Adam Green - September 4, 2019 in book of kells, Ireland, Irish Manuscripts, medieval manuscript, Religion
Adam Green - March 17, 2017 in ballad, Ireland, irish ballads, james joyce, John McCormack
Adam Green - March 17, 2017 in ballad, Ireland, irish ballads, james joyce, John McCormack
Denis Parfenov - September 14, 2016 in Chpaters updates, Ireland, network
While advocating for open data, we realise that for the data to be useful and to help answer real questions, users need to be sure that the data is authentic and that it will be accessible tomorrow or ten years from now. We believe that the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) has great potential to facilitate the preservation of the authenticity and accessibility of public data.
IPFS is a peer-to-peer distributed file system that seeks to connect all computing devices with the same system of files where each file is given a unique fingerprint called a cryptographic hash.
IPFS provides historical versioning (like git) and makes it simple to set up resilient networks for mirroring of data.
At the conference, we demonstrated that the hospital waiting list data could and should be permanently and publicly available via the IPFS. See here for the examples of hospital waiting list data we presented. (https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmT66oHDwzb8dU5vnZt3Ez5aStcWCjbqjNE2pA25ShTjmM/)
What are we working on next:?
Plans for the future:
And our upcoming events:
Denis Parfenov - September 14, 2016 in Chpaters updates, Ireland, network
While advocating for open data, we realise that for the data to be useful and to help answer real questions, users need to be sure that the data is authentic and that it will be accessible tomorrow or ten years from now. We believe that the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) has great potential to facilitate the preservation of the authenticity and accessibility of public data.
IPFS is a peer-to-peer distributed file system that seeks to connect all computing devices with the same system of files where each file is given a unique fingerprint called a cryptographic hash.
IPFS provides historical versioning (like git) and makes it simple to set up resilient networks for mirroring of data.
At the conference, we demonstrated that the hospital waiting list data could and should be permanently and publicly available via the IPFS. See here for the examples of hospital waiting list data we presented. (https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmT66oHDwzb8dU5vnZt3Ez5aStcWCjbqjNE2pA25ShTjmM/)
What are we working on next:?
Plans for the future:
And our upcoming events:
Denis Parfenov - March 14, 2016 in Denis Parfenov, Events, Ireland, IRM, IRM Report, Martin Wallace, midterm, OGP, OGP Ireland, OGPirl, open-government, opengov, Paul Maassen
9 March 2016
The Printing House at Trinity College Dublin
Good evening ladies and gentleman,I have been following the Irish journey in OGP since June 2012 when two active citizens came to me with the idea of campaigning for Irish participation in the partnership. With a smart advocacy strategy they managed to get more civil society interested and more to get minister Howlin interested. And the rest is history as they say. With Raj’s excellent report on the formal participation experience of Ireland in OGP to date as it’s history book.Let me start with two complements. First, a complement for Ireland on not only producing a strong set of commitments, but also making very substantial progress on delivering them. And when I say Ireland I mean those actors in civil society and in government that made this happen. Second, a complement for Raj on his report. It is quite an achievement to capture a countries journey in OGP in general, but the Irish one is perhaps even more complex. I think you managed to capture the positives and the negatives well, naming what needs to be named, doing it elegantly without shying away.I will try to do the same while framing Ireland’s performance within the partnership and making some suggestions.FRAMEOGP now has 69 participating countries, over 100 Action Plans that combined have close to 2500 commitments. The last couple of months 25 reports have been released for public comments. Those reports cover 407 commitments in total. Action plans range from 4 commitments to 15 in general, but we did have cases like Ireland with 30 and Uruguay with 40. So Ireland is on the high endIf we look at ambition, and use starred criteria I can tell you that out of these 407 commitments 27 are starred (meaning measurable, relevant to open government values, potentially transformative and substantially of fully implemented. The stars per country range from 1 to 4 (only Ireland has 4 stars, 4 countries have 2 stars, 4 countries have 3 stars, 2 countries have 1 star).On issues covered the trends are access to information and public accountability (based on the frequency of their relevance to OGP values.In the bigger picture Ireland is doing well if you look at the commitments. Across the 30 commitments many are relevant, many are substantially of fully delivered, the plan covers a broad range of issues and not just politically easy ones. On the process side there is more to be done in Ireland – and not just in Ireland.CONSULTATIONTrend is that countries are learning and complying better with the official OGP process requirements. We