Open Government Blog

By: Thom Kearney, Open Government team member

We just posted our draft plan for the next two years of Open Government, and thought we would set the stage with some background on the process we have undertaken so far.

United States Judge Damon Keith wrote: “Democracies die behind closed doors.” At Library and Archives Canada (LAC), as part of our commitment to Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government, we are working to open doors through open information, open data, and open dialogue. We are guided in this work by the Directive on Open Government, introduced by the Treasury Board Secretariat in 2014.

The Governments of Alberta, British Columbia and Canada conducted a survey on open data of all Canadian provinces and territories in 2015. Open data programs have become increasingly popular across the country, and we wanted to have a better picture of who is active in Canada, what open data programs look like, and what impact they’re having.

Much has been said of the potential of data to revolutionise business and relationships. But data will only get us so far on its own. We also need it to be relevant, timely, and usable.

Mike Smit is a professor in the School of Information Management at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. His research and teaching explore data management for open and big data, data literacy, the effect of open information on civic engagement, and the interaction of information and emerging technology (including cloud computing and the Internet of Things).