Government of Quebec open data and open government - the Gautrin Report

The government of the province of Quebec today released the Gautrin Report, which covers Web 2.0 and government transformation related to technology.  It includes ideas such as a provincial open data site and improved internal collaboration for government employees.  In the press conference I also heard mention of a dashboard for government IT projects (with reference to the dashboard created by the US CIO).

The report (in French) is available: Gouverner ensemble : Comment le Web 2.0 améliorera-t-il les services aux citoyens? (PDF, 207 pages, 3,55 Mo)

You can also find two appendices and the complete text of responses to the government's online consultation about the topic at http://www.mce.gouv.qc.ca/publications/publications.htm

There was a brief press conference introducing the major elements of the report.

Also launched was a new Twitter account @GouvOuvertQc ("Open Government Quebec") and the open data site is live, albeit as a placeholder (I gather the real site will go live next month, June 2012): http://donnees.gouv.qc.ca/

There is a website for the entire initiative (also a placeholder at the moment): http://ouvert.gouv.qc.ca/

And a short press release: M. Henri-François Gautrin dévoile les principales recommandations de son rapport : Gouverner ensemble.

UPDATE 2012-05-03: The placeholder sites have been updated with more information, including a longer press release - Le gouvernement du Québec s'engage sur la voie du gouvernement ouvert.  It lists two actions for June: the open data portal and the IT projects dashboard

Le portail www.données.gouv.qc.ca sera mis en place dès juin et les données y seront publiées progressivement.

En juin, un tableau de bord sur l'état de santé des projets informatiques sera diffusé dans le portail des données ouvertes.

A mockup of what the IT projects dashbard will look like is available (PDF).  (And yes, both the accented and unaccented version of the open data portal URL will work.)

It also lists 14 actions that will be completed by December 2012.  (I am not going to translate them all.)  They include planning, governance, and website launches.

There will be a website specifically for public feedback.

La mise en ligne d'un site Web www.défis.gouv.qc.ca qui permettra de solliciter les réactions du public et de renforcer sa participation à l'élaboration, au suivi et à l'évaluation des services publics;

For the moment, you can provide your feedback to the report on the consultation site.

ENDUPDATE

The report's recommendations are (my translations):

1. Essentially this recommendation is a call for an open data site, with machine-readable datasets.
2. Encourage citizen participation in the evaluation of the government's actions and policies.
3. This is an interesting, internal and external facing recommendation
   "Que le gouvernement s’engage à utiliser le potentiel du Web 2.0 pour stimuler et faciliter la collaboration des employés au sein et entre les différents ministères et organismes gouvernementaux."
   The government should take advantage of the potential of Web 2.0 to enable employee collaboration within departments and between different departments and government organisations.
4. The Premier of Quebec should declare he will follow the path of Web 2.0 and have an open government.
5. Basically says the Government 2.0 project should put in place step-by-step and be well managed.
6. Basically just restates the need for an open data portal and says it should start with data that is already covered for release under existing laws.
7. Says that the l’Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ) should be the depository for all government statistical data.
8. That all non-statistical data should be held by the National Library & Archives of Quebec (Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec) and that the library should be responsible for verifying the quality of the data.
9. Basically says the data should be machine-readable and discoverable by search engines, and that a specific data search engine should be developed.
10. Says data put on the open data portal should be under an open license (specifically one like the Open Government License).
11. Along with the open data site there should be a site where citizens and companies can provide feedback.
12. Says that the use of the open data should be encouraged (there should be incentives to encourage its use).  "Que soient développés des incitatifs pour encourager une utilisation innovatrice et créatrice des données gouvernementales."
13. In all communication plans, social media should be included as a means to gather citizen feedback and stimulate dialogue.
14. The government should do social media monitoring in order to respond to feedback provided in those channels.
15. Departments should use social media to create discussion spaces for citizens to provide feedback about big projects.
16. Have a way to measure citizen feedback and demonstrate that it is being used.
17. Have a citizen forum (online) for discussions.
18. LA COLLABORATION
    Un réseau social interne
    "Que soit amélioré l’intranet gouvernemental pour y inclure un outil de collaboration du type réseau social, qui permet des fonctionnalités comme le partage de documents, la stimulation du brassage d’idées, la bonification de l’information et les interactions entre les employés de la fonction publique."
    The government intranet should be improved to include a social network for collaboration and document sharing.
19. Develop a vision of how to use Web 2.0 for improving service quality.
20. Change the government's organisational culture to encourage the sharing of information, co-creation of new knowledge, and greater responsibilities for employees.
21. The government should provide the support necessary to help its employees maximise their use of Web 2.0, while respecting their ethical responsibilities.
22. Trust government employees, give them the ability to be innovative in using Web 2.0.
23. The governance of this open government project should be under the direct authority of the Premier.
24. There should be a governance committee (with various specific members listed).
25. Basically the purpose of the governance committee is to monitor and guide the various phases of the project.
26. More details about the governance committee.
27. Take security measures, try to ensure only correct information is sent over social media.
28. Take particular care with the security around private information.
29. Broadband Internet for all Quebec.
30. Accessible websites.
31. Keep the cost of Internet access and technology tools reasonable.
32. Provide training to citizens to help them use new technologies.

NOTE: I am not a professional translator.  This is just my best quick effort at translating these.  Feel free to correct my interpretations.  Apologies for anything that's incorrect.

Twitter:

• The account for the consultation (which presumably will now go silent) is @GautrinWeb2 and the accompanying hashtag is #GautrinWeb2
• The @GouvOuvertQc account has been using the hashtag #gouvouvert as opposed to the Government of Canada consultation which used #gouvert (well more specifically #parlonsgouvert)

Previously

August 5, 2011  Québec - Consultation publique Web 2.0

Comments

[GabrielCossette]

Thanks for the post! Good progress there from Quebec government.

Very glad that some of the ideas I proposed about GCPedia (Wiki), GCconnex (internal social network) and IRCan (open source software forge) has been published in this report :)

Also, the IT projects dashboard has been created with open source software (like US one).