About open data, projects based on them, and what happens with open government data in Russia

Someone may know, for someone it may be news, but yesterday and the day before yesterday the summit on open data ended in Russia. And by its results, as well as by the end of the year, I understand that it is time to talk about what is happening with open data and with other parts of the openness of our state.

In addition, my experience (and the experience is already very long) of creating projects on open data is very different from the words of officials and politicians who can be heard at such public events.
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I'll start with the summit.

Summit on open data

Compared to all other events according to open data in recent years, this is one of the first to be organized at a fairly good level. Even at the “open data council” in Yandex in June 2015 there were a lot of non-core speeches, in more detail in the article “ Ajar Data ” this time everyone did not depart from the topic of open data and this is the main and important plus of what happened.

In pluses I can also write down those parts of the summit in which I participated. These were round tables devoted to the topics of criminal statistics and the demand for public finances.

In short, it is clear that these data are needed and in demand. At the round table on the demand for state finances in general, there were a lot of questions about information related to public procurement data.

In more detail and separately I will write more about these round tables, but the essence is that the data will be and that the departments are ready for dialogue with consumers.

Plus, my hands just don't reach me to tell about all the ongoing events related to open data - meetings with developers, meetings of public councils, and so on. I will definitely write everything, materials are piling up and texts are being written.

And now about what happens to us with open data.

How to lobby open data and why so few

I will begin with the fact that people regularly write letters to me that sound like this: “There are a lot of problems in our area and there is no open data from this and this. What can you do about it? I regularly hear the same questions during speeches. What can be answered by people?
I almost always answer them as they are:
1. To achieve something is possible only if _you personally_ will take up the promotion of the openness of this particular data.
2. Get ready to work "in the long" and do not expect quick results. At best, this is 1 year, more likely 3-4 years
3. In order to achieve something, it is necessary to form public opinion, to gather like-minded people and to do what can be called “public lobbying”, not only promoting ideas to the masses, but also implementing them directly in the state.
4. Personally, I can help to the best of my ability; not before you will independently work through this topic. Because if you, as an interested party, do not apply time and effort to this problem, then you should not count on it

Most often, after the story of how everything is “in reality”, the interlocutor either disappears, or writes / talks about how everything is “oh difficult and all the funding is needed” and also disappears.
Although it was exactly this way and the only way that all these years I have been working on the openness of data, which is on state finance, on criminal statistics, and on a number of other topics. Either you realize that this is a life value and you are preparing for a long work and searching for allies, or it is better not to take it.

A similar situation arises when they write to me that they want to do such and such a project on open data or creating open data. The first question they ask is “where to get the money?” And in this respect many public figures differ little from start-up parties in Russia. But if start-ups often draw excessive expectations from the chosen business model, then social projects do not have a business model, and there is not even a pre-seed stage for the project and an understanding of its goals and audience. What I actually write to them in response. Unfortunately, few take the next step with the awareness and detail of their project.

I understand that in fact people turn to me in many ways because there is little to turn to where. However, Russia, not the European Union and the position of "information commissioner" we do not have, and I do not have such status.

About Open Government

It would seem, why so few changes have occurred since the advent of the Open Government in Russia and many state initiatives? The answer to this question can be both short and long.

The short answer is: "Because it could not have been otherwise."
In more detail, the situation, of course, has deep-seated problems within the entire system of government in Russia.

An open government is only a brand, a collection of advisory and private structures based on a limited zone of influence on the state apparatus of only one person.

Created consultative structures like the “Open Data Council” are not viable, first and foremost because of the vague wording of the agenda. The potential economic and social effect is completely eclipsed by the media effect and the lack of focus on solving specific problems contrasts sharply with similar structures in other countries, such as the Open Data User Group or the Transparency Board in the UK.

The political agenda and commercial consumers are mixed. The presence of business lobbyists creates a clear (and unregulated in Russia) conflict of interests, although it would be quite natural if they were separated from the media and political interest group. Which is also incomplete precisely because of the vagueness of the goal-setting of structures.
The final model is reduced to the existence of the consultative bodies living not by the rules and regulations, but by the life cycle of the institutions that establish them. And the model of the work of the open data council almost from its very beginning directly copies the model of the work of the rights of the commission. With the dominant, rather than the functional role of the apparatus, pre-prepared solutions and protocol instructions replacing the meeting minutes format and the publication of meeting transcripts.

Russian model of openness

All this, of course, distinguishes the Russian model of data openness from those that we perceive as leading in the world. Now in the UK, the main emphasis in the transparency and openness of the state is entrusted to data openness and well-regulated processing of requests for their disclosure and proactive disclosure of data by default (open by default concept).

Now we in Infoculture are carrying out a detailed analysis of all projects in the field of open data in Russia and have already calculated that out of 33 portals of the Ministry of Economic Development only 8 published open data in at least some incomplete volume. As a result, it is impossible to count on the systemic and long-term policy of this department.
And, when the representatives of the Ministry of Economic Development, responsible for this topic, talk about how they all perfectly reveal the data, then they don’t have much faith because the real picture is very different. And the most important failure of the Open Government over the years is the absence of a well-established process of disclosing data at the request of consumers. At least that level as it exists in Australia .

Not only open data, but also open source

Somehow I have already provided a link to Github and Government a large catalog of open source projects made within the state. The culture of open data largely stems from the culture of open source, and countries leading in the openness of the state code also lead in open government data because these cultures are in close contact.

Unfortunately, in Russia, many strange elements were included in the activities of the Open Government, but even a hint of the open source of government projects did not manifest itself.

Now at the final stage of our report on the results of the analysis of everything that happened with open data in the last year and recent years. And there all the above will be much more detailed.

In the meantime, here are the usual questions / polls and expectations of your comments and opinions on how to break the situation.