Category Archives: open data

Should we follow Aaron Swartz’s example on civil obedience to the laws?

Posted on November 8, 2014 by lawrence serewicz

In his Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto, Aaron Swartz writes “There is no justice in following unjust laws.” In the context he argues that there has been a private theft of public culture. In effect, copyright enriches the few at the … Continue reading →

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Beyond Government Transparency 3.0: Augmented Democratic Decision Making

Posted on September 18, 2012 by lawrence serewicz

The following post is influenced by Dan Slee’s excellent post on Augmented Reality and the future of local government communications. The blog argues that transparency data mapped to location and context can be used for augmented decision making.  What this … Continue reading →

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Open data creates inefficient government and why this is good

Posted on August 20, 2012 by lawrence serewicz

The promise that open data will improve government efficiency is misplaced.  Every administration claims it will make government effective and efficient.  We had Clinton’s Reinventing Government and Bush’s reforms after 11 September.  Neither has delivered as it promised. In large … Continue reading →

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Have hypertext and hyperlink been over-hyped? The view from local government.

Posted on August 11, 2012 by lawrence serewicz

    Since the dawn of the social media age, we have been treated to various claims that hypertext and hyperlinks will change the way we work, read, and write.  There were even claims that hyperlinks will subvert hierarchies.  Yet, … Continue reading →

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Constant connectivity and the search for meaning

Posted on October 19, 2011 by lawrence serewicz

The SXSWi Festival made me think about the limits of constant connectivity. http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/03/sxsw2011-4-themes.html  By that I do not mean in a technological sense. Connectivity is creating a gap.  The gap is one of meaning.  By that I mean we are … Continue reading →

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The open data delusion: can we find meaning in the data?

Posted on October 1, 2011 by lawrence serewicz

The open data delusion is a phenomenon in which we believe that increasing the amount of data published or accessible will increase the public understanding of the issues. What the financial crisis shows is that the data was out in … Continue reading →

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The dark side of open data: politicized data.

Posted on September 21, 2011 by lawrence serewicz

As more data becomes available at a national and a local level, we have to be aware of the danger that it will become politicised.  The data will become politicised in two senses. First, all politics are local.  The more … Continue reading →

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Open Data political judo: Rahm Emanuel and Chicago politics

Posted on September 12, 2011 by lawrence serewicz

Open Data political judo: Rahm Emanuel and Chicago politics Chicago has now joined the list of major American cities publishing official data from its services on the web for the public to scrutinize and use. Embracing the transparency agenda is … Continue reading →

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Open data and transparency: are we buying a vacumn cleaner?

Posted on September 4, 2011 by lawrence serewicz

Consider the following story: When vacuum cleaners were just hitting the wider market in 1930s, a salesman visited a home in rural Texas. The new vacuum cleaner salesman knocked on the door on the first house of the street. A … Continue reading →

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Government inefficiency created by representative democracy?

Posted on August 5, 2011 by lawrence serewicz

Can open data deliver government efficiency or is it just another in a long line of claims to reduce government inefficiency? A quick scan of the literature shows very little research on efficient government but a large amount on government … Continue reading →

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