Science Library Pad

Work blogs: Sean Boots

Since I rarely blog about work anymore, I thought I should highlight people who actually do.

Sean Boots continues to post thoughtful commentary on the challenges of the digital transition in government and on ways to improve how we work.

https://sboots.ca/

Canada's 2022-2024 National Action Plan on Open Government

Canada's 2022-2024 National Action Plan on Open Government is available, the main landing page is

https://open.canada.ca/en/content/national-action-plan-open-government

and the plan itself is available as a PDF.

Open Science is in commitment 1.3.2:

1.3.2 Yearly reports on progress against existing metrics that measure how science-based departments and agencies implement open science, with a focus on open access metrics and diverse types of open access, to be released in the open

Government of Canada science departments have posted the Departmental Open Science Plans that will be the basis of the yearly reporting.

Previously:
January 10, 2019  Open Science in Canada's 2018-2020 Open Government Plan

Departmental Open Science Plans for the Government of Canada

Government of Canada science departments are to create Open Science Plans, per the Chief Science Advisor's Roadmap for Open Science.

These plans are linked on the Government's science.gc.ca site:

Departmental Open Science Action Plans

Public consultations for Canada's 2020-2022 National Action Plan on Open Government

Public consultations for Canada's 2020-2022 National Action Plan on Open Government will begin in March 2020.

There will be in-person consultations in Ottawa on March 3 and March 5, with other events and consultation methods to follow.

From March 2 to May 1, 2020, we’ll be connecting with Canadians online and across the country. Our goal is to hear what Canadians coast to coast to coast want to see in our next plan.

from Creating Canada’s 2020-22 National Action Plan on Open Government

There is a specific in-person events page.

You can also sign up for a mailing list or follow @OpenGovCan on Twitter.

UPDATE 2020-03-05: Online consultation is now available, including a specific thematic area for your feedback about Canada's open government directions for open science.  END UPDATE

Disclaimer: I worked on the Open Science commitments in the National Action Plans on Open Government from September 2014 to October 2019.

Open Science in US 4th Open Gov Action Plan 2019-2021

The US released its 4^th Open Government Plan on February 21, 2019.

https://open.usa.gov/assets/files/NAP4-fourth-open-government-national-action-plan.pdf

Their plan will run from 2019 to 2021.

It includes an open science commitment.

3) Provide Public Access to Federally Funded Research

Primarily through the National Science and Technology Council (Council), the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy coordinates United States efforts to make the results of Federally funded scientific research more accessible and useful to the public, industry, and the scientific community. In the Council’s Subcommittee on Open Science, thirty-two United States agency funders collaborate to improve the preservation, discoverability, accessibility, and usability of Federally funded scientific research, with the aims of bolstering the reliability of that research, accelerating scientific discovery, stimulating innovation, enhancing economic growth and job creation.

In 2018, the Subcommittee on Open Science was re-chartered to promote open science principles across the Federal Government and increase public access to Federally-funded research results. The Subcommittee’s priorities include:

1. Facilitating coordination across Federal Government agencies on open science efforts;
2. Developing appropriate incentives to encourage researchers to adopt open science principles;
3. Streamlining and synchronizing agency and researcher data management practices for maximum utility to the public;
4. Collaborating with academia, researcher communities, and industry toward the development of research data standards that further open science.

As part of the Subcommittee’s objectives, it will develop a report that provides recommendations for improvements to existing Federal open access policies and continued collaboration between agencies on achieving open access objectives.

---

For more information see https://open.usa.gov/

Previously:
January 10, 2019  Open Science in Canada's 2018-2020 Open Government Plan
April 5, 2018  Open Science in France's 2018-2020 Open Government Plan

Open Science in Canada's 2018-2020 Open Government Plan

Following a public consultation process, the final version of Canada's 2018-2020 Open Government Plan for the Open Government Partnership has been released.

https://open.canada.ca/en/content/canadas-2018-2020-national-action-plan-open-government

This includes a commitment on open science, the third Canadian open government plan to have such a commitment.

Commitment

The Government of Canada will make federal science, scientific data, and scientists more accessible. We will:

• develop a Canada Open Science Roadmap to provide a plan for greater openness in federal science and research activities
• provide a platform for Canadians to find and access open access publications from federal scientists
• raise public awareness of federal scientists’ work and of open science
• promote open science and solicit feedback on stakeholder needs
• measure progress in implementing open science and the benefits it can provide

You can see the Canadian federal Open Government website for the full details of Commitment 5 Open Science and associated milestones.

Disclaimer: I work on the open science commitment.

The commitment is focused on federal governmental internal ("intramural") science.  There are many other open science related activities in Canada, including the work of the research funding Tri-Agencies (NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR) on Open Access and Research Data Management, as well as IDRC work on international open access, open data for development and open science.  Canadian universities and research organisations also have a variety of open access, research data and open science activities.

