On a night threatening rain about 25 people came together to discuss Open Genomics in a lab at the Edge, overlooking the Brisbane river. The debate was led by two experts: Mark Crowe, a BioInformatics Scientist and Naveen Sharma, an Information Risk and Compliance Manager. Mark spoke in favour of opening genomic data and his paper can be read in full here at the QFAB website and Naveen noted the risks of data misuse, which can be read here.

Tools for genetic testing are becoming more advanced and less expensive, therefore are increasingly prevalent, and so more profiles are being created. The benefits of conducting genomic analysis on massive datasets were clearly asserted by Mark Crowe, and Naveen Sharma described several examples of risks with open data, and in conclusion quoted Professor Ohm: “data can either be useful or perfectly anonymous but never both.”

An active discussion ensued and was focussed not on the future, but on what’s available to the public now, such as 23andMe.com kits that provide genetic reports and uninterpreted raw genetic data. It was noted that 23andMe now have the world’s largest autosomal DNA database and they can no longer offer health-related genetic reports after legal action. The National Geographic Genographic project also allows anyone to identify their genome ancestry, and holds over 660,000 profiles – which can optionally be shared with other study participants.

We envisioned a hypothetical future Gattaca-like dystopia of genotype profiling, eugenics (genetic manipulation) and discrimination where DNA determines social class.  Will we see diseases eliminated via selective breeding, and as a further step will we see differences treated as abnormalities?

Will genetic data availability increase pressure on our medical services for non-threatening treatments and personalised medicine? And is this beneficial because it is less costly to prevent medical issues than treat them? What will the impact of increased demand be on Genomics experts and their analytical tools?

A theoretical issue was raised of insurers using genomic tests to decline insurance customers for illnesses to which their tests indicate a predisposition. Mark Crowe replied that on the other hand it’s positive because some insurers, once a predisposition is identified, will pay for preventative measures because they cost less than treatments.

Through discussion it became apparent that the question really is a highly personal, sensitive one: ‘am I, as an individual prepared to make my private genomic data public and identifiable to me?’ as per the Personal Genome Project. A voluntary ‘show of hands’ vote was called for and the count was only slightly in favour of yes.

However we all agreed the public shareable release of genomic data is a complex growing issue that the Australian government should address in more detail, and importantly must begin the process now to ensure it is in place before rather than during or after genomic data use becomes more  prevalent in Australia. Although genomics analysis is still in its relative infancy, beginning the process of a regulatory response now is vital given the US took ten years. A second step is forming agreed global industry standards for use of genomic data, including open data. It appears this is in train, with the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health meeting in March to begin a coordinating the development of standards, addressing openness, interoperability, regulatory barriers and discovery.

Discussion continued overtime until we needed to exit the venue as it was closing…. so please feel free to add your comments and thoughts here to continue the conversation.  Anna, James and I look forward to the next debate!

Image: DNA origami by Alex Bateman CC BY 2.0

Equity File 760 of 1892 for Merchants Mutual Fire Marine Insurance Coy Ltd. Released by Qld State Archive CC BY <http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/Researchers/Indexes/Courts/Pages/Equityfiles.aspx>

The Queensland Government has recently released two strategic reports that emphasise the future agenda for open data in this state.

After public consultation, in December 2013 the government released a working draft of the Queensland 30 year vision (PDF) for comment.

The governance section of the plan highlights the need for localised and more flexible decision making and the government states it will be successful if it is responsive, open and transparent in decision making. To achieve this it will provide progress reporting and open data initiatives to promote openness and transparency (p.26).  Secondly the government will ensure interaction between citizens and government are streamlined, timely and free of duplication.

There is also a lot of mention in the plan of collaborative processes of development and responsibilities for outcomes will be collaboratively shared between government, communities, regions, industry and business.  Hopefully open data and transparent sharing of inputs will underpin such collaborations.

More details are on the Queensland Plan site: http://www.queenslandplan.qld.gov.au/ 

A second recent report of interest is Queensland Government Science and Innovation Action plan.  The plan includes the following: deliver the release of public data to encourage economic growth, innovation in government service delivery and improved transparency in government; maintain the momentum of economic growth by providing access to data generated by industry (p.14); coordinate a suite of innovation in government tools to help improve the quality and efficiency of government service delivery, and; create and implement an innovation portal to engage industry and the community in developing innovative solutions to service delivery challenges.

You can read more on this at: https://www.qld.gov.au/dsitia/initiatives/science-innovation-action-plan/

Anna Gerber (an OKF Brisbane Ambassador) recently presented on a panel at the Queensland Government Open Science day and a video of the panel will be available soon.  At least 120 people (that I counted) attended and during the day the Queensland CIO, Andrew Mills, launched the Government Science open data competition. The competition is underpinned by the aims of the State open data initiative to (a) encourage people, companies, researchers and non-government organisations to develop innovative solutions to Queenslanders’ problems and (b) help make government more transparent and accountable.

Thirdly, the Queensland Digital Economy Strategy will be released soon.  The draft strategy was released for public comment and included a desired outcome of “customer-centric government through digital innovations in open data, digital records, and crowdsourcing policy inputs,” “digitally open up and increase access to the State’s cultural and tourism assets“… and “work in partnership with industry and community organisations to better communicate the importance of the digital economy to improving Queensland’s productivity and long term economic future” (p.12).  There’s a clear pattern of open data and collaborative decision making in all three reports.

