A Cook’s Tour of Open Data from a User’s Perspective (Green Party Caucus)

Presentation to Prince Edward Island Green Party Caucus on September 29, 2015, looking at open data not from a policy or regulatory perspective, but through the eyes of someone who has been consuming open data, and pointing to general principles that have been learned along the way.

Transcript

1. A Cook’s Tour of Open Data from a User’s Perspective Presentation to 
 Green Party Caucus Peter Rukavina, Hacker in Residence, Robertson Library, University of PEI September 29, 2015 http://hacker.vre.upei.ca/
2. I moved to PEI for data. 1993
3. JULY 18, 1993 CRAFTS SUPPLIES INFORMATION AVAILABLE Craftspersons looking for information on sources of supplies, materials, or equipment can now send electronic mail to address: info@crafts-council.pe.ca Please put "WANTED:" at the beginning of your subject line. The "PEI Crafts Information Service" is service of the non-profit PEI Crafts Council in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. We have an ever-growing database of suppliers, covering all of the various crafts media; while we are still in the midst of information gathering and data entry, there is much useful information available now and we will respond to inquires as best we can. The bulk of our suppliers-on-file are located in North America, roughly half in Canada and half in the U.S.A. We can answer questions like "give me a list of the ceramics suppliers east of the Mississippi," "where can I get a rug hooking kit," or "who sells ConeArt kilns?" We can provide address, telephone, fax, WATS number, a list of products sold and, where we have a catalogue on file, more detailed information about specific products. We also track consumer experiences with suppliers when we receive it. Actual contact with suppliers for information and ordering is left to craftspersons themselves; we'll just help find them. 1993
4. JULY 7, 1994 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PEI CRAFTS COUNCIL JOINS THE WORLD WIDE WEB CHARLOTTETOWN - The PEI Crafts Council today became the first organization on Prince Edward Island to join the Internet computer network's "World Wide Web." The "World Wide Web" (WWW) is an international collection of interconnected information providers founded at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva, Switzerland. The World Wide Web uses hypertext and multimedia techniques to make "the web" -- collections of information on computers around the world -- easy to roam through, browse, search and contribute to. The PEI Crafts Council, the Prince Edward Island organization offering services and support to crafts producers, will use its WWW server to offer information on crafts and the crafts industry to crafts producers around the world. The project will centre on information from the Council's "Crafts Information Service," a comprehensive database of sources of materials, tools, equipment and services for crafts producers. 1994
9. Year of #OpenData • ARMA PEI in February • Canadian Cartographic Association in May • Queen’s Printers of Canada in June • Chief Electoral Officers of Canada in July • PEI Deputy Ministers in August • Open Data Book Club in September • Senior PEI Public Servants in September • Green Party Caucus in September
10. Open Data Principles (from a user’s perspective)
11. Windmill by Stephen Downes is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
12. Photo of Richard Brown from Liberal Party of Prince Edward Island
13. Photo of Ron Estabrooks taken at the open house to officially launch the Hermanville/Clearspring wind development from www.gov.pe.ca.
17. Golf at 50BPM by user707748013 50 MW 50 BPM
18. W&W - Bigfoot (Uriel M Deephouse Remix) by urielm 122 MW 122 BPM
19. Clip of audio from CBC Spark interview with Peter Rukavina by Nora Young, recorded June 19, 2011.
21. [ { "data1":164.2, "data2":17.63, "data3":0, "updateDate":1437139741, "error":0 } ]
22. [ { "on-island-load":164.2, "on-island-wind":17.63, "on-island-fossil":0, "updateDate":1437139741, "error":0 } ]
25. 155% of our electricity load from the wind 10:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 8 Hours
30. http://innovis.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/
31. “I have become slightly obsessed by your energy graph and am very grateful that you have found a way to record the load and wind power generated in PEI. Do you by any chance have a spread sheet of these values? I am looking at using storage to balance wind fluctuations and was hoping to try and using the real load and wind data to accomplish that.”
32. Open Data Principle № 1 You have no idea (at all) what open data might be used for.
37. pdftotext -raw
 Weekly_approvals_webpage_21_Oct_2011.pdf \ Weekly_approvals_webpage_21_Oct_2011.txt
38. 10-533 335067 402-bld-10 20-Oct-10 3-Oct-11 18-22 Water Street... 10-569 363556 439-BLD-10 17-Nov-10 3-Oct-11 20 Lapthorne Avenue... 11-002 1018274 001-bld-11 4-Jan-11 6-Oct-11 375 Mount Edward Road... 11-136 342436 326-bld-11 26-Aug-11 3-Oct-11 134 Kent Street...
