Uzbekistani delegation shares their experiences with open data on Austin visit
Last Tuesday, two Open Austinites attended a meeting with Uzbekistani leaders to discuss the topics of transparency and accountability in government. The meeting was organized by Global Austin, http://www.globalaustin.org/ and the Uzbekistani leaders were in the US under the US Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership program, which fosters citizen diplomacy for emerging leaders. http://exchanges.state.gov/ivlp/ivlp.html The program’s organizers were interested in Open Austin’s work to bring citizens into active participation. Hailey Pate and Amalie Barras attended on behalf of the City of Austin and Open Austin, bringing insights about citizen engagement from inside the city and out. Also present, aside from the Uzbekistani IT and Telecom leaders, were journalists and translators, who simultaneously listened and interpreted between English and Uzbekistani.
The meeting started off by focusing on the Uzbekistani open data portal, and providing a little context. Their data portal website https://data.gov.uz/ is well designed and thought-out, which Hailey and Amalie noted as an achievement in itself based on the fact that the target user is any citizen.
“Our participation in the initiative says a lot in itself. It is a legal base for reform,” one Uzbekistani leader shared. “In 2005 the government got to say what the state organizations should feature on their website.” He noted that in contrast, “in 2014 a law was passed on state organizations which requires that they highlight their activity via a website, and collect feedback. Citizens interested in engaging can connect with government organizations via their websites and now, quickly receive answers to questions.” Additionally, citizens have access to legal documents, and with the data portal, open government data.
Hailey asked whether it’d been difficult to develop user base for the data portal. The Uzbekistani leaders anticipated this challenge and developed and implemented a strategic plan for adoption.
They certainly have some great success stories. One Uzbekistani NGO that implemented a program using open data to distribute toddlers to day cares (which are state run).
It shows the centers’ availability and reviews. They also have a technology similar to Open Austin’s very own Instabus app using GPS to track locations of their public transportation vehicles.
One of the questions the Uzbekistani leaders had for Open Austin was how we deal with the legality and ethics of open data, and that’s a question we also have. Hailey shared a couple of documents from the FCC http://transition.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/cipa.pdf and Texas Attorney General https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/files/og/PIA_handbook_2016.pdf that are used as guidelines at the state and national levels. There is still much to be discussed, and in fact, in September the Uzbekistani leaders will devote a full week to a national summit with speakers and exhibitions around IT.
The meeting ended on a high note with gratitude and gifts, including beautiful silk pashminas and an Uzbekistani document about open government in their country. Open Austin is grateful to have opportunities to share with folks tackling some of the same problems in other parts of the world.