Improved Access to Publicly–funded Data

I support the statement in the consultation paper that "Governments can help by making publicly–funded research data more readily available to Canadian researchers and businesses." Data is a fundamental element of infrastructure in the digital economy; technology innovations such as Web 2.0 sites and smart phone apps are powered by access to data. The United Nations E–Government Survey 2010 states about data access that it "enhances public sector efficiency by transferring some of the analytical demands of government to third parties such as non–governmental organizations, research institutes and the media, which have been found to combine data from various sources in original and inventive ways." Therefore, improving access to publicly–funded data must be a key element of a Canadian Digital Economy Strategy.

Comments

vellino — 2010–06–04 10:54:43 EDT wrote

May I also suggest the U.S. Report of the Interagency Working Group on Digital Data to the National Science and Technology Council Harnessing the Power of Digital Data for Science and Society, January 2009. Harnessing Power

frodad — 2010–06–07 13:01:39 EDT wrote

I agree that the government should open up access to smaller companies so that they too can participate in the innovation process. We need to break the monopolies that large companies currently have in order to better serve the Canadian population in all areas.

pushmatrix — 2010–06–08 10:04:13 EDT wrote

Open Data for the win!

dereksilva — 2010–06–08 10:24:31 EDT wrote

Yes! This is a must!

gandalf_grey — 2010–06–08 11:29:50 EDT wrote

Government open data. In my opinion it's perhaps the most substantial and practical means of promoting innovation. Besides, I think it would be morally correct for the Canadian government to provide taxpayers their own data for their own benefit. It should be reasonably easy to do. Imagine the possibilities for private enterprise, entrepreneurs, and individuals who would have the benefit of valuable data, used and reused in a multitude of ways. Definite and delicious low–hanging fruit.

Alexey Badalov — 2010–06–08 16:36:44 EDT wrote

Access to data is paramount to research. We want undergraduate and graduate students to be able to easily start new projects using real data.

rakerman2010 — 2010–06–12 14:53:42 EDT wrote

Addendum to my submitted idea: I'm a public servant (employee) in the Government of Canada. I am participating in the Digital Economy Consultation as an individual private citizen, in accordance with the Frequently Asked Questions guidance "Who can participate in these consultations?" Frequently Asked Questions

This submission represents my personal views as a private citizen.

Dacre — 2010–06–13 07:06:10 EDT wrote

This effort is touted to be about improved access. I made a submission which included a pdf file, as instructed, with several months of test results for Bell's 3G turbo stick. It was gathered, by me at Dacre over a several–month period using Sun Microsystem's My Connection PC Business Edition version 3.0e build 1523. The evidence submitted by me as a private citizen speaks for itself in support of more competition, but it was omitted by the gatekeepers of this process; why? Does anyone have a suggestion?

dsanden — 2010–06–16 12:26:41 EDT wrote

Institute for Liberty and Democracy Website see book 'The Mystery of Capital' I suspect the UN e-Government survey is in large part a repsonse to de Soto's work in Peru where he found due to incomprehensible bureaucratic processes the poor lived outside the formal economy and couldn't get business financing using undocumented assets as collateral, keeping them poor, while the rich could hire lawyers who knew the systems and how to grease palms — and de Soto found this was rampant in many parts of the developing world. So e-Government should make it easy for anyone starting from scratch to register a business, pay taxes, register titles on land and assets, and borrow against assets — without having to grease palms or hire lawyers.

datalibre.ca · Open Data — Vote & Submit — 2010–06–19 10:03:04 EDT wrote

[…] Improved access to publicly–funded data associated with research data Require open access to results of research funded by the Canadian […]

RodBorghese — 2010–06–29 09:42:26 EDT wrote

Yes we need improved access. But we also need to allow electronic signatures on Contracts. This is slowing us down. Something like the US ESIGN ACT — that turns 10 years old tomorrow — June 30^th.

Happy Birthday US ESIGN ACT ! Not available in Canada.

The US solved the issue of Electronic signatures and Contracts 10 years ago via the ESIGN ACT — In Canada we still need paper contracts with ink signatures.

Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act

The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN, Pub.L. 106–229, 14 Stat. 464, enacted June 30, 2000, 15 U.S.C. ch.96) is a United States federal law passed by the U.S. Congress to facilitate the use of electronic records and signatures in interstate and foreign commerce by ensuring the validity and legal effect of contracts entered into electronically.

The general intent of the ESIGN Act is spelled out in the very first section(101.a), that a contract or signature "may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form". This simple statement provides that electronic signatures and records are just as good as their paper equivalents, and therefore subject to the same legal scrutiny of authenticity that applies to paper documents.

hoperussell — 2010–07–07 08:46:47 EDT wrote

I agree that this is a great step forward.

Cat_Ballou — 2010–07–09 17:03:31 EDT wrote

"Data is a fundamental element of infrastructure in the digital economy; technology innovations such as Web 2.0 sites and smart phone apps are powered by access to data. " By extension, the government should therefor restore the Census long form:

Reinstate our Census Long Form aka Questionnaire 2B

datalibre.ca · Consultation (real) Results — 2010–07–14 10:19:56 EDT wrote

[…] votes — Improved access to publicly–funded data, Submitted by rakerman 2010 2010–06–03 22:49:09 EDT. Richard Akerman, his was the early submission, […]