Thank you very much.
Good morning, honourable members of Parliament of the standing committee.
What I have to talk to you about today is a little bit different from what Mr. Hume talked about, but it is very complementary.
The process of opening government data today is in its early stages and there are many opportunities for growth and improvement. Today I will talk about opportunities for an open data strategic plan, and recommendations to address the 10 principles for opening up government data. Some of those principles were named by Mr. Hume so I won't go into them.
The first step in the development of this strategic plan must begin with the understanding of government data and which data can be made public. In order to understand the information throughout the country, this data must be categorized using standard three-tier government taxonomy of capabilities and in some instances, data-specific taxonomies.
The second step is to understand which data is the most strategic to open in order to prioritize and invest in the right projects. I understand that data should be made open by default, however governments in general must be prudent in their investments today. Government will need advice from the private sector, academia, and the public in general to determine which data is the most valuable to open.
In some cases the government will have to ask for business cases to support those investments, even from the industries. For example, in 2006 the Government of New Brunswick geomatics review called to set up a spatial data infrastructure with definition of standards for foundational datasets and outreach. One of the mandates was to foster development of the geomatics industry in New Brunswick.
Today the infrastructure is called GeoNB. It's quite successful. There are currently 46 unique datasets available. We experience over 48,000 downloads of files and about 80,000 page views per year. For a small province like ours it is very good. The portal has also received national and international awards for its ease of use, utility and packaging data, and unique approach to ensuring foundational datasets are maintained as core functions within custodial departments and made available at no cost. Data is also shared today with Natural Resources Canada through a partnership to incorporate it into national networks. This infrastructure has contributed to the success of the University of New Brunswick, which has a world-renowned geodesy and geomatics engineering program, and yes, this has contributed to the development of the geomatics industry in New Brunswick.
This is just one example and there is so much more to accomplish. I appreciate all of the examples that Mr. Hume put on the table.
One issue is that today data is available in each government's format and very few are using international standards and that's more or less the focus of my presentation. As long as the private sector or academia is using the same engine and same local standards, we can share information and we can open it. At the end of my script you can see in the appendix an example where calculations using imperial and metrics actually cost NASA because they didn't translate the information properly.
The future to extend this new industry capability is limited without applying standards. Industries will not be able to expand nationally, regionally, or internationally unless they transform the data over and over again with due diligence, unlike the NASA example. This can be an overhead cost to each industry. Furthermore, the open government data will eventually become part of the industry's value chain. Providing quality, reusable, and timely government data will become more and more crucial.
I want to quote Sam Walton, founder of Walmart:
People think we got big by putting big stores in small towns. Really, we got big by replacing inventory with information.
He participated in making the value chain very efficient.
The third step is to develop and manage a pan-Canadian information infrastructure of standards. I believe today you have one in the construction industry, and you maintain a national master specification at the federal government. What we are saying here for open data is that we need this infrastructure of standards.
How do we develop this infrastructure to support and prepare our industries? How do we accomplish this, when each government still supports many data silos and finds it difficult to open data even within its own government? How do we start accomplishing this as a country?
The following are our recommendations for Canada to lead. Canada must establish a Canadian data services organization.
Its first purpose is to inform governments and Canadian industry about international, regional, national, and local data standards and taxonomies.
Second is to develop data standards where none exist, by finding the best subject matter expert and supporting his or her organization to develop that standard.
Third is to develop a data governance so that organizations responsible for opening government data get the attention they require to start or continue delivering quality and reusable data, which will eventually become part of the industry's value chains.
Fourth, assure that governments adhere to a standard once approved by the data governance committee. Adhering to a standard will cost government, and therefore this may not be on their list of priorities. Therefore you may need a funding element.
Fifth is to support all the 10 principles.
How will a new Canadian data services organization respond to these recommendations? Let me explain.
In 2008, the Government of New Brunswick performed limited research on international standards. It showed that more than 40 authorities and more than 1,500 standards existed back then. That's six years ago. If we don't collaborate, this will be an overhead cost for each government and industry to locate those standards, analyze them, and use them.
Today, committees establish separate collaboration sites, and they are silos in themselves. We need to transform this space by providing one pan-Canadian repository, and we can all populate it via collaboration. This can be done by forming a Standardspedia. That's an example I will use.
I hope everybody knows about Wikipedia. Wikis are widely used today. The Government of New Brunswick has developed a proof of concept for Standardspedia using MediaWiki, the same platform used for Wikipedia. However, the Government of New Brunswick did not see itself as the owner for Standardspedia and tried to find an owner four to six years ago. Unfortunately, the idea of open data was new at the time. We tried to get funding by academia, ACOA, etc. Unfortunately, to qualify, Standardspedia needed to be made commercially available. We had envisioned Standardspedia to be a free tool to support industries. The concept for Standardspedia has since been on hold, and I believe this is the right time to revive the idea. We would like you to consider establishing a Canadian data services organization and Standardspedia in New Brunswick, which would serve the country and eventually the world.
Information is an asset. Information must be managed as an asset all along value chains. Let Canada become the Walmart of governments around the world.
I would like to thank you for the opportunity to share our opinion with you.