Previously:
July 15, 2016 - Open Science in Canada's 2016-2018 Open Government Plan

Feedback requested on Canada's draft 2018-2020 Open Gov Plan

The Government of Canada has released its final draft 4th Plan on Open Government 2018-2020, as part of its participation in the Open Government Partnership (OGP).  The plan has 10 draft commitments, which are available in Google Docs for commenting:

1. User-friendly open government
2. Financial transparency and accountability
3. Corporate transparency
4. Digital government and services
5. Open science
6. Healthy democracy
7. Access to Information
8. Feminist and inclusive open government
9. Reconciliation and open government
10. Leadership and collaboration

Feedback can also be provided via email to [email protected]

The Open Science commitment has four milestones:

• Pilot an open science portal to provide access to open access publications from federal scientists
• [Launch an online directory of National Research Council Canada scientists]
• Promote open science and actively solicit feedback on stakeholder needs for open data and open science
• Measure the Government of Canada’s progress in implementing open science, and the benefits open science can provide to Canadians

The deadline for feedback is August 13, 2018.

The 2016-2018 Open Government Plan, which also included an Open Science commitment, is now completed.

Twitter:

• @opengovcan
• #opengovcan

Disclaimer: I am employed by the Government of Canada to work on Open Science.

Open Science in France's 2018-2020 Open Government Plan

France has released its final 2018-2020 National Action Plan for the Open Government Partnership: Plan d'action national pour la France (PDF).  You can read a summary of the launch: #OpenGov #OpenParliament : les plans d’action du Gouvernement et de l’Assemblée nationale pour une action publique transparente et collaborative ont été lancés.

The plan includes an Open Science commitment.

Engagement 18
Construire un écosystème de la « science ouverte »
pp. 57-59

Il vise à construire un écosystème dans lequel la science sera plus cumulative, plus fortement étayée par des données, plus transparente, plus intègre, plus rapide et d’accès plus universel.

Actions (rough translation):

• Create an Open Science Committee - 2018
• Quantitative monitoring of open access for national scientific literature - 2019
• Transparent monitoring/reporting of article processing charges (APCs) - 2020
• Transparent monitoring/reporting of expenditures on electronic acquisitions for university libraries - 2018
• Open data on the financing of research projects – 2019
• National use of ORCID identifiers for scientific researchers – 2018 or 2019
• Accelerate the development of the national open access repository HAL ( https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ )
• Enrich the scanR ( https://scanr.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/ ) and Isidore ( https://www.rechercheisidore.fr/ ) science search engines – 2018 to 2020
• Communicate with the scientific community about the implications of the loi numérique ( https://www.economie.gouv.fr/republique-numerique ) for open access and open data – 2018 or 2019
• With consultation, recommend a policy for open data associated with (peer-reviewed journal) articles and for data papers – no date specified
• Progressively put in place research data management plans as a requirement in project applications, and encourage open data from funded projects – 2019

working in the open - public servants in Canada

While there have been public servants using social media including blogs and Twitter for a long time, there has been a recent upsurge in government employees deliberately choosing to use various online sites to do what I would call narrating their work.  This kind of open sharing of work in progress can be a great way to demystify what happens in government as well as to make new connections and get broader feedback.

Some recent examples from within government:

• Doing user research for the [Ontario] Digital Service Standard by Kate Kalcevich (Ontario Digital Service)
• Progress on the [Ontario] Digital Service Standard by Honey Dacanay (Ontario Digital Service)
• Hello Ontario! by Hillary Hartley (Ontario Digital Service)
• Responsible AI in the Government of Canada: a Sneak Peek by Michael Karlin (Government of Canada, guest post for Code for Canada)
• GC trip to UK — reading list day 1 by Olivia Neal (Government of Canada)

The above examples are all on Medium, a platform developed by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams.

You can also find public servants sharing their activities in other channels, for example CIO of Canada Alex Benay on Twitter and LinkedIn.

This increased public visibility of individual public servants and their work builds on years of conversations and experiments both "inside the walls" of government and on social media.  For example, there was a Canadian government event in 2010 called Collaborative Culture Camp that touched on many of the challenges of working collaboratively and openly.

I found that Twitter took a lot of my energy away from longer-form writing about my work.  Here's what I wrote about it in 2011

I think one loses a lot by not blogging. Twitter can to some extent maintain a presence online, but it can't expand it or make substantial impact. .... If you want to share your ideas in a way that will generate substantial discussion and spark interest in a major way, you have to write in the long form. ... to have an impact you must be writing your ideas, narrating your work. Not just for others, but as importantly, to better understand yourself, to have an online archive of your thoughts and work over time.

I am trying to return to doing more blogging and working in the open.

The above has a particular focus on the descriptive type of working in the open, there are other kinds of open work as well, for example open code on Github.

Kudos to Mary Beth Baker (Twitter @bethmaru) for her leadership role in getting the GC on Github.

As one example of open code, the website for the Canadian Digital Service digital.canada.ca is generated from Github, and is available for people to file issues or pull requests at https://github.com/gcdigital-gcnumerique/digital-canada-ca

For more on these topics, see my blog categories social networking and open source.

Note: Crossposted to Medium https://medium.com/@scilib/working-in-the-open-public-servants-in-canada-e103b4145dfd

obtaining the answers to Written Questions in Canadian Parliament

MPs can submit written questions.  So far in the current session (42nd Parliament, 1st session) there have been over 500 written questions submitted.