39. -63.12688,46.23066,22 WATER ST,"10-533 335067 402-bld-10… -63.12606,46.24454,20 LAPTHORN AV,"10-569 363556 439-BLD-10.. -63.14558,46.27834,375 MOUNT EDWARD RD,"11-002 1018274 001-bod-11… -63.12808,46.23572,134 KENT ST,"11-136 342436 326-bld-11…
43. Open Data Principle № 2 PDFs are where 
 data goes to die.
44. I walked thru some testing with the admin assistant in planning. She had some concerns with data entry -- she found it cumbersome and also identified a couple of scenarios that were not possible to enter properly, or were not represented clearly in the result.
45. Open Data Principle № 2B Bureaucrats really like File > Save as PDF…
47. scale drawings drawn to Parking Design Standards and certified (stamped) by a qualified engineer, architect, or public land surveyor Shall be submitted where there are ten (10) or more Parking Spaces or for less than ten (10) spaces as required by the Development Officer with the application for the Building permit showing entrances and exits to such Parking facilities, all proposed and Existing Parking Spaces, aisles, lighting, and drainage of the Lot;
48. scale drawings drawn to Parking Design Standards and certified (stamped) by a qualified engineer, architect, or public land surveyor Shall be submitted where there are ten (10) or more Parking Spaces or for less than ten (10) spaces as required by the Development Officer with the application for the Building permit showing entrances and exits to such Parking facilities, all proposed and Existing Parking Spaces, aisles, lighting, and drainage of the Lot; scale drawings drawn to Parking Design Standards and certified (stamped) by a qualified engineer, architect, or public land surveyor Shall be submitted where there are ten (10) or more Parking Spaces or for less than ten (10) spaces as required by the Development Officer with the application for the Building permit showing entrances and exits to such Parking facilities, all proposed and Existing Parking Spaces, aisles, lighting, and drainage of the Lot;
49. GENERAL PROVISIONS FOR BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES ................................................ 26 4.1 ACCESSORY BUILDINGS 4.2 BUILDING HEIGHT 4.3 DECKS, AND OTHER PROJECTIONS INTO YARDS 4.4 EXISTING BUILDINGS OR STRUCTURES 4.5 FENCES 4.6 GROUPED DWELLINGS 4.7 ONE MAIN BUILDING ON A LOT 4.8 RESTORATION TO A SAFE CONDITION 4.9 SATELLITE DISHES AND COMMUNICATION TOWERS 4.10 WINDMILL TOWERS 4.11 SUBDIVIDING OF ATTACHED DWELLINGS 4.12 SWIMMING POOLS 4.13 VEHICLE BODIES
50. GENERAL PROVISIONS FOR BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES ................................................ 26 4.1 ACCESSORY BUILDINGS 4.2 BUILDING HEIGHT 4.3 DECKS, AND OTHER PROJECTIONS INTO YARDS 4.4 EXISTING BUILDINGS OR STRUCTURES 4.5 FENCES 4.6 GROUPED DWELLINGS 4.7 ONE MAIN BUILDING ON A LOT 4.8 RESTORATION TO A SAFE CONDITION 4.9 SATELLITE DISHES AND COMMUNICATION TOWERS 4.10 WINDMILL TOWERS 4.11 SUBDIVIDING OF ATTACHED DWELLINGS 4.12 SWIMMING POOLS 4.13 VEHICLE BODIES General Provision for Buildings and Structures ................................................................................. 26 4.1 Accessory Buildings 4.2 Building Height 4.3 Decks, and Other Projections into Yards 4.4 Existing Buildings or Structures 4.5 Fences 4.6 Groups Dwellings 4.7 One Main Building on a Lot 4.8 Restoration to a Safe Condition 4.9 Satellite Dishes and Communication Towers 4.10 Windmill Towers 4.11 Subdividing of Attached Dwellings 4.12 Swimming Pools 4.13 Vehicle Bodies
52. Open Data Principle № 3 Sometimes “open” can simply mean following 
 basic rules of design.
57. Metadata Issues • Lot 50 was mislabelled as Lot 66. • Lot 66 was unlabelled. • Georgetown Royalty was mislabelled as Lot 73 • Princetown Royalty was missing.
58. I'm writing to report what I believe to be incorrect metadata for one of the GIS Catalog items that you are listed as contact for, the "Lot / Townships" layer: http://www.gov.pe.ca/gis/index.php3?number=1011342&lang=E There are two polygons that appear to have incorrect metadata; I have attached a screen shot labelling these, which are in eastern PEI in the Orwell Point area. One polygon currently has a LOT value of NULL, and I believe it should, instead, have a value of 66. The other polygon, currently labelled 66, should, I believe, be labelled 50. As a reference, I am using the Samuel Holland map, a version of which has been digitized at: http://www.islandimagined.ca/fedora/repository/imagined:209165 I am attaching a screen shot of that map showing the lot labels. As next year is the 250th anniversary of the Samuel Holland Map, I would expect this layer to attract more attention than it otherwise would, so it would be nice to have the issue rectified.
