Vivek Kundra, U.S. Chief information officer in un’intervista di qualche ora fa al New York times racconta come il sogno dell’open data negli Stati Uniti d’america è diventato realtà in poco più di un anno e quanto la realizzazione di questo sogno stia oggi modificando il rapporto tra l’amministrazione ed i cittadini che si ritrovano, forse per la prima volta, a cooperare davvero per un Paese migliore.
Numeri ed esempi utilizzati da Kundra a conferma della bontà dell’iniziativa data.gov sono straordinariamente significativi di quanto vada di corsa nell’innescare inimmaginabili dinamiche virtuose la filosofia dell’open data: quando nel maggio del 2009 venne lanciato il sito data.gov - spiega Kundra - c’erano appena 47 data sets disponibili mentre oggi ce ne sono 247 mila.
Con la base dati delle campagne di richiamo per prodotti difettosi in corso - racconta Kundra - un consumatore ha sviluppato un’applicazione per iphone che consente di scattare la foto ad un prodotto e sapere, in tempo reale, se e quali campagne di richiamo sono in corso in relazione a quel prodotto.
Ma ancora più interessante è la “risposta” dell’amministrazione all’iniziativa del consumatore: l’amministrazione USA, infatti, ha utilizzato l’app per ihone sviluppata dal cittadino per realizzarne un’analoga versione per la piattaforma android che ha poi reso disponibile a tutti i cittadini.
A fronte di un investimento marginale, un data set, sin qui assai poco utile ha prodotto straordinari vantaggi per tutti.
Nessuno, tuttavia, può raccontare Kundra meglio e con più entusiasmo di Kundra e, quindi, ecco qui di seguito uno stralcio della sua intervista al New York times:
What are you doing with data.gov?
Well, when we started the site in May of 2009, we had 47 data sets available to the public. Today we have 274,000 data sets available. We’re promoting transparency across all facets of government, and making data available is the first step. We’re adding hundreds of interesting data points from agencies and on every aspect of government — from health care to education to product safety and defense.
And what are people doing with these data sets?
We’ve seen some amazing apps from these data sets. One person, for example, created an iPhone app, CPSC Recalls, which stands for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This app compiles all the product recalls in the United States, and then a citizen can use the camera on their mobile phone to scan a product in a store and see if it’s had any recalls or alerts.
It seems that government and citizens are working together with these data sets?Absolutely. We’ve moved to a model of co-innovation, where the American people can help create value in a way that we’ve never been able to do before. The recalls app was originally created by a random developer and then we, the government, created a newer version of the app and released it for the Android platform.
Have you had push-back with the amount of data available online?
Well, it’s been very successful so far. There’s a few different lenses to this. There’s using data for accountability to make sure money is being distributed appropriately. Then there’s the data that can be used to help Americans make the right choices whether it’s around health care or transportation. And the third is to create a platform for innovation, in the context of the economy, like creating new economic opportunities.
How do you ensure that the data is secure?
Before each data set is added to data.gov, the respective agencies go through it to make sure there isn’t any personal information. After a thorough scrub, it’s put through de-identification software to make sure there isn’t any private information or information that affects national security.
That sounds like an episode of C.S.I.The data.gov platform is huge and very important. We have to ensure that we protect people’s privacy, and I’ve worked very closely with the privacy folks, including the A.C.L.U., to ensure this.
Do you use social networks within government?In the White House, we’ve been using the social tools available today. For example, we rolled out the 2011 budget through Facebook. That helped us leverage an existing network of millions of people without having to build our own infrastructure. We don’t have to spend billions of dollars developing these systems, which would take years; instead we can just put it on Facebook.
Il resto dell’intervista la trovate qui.
Proviamo anche noi a smettere di sognare ed iniziare a realizzare questo sogno possibile?
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