You can find the list of all questions for the current session in Status of House Business – Part III – Written Questions http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Pub=status&File=12

The questions are available online (although not easily found as far as I can tell).  The answers must be requested from the Library of Parliament.

An example of a process one could follow is:

1. Find out about a question from Status of House Business – Part III – Written Questions.
   Note that questions are numbered sequentially per session of Parliament (AFAIK).  So they are not globally unique, just Parliamentary-session unique.
2. Locate the text of the question in the Order Paper and Notice Paper (it seems like the one from the day after the question is the best place to look)
3. Verify that the question is of interest
4. Find the Sessional Paper number(s) of the documents provided in reply in Status of House Business.
   Note that sometimes answers are provided verbally in which case the document approach doesn't apply.
5. Email the Library of Parliament with the Sessional Paper number(s) you want.  Email [email protected]
6. Wait for an email with the documents.
   Note that stringent copyright restrictions are claimed for the documents.

e.g. for Q-525 (42nd Parliament, 1st session)

1. Discover the question through the title in Status of House Business

Q-525² — Mr. Jeneroux (Edmonton Riverbend) — Cyber attacks — Notice — September 30, 2016

2. Locate the question in the Order Paper and Notice Paper for the house sitting day after the question (October 3, 2016)

http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=42&Ses=1&DocId=8454479&File=9

Q-525² — September 30, 2016 — Mr. Jeneroux (Edmonton Riverbend) — With regard to cyber attacks, broken down by month, and by department, agency, and crown corporation, since January 1, 2016: (a) how many cyber attacks have occurred, either against a department, agency or crown corporation or on one of their servers or networks; (b) how many of the attacks referred to in (a) resulted in government information being stolen; (c) how many of the attacks referred to in (b) resulted in classified government information being stolen; (d) how many of the attacks referred to in (a) resulted in individuals' personal information being stolen; (e) for each of the attacks referred to in (d), how many individuals' personal information was stolen; (f) were the individuals from whom information was stolen informed of the theft, and, if so, how were they informed; and (g) for each case where individuals' information was stolen, was the Privacy Commissioner notified?

3. Verify it is of interest

4. Find the Sessional Paper numbers in Status of House Business

Answer tabled (Sessional Paper No. 8530-421-14) — November 16, 2016

Made an Order for Return and answer tabled (Sessional Paper No. 8555-421-525) — November 18, 2016

5. Email [email protected] requesting Sessional Papers No. 8530-421-14 & No. 8555-421-525

6. You will get back scanned PDFs of printed documents.
Copyright restrictions claimed on the documents are as follows:

COPYRIGHT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER

Except to the extent of the uses permitted under copyright law or the
applicable licensing agreement, no part of this document or
attachments may be reproduced or transmitted without the prior written
consent of the copyright holder.

The views expressed should not be regarded as those of the Library of
Parliament or of its employees. Furthermore, the information provided
does not represent legal or other professional advice.

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
are addressed. If you have received this email in error, please notify
the Library of Parliament by email.

Disclaimer:

The attached or following information, regardless of format, is
provided solely for the purpose of research or private study; any
other use may require the authorization of the copyright owner.
Digital reproductions of print material are provided for convenience;
in the case of any inconsistency between the digital version and the
original print version, the original print version shall prevail.

The superscript 2 means ² Response requested within 45 days.

And no, I don’t know how anyone would know any of this without spending a lot of time on parl.gc.ca plus getting some help.

IT, innovation, science and more - Gov of Canada 2016 consultations

Many Government of Canada consultations are underway.  This post is updated as they close and new ones are announced.

• Innovation - unknown deadline
• including Global Science Excellence ideas
• Fundamental Science Review – closes September 30, 2016
• Government of Canada [Information Technology] Cloud Adoption Strategy - closes September 30, 2016 - "Feedback on the strategy will be collected until September 30, 2016, and will be used to finalize the Government’s approach." - see press release for more info
  • feedback by email to [email protected]
• Government of Canada Information Technology (IT) Strategic Plan 2016-2020 – closed September 30, 2016 – “all feedback will be considered when the plan is updated in 2017”
  • feedback by email to [email protected]
• CRTC – differential pricing (or ‘zero-rating’) – closes September 30, 2016
• Cyber Security - closes October 15, 2016
• National Housing Strategy - closes October 21, 2016
• Official Languages – closing extended to November 14, 2016
• Shared Services Canada (SSC) IT Transformation - closes October 31, 2016 - also see (now closed) IT Strategic Plan and Cloud Adoption Strategy above
• Federal employees can provide feedback using http://www.ittransformationconsultation.ca/federal-employees
• Canada Post – closes December 31, 2016
• Clean Resources / Clean Tech / Clean Energy – unknown deadline - closed October 31, 2016
• Canadian Content in an Online World – consultation launched September 13, 2016 – unknown deadline
  • http://www.canadiancontentconsultations.ca/
  • Facebook Live events October 28, 2016 and November 7, 2016
• Budget 2017 – unknown deadline

Disclaimer: I work at Environment and Climate Change Canada.