59. Correcting the Metadata • Relabelled Lot 50. • Added a label to Lot 66. • Changed Lot 73 to Georgetown Royalty. • Princetown Royalty was missing.
62. WhatsMyLot.com
68. The Confederation Trail passes 
 through 47 lots and 2 royalties.
69. Open Data Principle № 4 Open data is a conversation.
74. (902) 367-3694
76. Open Data Principle № 5 Sometimes your users will create open data for you. 
 Follow their lead.
77. “By 2010, our investment in Islanders’ health care had increased by 25 per cent or over $700 per capita – to $3,655, putting us above the national average of $3,500.” 2011 Budget Address
78. I’m interested in obtaining a digital record of the transactions under what I would call, for lack of knowledge of the terminology, my “health care account” — in other words, all of the payments to doctors, specialists, hospitals, labs, etc. paid out by Health PEI attached to my Health Card account for as long as records are available. Email to Health PEI May 26, 2011 – Day 1
79. Our Information Co-ordinator has indicated to me that you should submit a FOIPP (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy) request. Attached is the Access to Information form which you can complete and submit to our co-ordinator. Reply from Health PEI May 26, 2011 – Day 1
80. FOIPP Request
81. Digital record of financial transactions related to my health care (PEI Health Card # XXXXXX). I’m interested in all financial transactions related to doctors visits, hospital care, emergency room visits, lab tests, etc. with as much detail as available (date, amount, description, account, etc.). I would prefer the information in an open digital format, such as CSV or XML format. FOIPP Request
82. 30 Days Later June 27, 2011 – Day 32
83. What I Received… Physician Date Code Location (Printed report, not digital data)
84. “However, a payment made to a physician is the physician’s personal information and is therefore not ours to disclose. General information related to payments for physicians can be found in the Master Agreement between the Medical Society of PEI and the Government of PEI.” But no financial data…
85. So I appealed to the Information and Privacy Commissioner She agreed to open a review. August 18, 2011 – Day 84
86. Clause 17(2)(c) of the Health Services Payments Act specifically authorizes the Minister to release the information I have requested: “the Minister may disclose information obtained in the administration of this Act, to the person who received the basic health services or to the legal representative or guardian of the person” and subsection 17(3) of the same act sets out the information that is authorized to be provided (emphasis mine): (a) basic health services provided;
 (b) the date on which the basic health services were provided;
 (c) the name and address of the person who provided the basic health services; (d) amounts paid under the plan; and
 (e) the person to whom payments were made from the plan. Sent more information… October 17, 2011 – Day 144
87. Waited…
88. Waited… Information and Privacy Commissioner informed me that her review would take longer than 90 days
89. Waited… Waited… Information and Privacy Commissioner informed me that her review would take longer than 90 days
90. Waited… Waited… Sent the Standing Committee on Legislative Management a letter asking for more resources for the Information and Privacy Commissioner Information and Privacy Commissioner informed me that her review would take longer than 90 days
91. Waited… Waited… Sent the Standing Committee on Legislative Management a letter asking for more resources for the Information and Privacy Commissioner Waited… Information and Privacy Commissioner informed me that her review would take longer than 90 days
92. “One more year…” Information and Privacy Commissioner sends a letter anticipating a ruling in February 2014 January 24, 2013 – Day 609
93. “9 more months…” Information and Privacy Commissioner sends a letter anticipating a ruling in September 2014 January 16, 2014 – Day 966
94. $879.37 February 26, 2014 – Day 1007
95. Open Data Principle № 6 Open data is a necessary precondition for 
 tenacious citizenship.
96. Open Data Principles 1. You have no idea (at all) what open data might be used for. 2. PDFs are where data goes to die. 3. Sometimes “open” can simply mean following rules of design. 4. Open data is a conversation. 5. Sometimes your users will create open data for you. 6. Open data is a necessary precondition for 
 tenacious citizenship.
112. Open Data Principles 1. You have no idea (at all) what open data might be used for. 2. PDFs are where data goes to die. 3. Sometimes “open” can simply mean following rules of design. 4. Open data is a conversation. 5. Sometimes your users will create open data for you. 6. Open data is a necessary precondition for 
 tenacious citizenship.
113. Slides are online at http://l.ruk.ca/gpc-slides These slides are released under a Creative Commons license. You are encouraged to distribute them as far and as 
 wide as possible under the terms of the license.