Eye Tea

Word to the wise – who owns the copyright in the translated version(s) of your website?  Easy to get stung, easy to get it right as well.

If you’ve been reading Computing recently you’ll be aware that there is lots of interest in open standards in the public sector.  I like to see sharing and efficiency so this caught my eye.  This immediately came to mind when I was recently prompted to do some thinking about the Government’s Total Place and Frontline First initiatives.  These are all about efficiency and joint working across central and local Government.

Naturally there’s more to redesigning the Government machine than agreeing a pile of open data standards.  Before you can even contemplate routine sharing of data between different organisations, whatever their sector, you have to navigate information laws.  There are some significant issues, to which the Government is alive.

What struck me is that the issues are mainly about mindset.  There is tendency for organisations (not just in the public sector) either to totally overlook information law issues in certain contexts, or to adopt an overly rigid and cautious approach, sometimes in contexts where it really doesn’t matter.  Data protection ends up being a barrier to efficient sharing, or a major risk area due to non-compliance.  Major opportunities to farm intellectual property and confidential information to generate income are overlooked, whilst blood, sweat and tears are expended on gain share or risk reward deals with ICT providers which never generate income at all.  The success of Frontline First and Total Place depends on re-setting the balance in these areas.

Doing this well requires support from the top, and in large or complex organisations it requires well co-ordinated effort.  But it is achievable, and significant improvements in compliance can be achieved relatively quickly and easily.  It requires good quality training and careful review of internal policies and procedures.  There is a significant challenge for professional advisers who are perhaps often guilty of focusing on one project at a time instead of maintaining a ‘whole organisation’ approach to advising their clients on data protection.  If our client has committed to a balanced approach to information management, we absolutely must support that through our advice and methodologies.

I think the starting point for Government organisations has to be training and policy review on these issues.  It’s only when your internal systems are geared to “getting to yes” in relation to information sharing that the Total Place initiative has much hope of success.  Start with the tweak in attitudes, however, and the stage is set for some very effective information sharing and partnerings. 

Links

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/psr_total_place.htm

http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/analysis/2252846/open-initiative-gathers-4890350