Emerging Open Data Policies in the U.S. – An

OverviewHeather Joseph

Executive Director, SPARCJISC/CNI Meeting

Edinburgh, ScotlandJuly 2, 2010

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nic221/391536867/

www.arl.org/sparc 3

“By open access, we mean its immediate, free availability on the

public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute,

print, search or link to the full text of these articles, crawl them for

indexing, pass them as data to software or use them for any other

lawful purpose…” - The Budapest Open Access Initiative – February 14, 2002

Sources of U.S. Information Policy

• Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. 105)• Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552)• Paperwork Reduction Act ( 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35)• Electronic FOIA Amendments of 1996.• Government Paperwork Elimination Act of 1998.• Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-

130, “Management of Federal Information Resources,” (61 FR 6425, February 20, 1996)

OMB Circular A-130

“…government information is a valuable national resource, and… the economic benefits to society are maximized when government information is available in a timely and equitable manner to all.”

- From OMB Circular No. A-130,http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a130/

a130trans4.html

“Open and unrestricted access to public information at no more than the cost of dissemination”

Government Funded Research….

…is Taxpayer Funded Research

Goals of U.S. Public Access Policies

•Expand access to results of taxpayer funded research results

•Accelerate pace of discovery and innovation

•Create permanently accessible archive for public use

•Enhance accountability and transparency of federal agency

“The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall require that all investigators

funded by the NIH submit…to the National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central an

electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for

publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date

of publication.”

- U.S. Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008

Open Data

Important Drivers

Articles• Grassroots scientific community• Intermediaries - libraries• Activists – open government, patients advocates• Key Leaders (NIH Director, congress• Mandates (congress)

Data• Grassroots –scientific community • General public (re-mixers,

app developers )• Agencies• Top level political leaders• Mandates (Executive Branch/WH)

The Three-Tiered Approach

“It has to start at the top, it has to start in the middle, and it has to start at the

bottom”-Tim Berners Lee

– Open Data Study Commissioned by the Transparency and Accountability Initiative, May 2010

Open Government Directive

•TRANSPARENCY

•PARTICIPATION•COLLABORATION

Courtesy Cameron Neylon

Emerging Approaches/Themes

• Recognize that maximizing access maximize benefits

• Sets the default to Open• Shades of Open - Recognizes that exceptions will

be the rule– Issues of confidentiality and privacy acknowledged.

• Community driven approach to development/implementation

Emerging Approaches/Themes

• Explicitly recognize need for partnerships (public/private and beyond)

• Culture change – incentivize sharing data • Intellectual property rights must be respected• “Good Practices” that will evolve into “Best

Practices”

“It’s about the hope and the faith and the possibilities that are created by working in a

networked digital environment when we connect networks of knowledge to institutions and their

static procedures, and blow open these procedures to let people get at information in new ways in

order to solve problems better “

- Beth Noveck, U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officerat the World Bank May 22, 2010