See also:
June 23, 2016  Innovation Strategy consultation in Canada
June 13, 2016  Review of Canada Federal Support for Fundamental Science

Some of these consultations can be found on the government's open dialogue site ConsultingCanadians.gc.ca

post based on information from my personal blog

Open Science in Canada's 2016-2018 Open Government Plan

Following a consultation, the final version of Canada's 2016-2018 Open Government Plan for the Open Government Partnership has been released.

http://open.canada.ca/en/content/third-biennial-plan-open-government-partnership

This includes a commitment on open science, the second Canadian plan to have such a commitment.

Commitment 14: Increase Openness of Federal Science Activities (Open Science)

How will it be done:

Horizontal implementation of the federal open science initiative began in 2012. Under the new Plan, the Government of Canada wants to build on past work by taking bold steps to make government-funded science open and transparent to Canadians. Reflecting the importance of citizen engagement and collaboration, deliverables will focus on increasing the accessibility of government science, helping to ensure Canadians are informed of opportunities to engage in federal science and technology (S&T) activities, and exploring ways to enhance the impact of government data and information.

Underscoring the Government’s commitment to open science at the recent meeting of G7 Science and Technology Ministers, Canada supported a recommendation to establish an international working group on open science. This group would focus on sharing open science policies, exploring supportive incentive structures, and identifying good practices for promoting increased access to the results of publicly funded research, including scientific data and publications.

Milestones:

Science-based Departments and Agencies

• Create a Chief Science Officer mandated to ensure that government science is fully available to the public, that scientists are able to speak freely about their work, and that scientific analyses are considered when the Government makes decisions.  
• Increase the public availability of data and publications produced from federal Science and Technology (S&T) activities.
• Increase engagement with Canadians on federal S&T activities, including, as appropriate:
  • Enhanced communication of scientific participation opportunities in support of federal S&T activities; and
  • Targeted consultations on best practices for increasing the impact of federal S&T activities.
• Develop metrics to track collective federal progress on open science activities.

Granting Councils and Grants and Contributions

• Develop and implement an open access policy for scientific research funded through grants and contributions.
• Work toward the development of policies on digital data management for research funded through the Granting Councils.

Lead Departments:

Environment and Climate Change Canada; Innovation, Science, and Economic Development

Disclaimer: I work on the open science commitment.

See the previous open science commitment C.1 in the 2014-2016 Open Government Action Plan.

Previously:
June 16, 2016  consultation on draft 2016-2018 Open Gov Action Plan for Canada

 

consultation on draft 2016-2018 Open Gov Action Plan for Canada

The Government has launched the final consultation phase on the 2016-2018 Open Government Action Plan, Canada's third plan for the international Open Government Partnership.

http://open.canada.ca/en/consultations/canadas-new-plan-open-government-2016-2018

You can provide feedback to the draft plan by commenting on the page or by emailing [email protected]

UPDATE: Consultation closes June 30, 2016.  ENDUPDATE

It includes an open science commitment, building on the 2014-2016 commitment.

2016-2018 Commitment 14: Increase Openness of Federal Science Activities (Open Science)

Disclaimer: I work on the open science commitment.

Twitter:

• @TBS_Canada
• #opengovcan

Previous Plans

• Open Government Action Plan 2012-2014 (first plan)
• Open Government Action Plan 2014-2016 (second plan)
• 2014-2016 open science commitment

Plans run according to the Open Government Partnership Canada calendar, from July to June across two years (e.g. the third plan will run from approximately July 2016 to June 2018).

Previously:
April 5, 2016  Open Government in Canada - 2016 consultations and Google Hangout
February 2, 2016  Canada - Open Science 2014-2015 assessment for OGP/OGAP

Open Government in Canada - 2016 consultations and Google Hangout

Minister Brison (President of the Treasury Board) will host a Google Hangout on Open Government, specifically on Canada's next national action plan for open government (as part of Canada's participation in the Open Government Partnership).

Google Hangout

• Wednesday April 6, 2016 at 1pm Eastern (13h)
• hashtag #OpenGovCan
• Twitter @TBS_Canada
• check open.canada.ca for more information

UPDATE 2016-04-10: Video of the 30 minute Hangout is available.

UPDATE 2016-04-11: Transcript of the Hangout will be posted to http://open.canada.ca/en/consultations/hangout160406  ENDUPDATE

Consultations

From March 31 to May 15, 2016 the government is running an online ideas consultation ("ideas market") where open government ideas for the Action Plan 2016-2018 can be submitted, upvoted, searched, and commented upon.

You can see the current ideas and submit your own at

Help shape Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government 2016–18

You can sort ideas by date, most popular, and most commented, but there aren't separate URLs for those options.

There will also be in-person consultations and you can email a detailed submission to [email protected]

The draft plan will be online in June 2016 for consultation.

Separately, from May 1 to July 1, 2016 there will be online and in-person consultations about the Access to Information Act.

Budget

In Chapter 7 Open and Transparent Government of Budget 2016,

Expanding Open Data Initiatives

The Government is committed to accelerating and expanding open data initiatives and to better involving Canadians in policy-making. Budget 2016 proposes to provide $11.5 million over five years to double the Treasury Board Secretariat’s budget for open government activities. This funding will allow the Treasury Board Secretariat to enhance its capacity to support engagement with Canadians, to design and deliver an ambitious open government strategy and to accelerate the provision of digital content.