have seen improvements in all countries from first action plan to second. Meeting the requirements doesn’t necessarily mean a national process was of high quality though. As OGP we have realized that we have to revisit the requirements and bring in new elements that look at more qualitative aspects like the depth of the consultation – is civil society consulted or do they co-create with government, is the process open and inclusive or not? We also realized that one important factor for success is what we call the permanent dialogue mechanism a country puts in place. Raj calls it the Implementation Review Group. The name doesn’t matter. What is important is that there is a way to have a continuous dialogue between actors – not just for the development of a plan, but also for implementation and monitoring. The best examples we have are really where civil society and government co-create OGP in a space they manage together.I actually thought the consultation for the plan in Ireland was pretty good. And I watched it very closely. Yes, there could have been more citizens in the room, yes it could have been taken outside of Dublin, yes, the government could have negotiated with civil society more directly at the political level about priorities. Yes civil society could have been more strategic in bringing the 62 recommendations down to 10 Big Asks. But at least there was a lively debate resulting in 62 asks, there was government funding for the consultation, there was feedback on the proposals made and many made it into the plan and minister Howlin did put his political weight behind OGP and behind the commitments.A lot has been said about the way civil society works and works together. I don’t think I need to touch on that, except two things. I absolutely realize that for civil society to be actively engaged in something so important and so complex as changing the culture of government asks for resources. And in western countries it is almost inevitable that that funding comes from government. Second, I have seen Irish civil society smartly advocate and work together twice and got what they wanted as a result. First in getting Ireland into OGP, second in rallying together to get the FOI fees abolished. It shows it is possible and when it happens it can pay off.RECOMMENDATIONComing to a close with a few recommendations for the future of Ireland in OGP. And of course I realize you have just had elections and they have brought a bit of shake-up. And I also realize Raj has recommendations in his report. They all are very solid and important.First, to open up government and change the culture is not a technical fix. It is much more complex and political. Look at the commitments on lobbying regulation or whistleblower protection. For OGP to stay relevant in Ireland it is imperative to have a political champion in the new government with the will and power to drive this agenda forward. This is an opportunity for civil society to take the initiative.Second, if commitments are not delivered by June it is great to re-commit – or differently put – still deliver what you promise. This should not be an excuse to commit to new, bold and ambitious things that combat corruption, or promote the uptake of open data, or make public spending more transparent and accountable.Third, there are a lot of commitments in the plan to do more about participation, whether around all new policies or at local level. Ireland has a lot of good experience and should build on that. Not in the last place to make the next action plan development process even better and more inclusive, really pushing the boundaries on co-creation. And doing it in a way that really adds value to the outcome and for the parties that invest time and energy. Let’s not create participation opportunities just for the sake of it.Fourth: be a leader in OGP on some of the stuff you are really good at like whistleblowing and lobbying – and learn from others on topics you are struggling on. That is part of why you are in OGP.And finally: get that permanent dialogue going between government and civil society. It is not that difficult. You have done it on different topics and at different moments. We have dozens of strong examples by now on how to do it – including on selecting the people at the table and shaping the rules of the dialogue.Let me leave it here. As I said, I have been closely following the Irish path to government reform for the last 4 years and look forward to the next 4!— Paul Maassen, Director for Civil Society Engagement at the Open Government Partnership
Tweets and photos on Storify from Launch of OGP Ireland IRM Report 9 March 2016 https://storify.com/OGPirl/launch-of
Denis Parfenov - March 18, 2015 in DPER, Ireland, licence, OGP Action Plan, OKFN Ireland, Open Data Ireland, Open Knowledge Ireland, PSI, Public Consultation
Date: 18 March 2015 at 11:00
Subject: Submission by Open Knowledge Ireland to the Public Consultation on Open Data Licences
To: opendata@per.gov.ie
Cc: “open-data-ireland@googlegroups.com” <open-data-ireland@googlegroups.com>
Sir / Madam,
Please find attached the submission by Open Knowledge Ireland to the public consultation on open data licences.
Open Knowledge Ireland is very pleased at the Government’s decision to invite views on an open data policy for Ireland and the decision to review the Public Sector Information (PSI) licence.