It appears to me that local, state and federal governments hear and understand the need to open their data, have policies in place and are now working actively on strategic implementation, or the ‘how’ of opening what data. These two reports clearly signal that open data will be a key indicator of accountability for the government. OKF Ambassadors have met and hope to work with various governments here in Queensland to assist with enabling open government data with the outcomes of increased transparency and accountability here.  So far the Queensland state government has released 705 datasets, including everything from the excellent GOMA artworks to DSITIA biogeographic subregions and departmental late payment fees. We’re watching, helping and counting! And we’re looking forward to reusing this data!

image by justgrimes CC BY

The State of Queensland is ramping up activities in preparation for the G20 summit to be held in Brisbane in November 2014.  According to the official  G20 charter, its purpose is to be a premier forum for international cooperation on the most important issues of the global economic and financial agenda. From an open data viewpoint, the summit is an opportunity for the G20 to endorse the Open Data Charter. The Charter was approved by the G8 in June 2013 so it appears to be a logical progression to expand it to the G20.

The Omidyar Network is a major global philanthropic funder of activities that catalyse openness (including OKF UK). Omidyar Director of Policy, Martin Tisné, helped cultivate the G8 Open Data Charter and he is currently in Australia drumming up support for it to be considered by the G20.  On Tuesday 3 December, shortly after arrival in Australia from London he spent the afternoon in discussion with key members of the Queensland Public Service Executive, followed by attendance at the Queensland Premier’s Open Data Awards – where he informally was introduced to Ray Stevens (Queensland Minister for eGovernment), Ian Walker (Queensland Minister for Science and ICT) and the Premier, Campbell Newman. All three are vocal supporters of Open Data. The OKF warmly thanks Zoe Wilson of the Premier’s Department for opening the doors to the Queensland Government for Martin. He is also visiting Canberra and Sydney to meet with G20 and Federal Government representatives there.

But back to the Open Data Charter, it consists of principles and guidelines to be implemented by 2015. The principles are:

1. Open Data by Default
2. Quality and Quantity
3. Useable by All
4. Releasing Data for Improved Governance
5. Releasing Data for Innovation

The Charter recognises the central role open data can play in improving government and governance and in stimulating growth through innovation in data-driven products and services. This was reinforced recently by global consulting firm McKinsey & Co. who estimate open data can potentially add US$3-5 trillion in economic value per annum to seven sectors within the global economy. And that’s just a starting point. To unlock that value we need to open our data and to do that perhaps the Australian government, as a member of the G20, should consider the Open Data Charter. Or as McKinsey put it, the use of open data:

requires governments to play a central role by developing and implementing policies to mitigate consumer and business concerns about the misuse of open data and to help set standards that will allow the potential economic and social benefits to materialize.

Opening government data can improve fiscal transparency, potentially minimising negative impacts and building economic resilience to future shocks, which are all issues of relevance to the G20. The general multi-lateral open data focus is on: government budgets; revenues relating to aid, extractives, illicit financial flows and tax data; and government spending and contracts. Many of these Australia does well such as the Open Budget, but here’s a small opportunity as an example: wouldn’t it be great if the public had free access to the reports on ASIC companies register (rather than paying a fee per report), and if the reports were supplied in open data formats? The dataset could then be fed into the global opencorporates Project – the world’s largest openly licensed database of companies, that contains very little Australian data. Chris Taggart of OpenCorporates said earlier this year:

Company registers are the fundamental public record of the creation and existence of companies. Today we live in a world where large corporations can consist of opaque networks of thousands of interlinked companies, avoiding scrutiny and competition. Criminals, money launderers, corrupt officials and fraudsters routinely use networks of front companies to hide and move money. In this context it is essential that access to the statutory information is not just freely available, but available under an open licence and as machine-readable data.

Again, it’s not to say Australia are laggards in open data, we compared favourably to global peers in a recent open census of countries, and in April 2014 Australia will join 61 other countries in the Open Government Partnership to develop and implement ambitious reforms to escalate the openness, accountability, and responsiveness of our government to citizens. The forthcoming G20 summit meetings in Australia present an opportunity to propose the consideration of the Open Data Charter by the G20. To achieve that there’s much work to do. Should OKF play a role and how? Please add your comments and we welcome your thoughts

In an overnight trip to sunny Brisbane Rufus Pollock delivered an interactive session attended by 30 people at QUT on Friday night and on Saturday morning gave the plenary talk for the Queensland Government Open Data Mixer day to about 150 people (and livestreamed to 3 cities where concurrent Open Data Mixer days were being held). Attendees ranged from the fields of journalism, small tech businesses and startups, government, universities, academia, policymakers, coders, library and archives.

According to tweets he was an inspirational “riveting keynote speaker” who highlighted practical implications of open knowledge. A great Queensland government example is their Police Crime map. Twenty Queensland government open data strategies contain 860 data sets that the government aims to be release within the year so they can be cleaned, analysed and reused in ways that improve services to citizens. One speaker noted it’s not just government and academia – Queensland businesses are also opening their data and working cooperatively on mutually beneficial projects.

See the plenary session by Rufus Pollock for yourself via the Open Data Mixer Plenary Session webcast .

During his time in Brisbane Rufus also met with OKFN volunteers to brainstorm ideas for the year ahead, so watch this space for announcements of upcoming activities and fun.

New Brisbane OKFN Ambassadors (x2) Announced!