Table 7.1 Open and Transparent Government indicates this $11.5 million will be allocated as $2.5 million in 2016-2017 and $2.5 million in 2017-2018, with the remaining $6.5 million from 2018-2021.

Presentations and Information

Minister Brison presented at the Canadian Open Dialogue Forum.

You can see the presentation on YouTube, from 41:40 to 1:02:48

https://youtu.be/HS9JXTj4ZBw?t=41m40s

The speaking notes are available, along with a news release.

The Action Plan 2016-2018

In his speaking notes and as delivered, Minister Brison indicates

Strategy on Open Government

Beginning today, Canadians can go to open.canada.ca to tell us their views on what should be in the next strategy on Open Government.

We’ll also be holding in-person discussions and using the technology at our disposal to consult with Canadians in a number of cities across the country.

The details of this process are available at open.canada.ca.

The plan resulting from the consultation will be released in the summer. It will cover the full range of open government actions, from open data all the way to open science.

Previous Plans

• Open Government Action Plan 2012-2014 (first plan)
• Open Government Action Plan 2014-2016 (second plan)

Plans run according to the Open Government Partnership Canada calendar, from July to June across two years (e.g. the second plan runs from July 2014 to June 2016).

Previously:
February 2, 2016  Canada - Open Science 2014-2015 assessment for OGP/OGAP
November 6, 2014  Open Science in Canada's 2nd Open Gov Plan

Disclaimer: I work on the Open Science commitment of Action Plan 2014-2016.

Canada - Open Science 2014-2015 assessment for OGP/OGAP

Canada is a member of the international Open Government Partnership (OGP).

Canada's second Open Government Action Plan (OGAP) 2014-2016, released November 2014, contains an Open Science commitment.

The OGP requires yearly self-assessment and independent assessment reports.

Both reports have now been released.  The commenting period for the self-assessment closed January 18, 2016, but the commenting period for the independent assessment just opened today (February 2, 2016).

• Canada - 2014-2015 independent assessment for public comment (PDF) - Open Science is on pages 43-46
• Canada - Open Science 2014-2015 self-assessment
• Canada - Open Science commitment in OGAP 2014-2016
• Canada - Open Government Action Plan 2014-2016

UPDATE 2016-02-03: To comment on Canada's 2015 independent assessment, use the web form or email [email protected] ENDUPDATE

Disclaimer: I work on the Open Science commitment.

Twitter

• Open Government Partnership @opengovpart
• Open Government Partnership Independent Reporting Mechanism @OGP_IRM

Websites

• Canada - Open Government http://open.canada.ca/en/about-open-government
• OGP - Canada http://www.opengovpartnership.org/country/canada/
• OGP - Canada - Action Plans
• OGP - Canada - Self-Assessments
• OGP - Canada - independent assessments
• OGP - Canada - Calendar (PDF)
• OGP - all independent assessment reports

 

Previously:
November 6, 2014  Open Science in Canada's 2nd Open Gov Plan

Related articles

Comment on Canada's Mid-term Self-assessment on Open Government Action Plan 2014-16

Ottawa Minecraft map

The City of Ottawa Open Data initiative has released a Minecraft map of the city

geoOttaWOW: A Minecraft world of the City of Ottawa

However you have to know a few things that aren't really explained:

• This is a really big map which means it is slow to load and will tax your computer system.  It may crash on some older systems, particularly if you try to move around very quickly.
• The starting point (world spawn point) is, for some reason, currently set to near the Rideau river, Old Ottawa South (Glengarry & Onslow).
• You can teleport to other locations but you have to know the coordinates.

Fortunately some locations are listed under the Showcase link

Spawn point tp -5.5 129 -2.5

is near the Rideau river, Old Ottawa South (Glengarry & Onslow)

Parliament: tp -2266 139 -2061

Exp. Farm traffic circle tp -2851 163 1744

What does this mean?

As this is a Creative map with Cheats turned on, you can teleport, using the /tp command.

To get to Parliament Hill, just type

/tp -2266 139 -2061

Otherwise, since you spawn in a forest without any familiar landmarks, and Ottawa is very big, you may wander around for a long time before finding anything.

Parliament (Centre Block) looks like this

(Despite a CBC article which may make you think you are looking for a blue-and-white castle.)

I don't know the details of how the map was generated, but I'm guessing mostly through an export from Ottawa's Geographic Information System (GIS).  This would give the shapes of the major buildings (if you live in an apartment tower you will probably see it, if you live in a single-family detached house you will just see your lot full of grass).  The generator has some eccentric parameters set, so you will find water and lava in various places, including flowing down buildings.

It is cool to wander around Ottawa with animals grazing on Parliament Hill and more than the usual number of zombies wandering around Centretown.

The city really should set the world spawn to Parliament Hill though.  But since it's open data you can modify it and share the modifications as you wish.

Evidence Check - UK Science and Technology Committee

The [UK] Science and Technology Committee invites views on the Government-provided evidence-check papers posted on this forum, in particular on the strength of the evidence and how well the Government’s approach reflects the evidence.

