Government Operations committee  I think more research would need to be done to ascertain whether that approach was drawing in more users. I think in the U.K. the approach seems to have been to develop a business case and the higher economic impact scores that you've seen in the open data barometer compared to

Government Operations committee  For the open data index study, which is basically counting the number of data sets that have been opened in a number of different categories, there was a note on that study that because of Canada's federal system, the public transport details, for example, were not held at a fede

Government Operations committee  Thank you. This is coming back to the question of whether transparency can impact upon behaviour of the public sector institutions. This is a key argument that we see around transparency and the Freedom of Information Act—issues that we see in the media of politicians deciding t

Government Operations committee  I'd agree. I can't see a reason that you wouldn't let people know about data that is available. If you're wanting to prevent some sort of reuse or something, then the policy and regulation would be at a different level. Thank you.

Government Operations committee  In terms of the collaboration between Canada and the U.K., as Richard said, there is a working-level collaboration. I'd also say that, in terms of the research community around open government data, there is quite a lot of interaction there between researchers in Canada and the

Government Operations committee  Thank you. In the EU, at least, the public sector information lobby is very strong and is very vocal in demanding what it wants from governments and the European Union around the opening of the right of access to public sector information. I'd also echo what the other responden

Government Operations committee  Thank you. I can't give you a specific answer on which data sets lead to the best return on investment. I'm afraid I don't have access to that information. Perhaps, Richard, that might be something that you have. The kinds of data that I've been looking at, looking at specifi

Government Operations committee  Yes, I think it is very important. I was just reading a piece of research that is yet to be published here in the U.K., looking at barriers to open government data fulfilling the promise that was made at the beginning. One of the issues, it turns out, is around the implementation

Government Operations committee  Thank you. I think there are two questions there, really, that are related to my research. One of the arguments that I made in some of my written work around open government data in the U.K. is trying to analyze how open government data policy connects into the U.K. government's

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. I think this is a really important issue. There was a piece actually written by a Canadian researcher called Michael Gurstein. I'm not sure if you're aware of him. He's a community informatics expert who has researched in this area. He was particularl

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much for inviting me and hello from Sheffield. I'm a lecturer in information politics and policy. I've been researching the politics of open government in the U.K. for the last few years now. What I've decided to concentrate on in my opening presentation today are