BIRDS OF A FEATHER SESSIONS
4:30 PM		Close

Common Room Sessions

Time	Foyer	Common Room	Session Speakers
10:30 AM	Energy & Contact Break
11:00 AM		PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
		Professional Development 1 - Hands on Workshop	Ron Dunn, Microsoft Australia
		Professional Development 2	TBC
12:30 AM	Lunch

Designing for Democratic Dialogue

I will be speaking on "Designing for Democratic Dialogue: More then Mating iPads" at Meta 2011, Australian National University, 25 to 27 May, 2011 .

Name: Tom Worthington
Title: Adjunct Senior Lecturer
Organisation: Research School of Computer Science, The Australian National University

Stream: Overcoming obstacles in the Execution process - challenges and solutions
Your session title: Designing for Democratic Dialogue: More then Mating iPads
Session Time: 11.00 am on Thursday 26th May, 2010
Duration: 30 minutes

Abstract

Tom Worthington discusses how to integrate on-line systems and buildings using metadata, to allow people to talk, learn and make decisions together, using a new $327M centre to be built in Canberra as an example. Tom outlines the work he has been doing at the Australian National University preparing online open source teaching materials on metadata, e-document and records management for public servants in Australia and developing nations. He argues that we need to go beyond the latest fads, such as iPads, and consider the fundamentals of how people have a discussion and make decisions in a globally connected democratic society.

See also:

• Electronic Document and Records Management, originally prepared for the course COMP7420 at the Australian National University, February 2011:
• Designing for Dialogue: How do we design buildings and on-line systems for people to talk, learn and make decisions together?, For BarCamp Canberra 2011, ANU, 19 March 2011.

• Canberra Conference Centre Proposal, 11 April 2011
  

Biography

Tom Worthington is a CSIRO Visiting Scientist, independent ICT consultant and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the ANU. In 2010 Tom received the ACS Canberra ICT Award for the design of the ANU Green ICT Course. He was elected a Fellow of the ACS in 1999 for his contribution to the development of public Internet
policy in Australia. Tom is a past president, Fellow and Honorary Life Member of the ACS, a voting member of the Association for Computing Machinery and a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.