'Evidence check' web forum

The areas covered in the initial release are:

• Digital Government
• Flexible working and facilitating working away from the office
• Innovation in, and accelerated access to, healthcare
• Smart meters

Deadline for comments is midday, 29 January 2016.

Comment on Canada's Mid-term Self-assessment on Open Government Action Plan 2014-16

Canada is a member of the Open Government Partnership, and follows a two-year cycle running from July to June (2014-2016, 2016-2018 etc.) Included in the cycle is a mid-term assessment after the first year of the National Action Plan (NAP) and a final assessment after the second and final year. Assessment is composed of internal self-assessment and a third-party Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM).

Canada has completed the first year of its second Action Plan (2014-2016) and so the internal self-assessment as of June 2015 is now available online. Feedback will be open online until Monday January 18, 2016.

The plan consists of a number of commitments, including Open Science. You can comment on the plan as a whole, or on individual commitments. You can also comment by sending an email to [email protected]

Based on the OGP calendar, the next Canadian National Action Plan (2016-2018) should be available in the July 2016 timeframe.

Disclaimer: I work on the Open Science commitment.

2015 Ministerial Mandate Letters - open data

Canada (federal level)

2015 Ministerial Mandate Letters

For the Canadian federal Mandate Letters, the starting paragraphs are (on a quick scan) all the same (with adjustments to address each Minister), including

We have also committed to set a higher bar for openness and transparency in government.  It is time to shine more light on government to ensure it remains focused on the people it serves.  Government and its information should be open by default.

Two Mandate Letters mention open data (on a quick scan).

The Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development:

• Improve the quality of publicly available data in Canada.  This will require working with Statistics Canada, the President of the Treasury Board and other departments and agencies to develop an Open Data initiative that would consider big data and make more of the data paid for by Canadians available to the public.

The President of the Treasury Board:

• Take a leadership role to review policies to improve the use of evidence and data in program innovation and evaluation, more open data, and a more modern approach to comptrollership.
• Accelerate and expand open data initiatives and make government data available digitally, so that Canadians can easily access and use it.

This is somewhat different from the mandate to the Minister of Science, which includes "Create a Chief Science Officer mandated to ensure that government science is fully available to the public".

2015 Ministerial Mandate Letter - Minister of Science

Canadian heads of government issue ministerial mandate letters to convey their expectations of priorities and behaviour.

As far as I know, these have not historically been released to the public, but they have been recently for Ontario

Mandate Letters 2014-2015

and for Canada (federal level)

2015 Ministerial Mandate Letters

For the Canadian federal Mandate Letters, the starting paragraphs are (on a quick scan) all the same (with adjustments to address each Minister), including

We have also committed to set a higher bar for openness and transparency in government.  It is time to shine more light on government to ensure it remains focused on the people it serves.  Government and its information should be open by default.

The specific direction to the Minister of State for Science (Minister of Science) Kirsty Duncan is:

We are a government that believes in science – and a government that believes that good scientific knowledge should inform decision-making.  We believe that investments in scientific research, including an appropriate balance between fundamental research to support new discoveries and the commercialization of ideas, will lead to good jobs and sustainable economic growth. As Minister of Science, your overarching goal will be to support scientific research and the integration of scientific considerations in our investment and policy choices.  Support for science is an essential pillar in our strategy to create sustainable economic growth and support and grow the middle class.

In particular, I will expect you to work with your colleagues and through established legislative, regulatory, and Cabinet processes to deliver on your top priorities:

• Create a Chief Science Officer mandated to ensure that government science is fully available to the public, that scientists are able to speak freely about their work, and that scientific analyses are considered when the government makes decisions.
• Support your colleagues in the review and reform of Canada’s environmental assessment processes to ensure that environmental assessment decisions are based on science, facts, and evidence.
• Support the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour in efforts to help employers create more co-op placements for students in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and business programs.
• Support your Ministerial colleagues as they re-insert scientific considerations into the heart of our decision-making and investment choices.
• Lead the establishment of new Canada Research Chairs in sustainable technologies, working with the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development.
• Work in collaboration with the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to examine the implications of climate change on Arctic marine ecosystems.
• Examine options to strengthen the recognition of, and support for, fundamental research to support new discoveries.

There is no specific mention of open data; it is mentioned in the Mandate Letters for both the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and the President of the Treasury Board.  See blog post 2015 Ministerial Mandate Letters - open data.

evidence-based policy and open science in US 3rd Open Gov National Action Plan

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/10/27/advancing-open-and-citizen-centered-government

3^rd Open Gov (National) Action Plan https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/final_us_open_government_national_action_plan_3_0.pdf

Open Government to Improve Public Services

10. Promote Evidence-Based Policy for More Effective Service Delivery

Using evidence and concrete data to evaluate government programs and policies can improve public service delivery at all levels of government. In July 2015, the Administration launched an interagency evidence-based policymaking group to promote more effective government service delivery and better results for families and communities in need. The group will work with agencies to build capacity to make better use of evidence and to make more transparent decisions about service delivery programs. The group will catalyze specific actions across Federal agencies that are designed to advance the use of evidence in decision-making and strengthen the use of data and evidence to develop and implement more impactful service delivery programs.

