In search of a catalyst for openness - a research project
In the digital world, we see emerging and changing views of data ownership, information rights in an evolving regulatory landscape. But after years of legislation and thousands of words written about the benefits of openness, organisations still find it challenging to put these principles into practice.
Openness is made up of several key components and relies on interaction among different stakeholders.
Approaches such as 'freedom of information' or 'right to information' require accessibility and drive accountability. Open data supports collaboration and delivers transparency. True engagement and partnerships for innovation or solving wicked problems, requires a major shift in our understanding of what 'open' means.
Much research has focused on the overarching legal and policy frameworks for openness and information access. More recent efforts have worked to identify and quantify broader social and economic benefits.
We need to learn more about the balance between investment and value for different stakeholders, to build relationships and trust.
This project examines the way organisations manage and respond to requests for information access.
It considers the people, processes and systems involved in delivering openness, to understand the impact on an organisation, its customers or community.
Organisations will have the opportunity to benchmark themselves against peers and measure progress over time. It may highlight areas for improvement, savings or benefits realisation.
There is no cost or obligation associated with participation.
I'm currently working with public sector and local government organisations in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
Future phases of the research may consider other regions and industry sectors. Connect on LinkedIn or follow me on Twitter for updates.
Open government is the simple but powerful idea that governments and institutions work better for citizens when they are transparent, engaging and accountable.
Open Government Partnership
What does it take to build a culture of openness; to become open by design?
A joint production by The Mandarin and Objective.
Watch Webinar On DemandExecutive Brief
As governments worldwide strive to maintain public trust, executives must balance the costs of open government with the benefits.
Download Executive BriefWebinar On Demand
How do you balance information access + collaboration with privacy + security? To deliver better services and community outcomes.
Watch WebinarWhite Paper
Explore the challenges agencies face and examine how technology can reduce the costs and complexity associated with Open Government.
Download White Paper
Sonya Sherman is a librarian, archivist and records manager with experience at the coal face of delivering information services to diverse communities and business users. She is passionate about open government and digital government – their interplay and the role of information governance enabling both.
Sonya has developed legislation and policy for public records, FOI, open data and data sharing in Australia, the UK and the Caribbean. She currently works with Objective Corporation, an Australian software company, designing information governance tools for government and regulated industries.
Increase flexibility by enabling effortless movement between business processes.
Objective OpenGov automatically sets the date the response is due to the applicant based on legislation.
An automated acknowledgement email can be sent to the applicant once the request has been validated.
Find and automatically redact virtually any type of information such as: names, email addresses, phrases and more.
Classify each request to gain insights into how and what the community is requesting.
Control, monitor, track and audit through an intuitive dashboards.
Business users receive an email containing all relevant information they require to action a task.
Options for cases where exceptions are necessary to keep a process on track while everything is monitored, security controlled and audited.