Open Knowledge Ireland (OK Ireland) is a regional chapter of the Open Knowledge Foundation. The OK Ireland is at the forefront of Ireland’s Open Data community with the aim of developing a self-sustainable, enabling ecosystem for open data to empower citizens and organisations to make better informed, evidence-based decisions.
OK Ireland promotes open data culture through regular weekly, monthly and quarterly community engagements. Our events have been attended by thought leaders and notable civic activists. Between October 2012 and January 2015, OK Ireland has successfully organised 15 community meetups, 5 hackathons, one Open Data training day and one OGP Civil Society day, with a total of over 1000 participants.We facilitate development of practical engagement with open data repositories. We organize training events, in which participants develop practical skills.
OK Ireland is supported by a number of organizations which make world-class technology resources available for fostering innovative projects. For example, CKAN, the world’s leading open-source data portal platform, was developed by the non-profit Open Knowledge Foundation and is today overseen and managed by the CKAN Association. CKAN is currently used by governments and organizations worldwide to power both official and community data portals, including the Irish Government Data Portal http://data.gov.ie/.
Members of OK Ireland are technology experts and experienced civic activists, with expertise in implementing the best global open data practices and tacit knowledge of unique challenges in Ireland. In September 2013, facilitated by a community engagement day, volunteers audited and catalogued datasets originally published by Irish government agencies. This exercise became a foundation for our input into the Global Open Data Census. At the same event, an Irish instance of CKAN, the worlds most advanced data repository, was deployed. For your convenience, the submission to the Public Consultation on Open Data Licences is also available online here: https://docs.google.com/Best regards,
Denis Our submission document: Submission by Open Knowledge Ireland to the public consultation on open data licences.pdf
Flora Fleischer - September 4, 2014 in Adrian Corcoran, Adrian O’Flynn, Allen Thomas Varghese, charity, Chris Garde, Data, Dave Corley, Denis Parfenov, Flora Fleischer, Grazia D'Aversa, Hackday, Helen Nic Giolla Rua, Ingo Keck, Ireland, Open Knowledge Ireland, Patrick Killalea, Salua Nassabay, Tracey P. Lauriault
Denis Parfenov - July 29, 2014 in FOI, Freedom of Information, Ireland, Nout van der Vaart, OGP Action Plan
Two months after the European Regional Summit for OGP, Irish civil society welcomed a somewhat unexpected but not less celebrated achievement, as Brendan Howlin, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform announced that the Government approved the removal of the €15 FOI application fee for non-personal FOI requests as part of a suite of reforms to Ireland’s FOI regime. During and right after the Summit there was no clear signal of the government reconsidering its stance on removing FOI fees – a point fiercely pushed for by Irish civil society through OGP – but two months later this development will be celebrated as a win for civil society.
The Minister said:
“Over the last number of months I have concluded that Ireland’s fees regime for FOI required a radical overhaul. The FOI fees measures which I am putting in place restore the balance in relation to FOI fees envisaged in that path-breaking legislation. These reforms will allow our citizens access to information on a level par with best practice across the OECD. After all, information and data are the currencies of the new age.”He also referred to the Irish OGP Action Plan as a major contributing factor for his decision:
“My assessment of FOI fees reform was strongly informed by the issues raised in the pre-legislative scrutiny of my proposals on FOI carried out by the Oireachtas Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform Committee the FOI Bill and the debate on the Bill during its passage through the Oireachtas, as well as the views of civil society participating to the preparation of Ireland’s Open Government Partnership National Action Plan. My conclusions were strongly reinforced by discussions I had with colleagues and participants at the OGP Europe Regional Conference held in Dublin Castle in May which highlighted the vital role of FOI as a cornerstone of openness, transparency and accountability of government and public administration”.Although it took a while before this major development was eventually decided upon, after all we could say the Irish civil society lobby has been rather successful. With Ireland playing a major role as organizer of the Summit, civil society successfully seized the opportunity to start an effective lobby for abolishment of the fees. This case demonstrates the vast strategic opportunities for civil society to advocate for genuine open government reforms once their national governments play a leading role in OGP. On Wednesday, July 23rd, the first Irish National Action Plan was published, spanning three main areas: Open Data and Transparency, Citizen Participation and Strengthening Governance and Accountability. It can be found on Ireland’s country page on the OGP website. In reaction TASC, one of the organisations closely involved in the Irish OGP process, wrote a blog post commenting on the new Action Plan. < p class="entry-meta">
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