Access to Information

8. Advance Open Science through Increased Public Access to Data, Research, and Technologies

By providing access to government-funded scientific information and data, Federal agencies leverage scientific investments while catalyzing American innovation and novel applications for business and entrepreneurship. Federal agencies can also take steps to make the research they support more open. In September 2015, the Office of Science and Technology Policy encouraged Federal science agencies, in designing citizen science and crowdsourcing projects, to take steps to ensure that datasets, code, applications, and technologies generated by such projects are transparent, open, and freely available to the public. To continue momentum and collaborations for open science, the Office of Science and Technology Policy will:

* Increase Public Access to Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research. In 2013, the Office of Science and Technology Policy directed Federal science agencies to develop plans to increase access to the results of unclassified research supported wholly or in part by Federal funding. The public’s ability to search, retrieve, and analyze both scientific publications and research data leverages Federal investments and provides new opportunities for scientific advancement and economic growth. The Office of Science and Technology Policy will work to ensure that all Federal agencies that spend more than $100 million per year on research and development finalize plans and implement policies and programs to make scientific publications and digital data resulting from Federally funded research accessible to and usable by scientists, entrepreneurs, educators, students, and the general public.

* Encourage Increased Public Participation in Open Science Using Low-cost Scientific Instruments. One step that the Federal government could take to increase participation in citizen science and crowdsourcing is to develop hardware and software tools that are affordable, easy to use, and easy to improve. The Administration will kick off an interagency dialogue to identify best practices for how the Federal government can foster the development of low-cost scientific instrumentation and work with stakeholders through workshops and ideation challenges to identify opportunities for getting them into the hands of volunteers, such as air-quality monitors or wearables for monitoring personal health. Using these low-cost scientific instruments, volunteers can contribute their expertise to help advance a variety of scientific and societal goals

Previously:
November 6, 2014  Open Science in Canada's 2nd Open Gov Plan

A week of Open Data in Ottawa - May 2015

A big line-up of open data related events in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

UPDATE 2015-04-23: As I live in Ottawa, I have provided some info about restaurants, and how to get around in the downtown area from the conference centre.  ENDUPDATE

UPDATE 2015-05-26: The IODC has released a programme of events throughout the week (PDF).  ENDUPDATE

Please note: most of these events require separate registration.

May 24: #FlashHacks at Maker Space North - register on EventBrite - see @opencorporates @makerspacenorth

May 25: Canadian Open Data Summit

http://opendatasummit.ca/

see @opennorth and hashtag #CODS15 for more information.

social: 5pm-7pm Networking Social at Heart and Crown (67 Clarence St, Ottawa)

May 26: IODC Unconference

http://opendatacon.org/unconference/

social: 6pm-8pm register for HUB Hosts: IODC Unconference Networking Social

possible W2P meetup in evening

May 27: a number of different events

2015 Open Data Research Symposium http://www.opendataresearch.org/project/2015/symposium

Joined Up Data Workshop / Open Data Leaders Summit http://opendatacon.org/pre-conference-events/

Opening Parliaments https://www.eventbrite.com/e/iodc-pre-conference-event-open-parliaments-tickets-17006256170 2pm-5pm - for more info contact @DanSwislow and @jkeserue - also see @openparl

CKANCon 2015 http://www.eventbrite.com/e/ckancon-2015-tickets-16681567016 hashtag #CKANCon

Data Standards Day http://iodc-standards.webfoundation.org/

Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) Meeting - register - 3pm-5pm

Open Data for Humanitarian Emergencies - register - 10:30am-noon

May 27-28: Possible #HackingConflict #Diplohack - see http://new.secdev-foundation.org/hackingconflict
For more information, please contact: [email protected]
- parent organisation @diplohack http://www.diplohack.org/

May 28-29: International Open Data Conference

see website http://opendatacon.org/ and hashtag #IODC15 for more information.

May 28 social: 7:30pm Open Knowledge community / School of Data meet and greet at The Brig Pub, 23 York St.

May 29: GoGeomatics Ottawa May Social

Richard Burcher of Ottawa OpenStreetMap will speak.  7pm at James Street Pub.

http://www.meetup.com/Ottawa-GoGeomatics-Canada-Monthly-Networking-Social/events/222139575/

Note: this is a small meetup group.

May 30 - June 1: IATI Technical Advisory Group Meeting

http://www.aidtransparency.net/technicaladvisorygroup/tag-meetings/tag-meeting-may-2015

registration https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TAG2015Ottawa deadline April 13, 2015

follow @IATI_aid and hashtags #IATI and #TAG2015 for more information

The events continue, although with less direct connection to just open data

May 30-31: Canadian Association of Learned Journals

Open Access and Open Data are major topics - see schedule (PDF)

Hashtag #CALJACRS15

May 30 - June 5: Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences

http://congress2015.ca/

follow @ideas_idees and rather tricky hashtag #CongreSSH

Note that Congress has many, many sub-conferences and events, including:

• Digital Humanities Summer Institute (a series of 2.5 hour workshops) May 30-31
• a hackfest on June 1

June 3: Open Data Ottawa - Open Data Book Club - Artifact dataset - 7pm - Smoque Shack - see @opendataottawa

(see bottom of post for June 5-7 Random Hacks of Kindness)

June 3-5: Conference of the Canadian Association for Information Science (CAIS)

http://congress2015.ca/program/events/conference-cais-68
(part of Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences)

hashtag #CAISACSI15

also see http://www.cais-acsi.ca/

June 3-5: Canadian Library Association Conference

http://www.claconference.ca/

follow @CLAOtt15 and hashtag #claott15

UPDATE 2015-06-04: The CLA conference website removed the per-day pages, and now has a single program page that doesn't provide per-session links http://www.claconference.ca/program ENDUPDATE

Some sessions that may be of interest include:

Session Title: Innovation in Canadian Libraries
Session Code: INNOV
Day: Wednesday June 3, 2015
12:00 PM - 4:30 PM

Session Title: Open Government – the Virtual Library, an opportunity to participate
Session Code: 417-15104
Day: Wednesday June 3, 2015
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Session Title: Transparency through the Federal Lens: Open Government Initiatives at Library and Archives Canada
Session Code: 417-15061
Day: Thursday June 4, 2015
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM

Session Title: Preservation and Access Through Trustworthy Digital Repositories
Session Code: 417-15192
Day: Thursday
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM

Session Title: Libraries and Open Data. How Open are We ?
Session Code: 417-15037
Day: Thursday June 4, 2015
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Session Title: Library and Archives Canada as a Trusted Digital Repository
Session Code: 417-15560
Day: Thursday June 4, 2015
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Session Title: Open Government Speed Dating
Session Code: 417-15031
Day: Friday June 5, 2015
8:30 AM - 10:30 AM

Session Title: Libraries Preparing for the Research Data Deluge ?
Session Code: 417-15038
Day: Friday June 5, 2015
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

Session Title: It’s midnight, do you know where their data is? A taxonomy of how academic researchers understand the cloud, privacy and their data
Session Code: 417-15277
Day: Friday June 5, 2015
11:30 AM - 12:00 PM

June 5-7: Random Hacks of Kindness Ottawa

More info at http://rhok.ca/ - register on EventBrite ($5)

UPDATE: Most open data events are in Lanyrd

• http://lanyrd.com/2015/cods15/
• http://lanyrd.com/2015/iodc15/

UPDATE 2015-04-13: I made a Lanyrd guide for all the open data events

http://lanyrd.com/guides/open-data-week-in-ottawa-may-2015/

 

Related articles

Enabling the Data Revolution: Announcing the 3rd International Open Data Conference 2015

Open Science in Canada's 2nd Open Gov Plan

Minister Clement has announced the 2^nd Open Government Action Plan (OGAP2).  It covers the years 2014-2016.

Building on the first Open Government Action Plan (released April 2012), there are the following new developments relevant to Open Science:

• The Directive on Open Government has been issued (effective Oct 9, 2014).  To the Policy on Information Management and the Recordkeeping Directive, the Open Government Directive adds specific requirements.  It requires departments to:
  • Maximize the release of Government of Canada open data and open information
  • Maintain comprehensive inventories of data and information resources of business value
  • Publish and annually update a departmental Open Government Implementation Plan (OGIP)
• There is an Open Science commitment in OGAP2, with Environment Canada and Industry Canada as co-leads.  The headline phrase is "maximize access to federally funded scientific research".  It includes:
• the development of an Open Science Implementation Plan
• launch of open access to publications and data resulting from federally-funded scientific activities
• establishing an online service to enable one-stop search for publications and data resulting from federal scientific activities
• publishing and updating an online list of peer-reviewed articles by Government of Canada scientists, dating back to 2012
• In addition, the existing commitment to provide a Virtual Library of all government publications is extended: "This new service will provide access to federal publications through an online, searchable repository of published federal documents of all kinds."

For more information, including the complete text of the Open Science commitment, see the new portal at open.canada.ca

UPDATE 2015-07-25: The easiest direct link to the open science commitment is to use the Open Government Partnership site - http://www.opengovpartnership.org/country/canada/commitment/open-science

Open Science and Open by Default in Canada

On October 9, 2014 the Government of Canada issued the Directive on Open Government. It is the "Open by Default" directive, stating

Departments must maximize the release of open data and open information by ensuring that all data and information resources specified [in Appendix B] are considered for release.

The directive covers all government data and information. In addition, the draft 2nd Open Government Action Plan lists some specific focus areas with deliverables, including C.1. Open Science.

Deliverables to be completed in 2014-2016:
C.1.1 Develop and publish a government-wide Open Science Implementation Plan which lays out strategies and milestones
C.1.2 Establish an online service to enable a one-stop search for publications and data resulting from federally-funded scientific activities.
C.1.3 Establish common Open Access requirements for federally funded scientific research.
C.1.4 Develop inventories of scientific data, and initiate the public release of data supporting scientific research publications.
C.1.5 Publish and maintain a consolidated online list of peer-reviewed articles by Government of Canada scientists dating back to 2012.

The draft is open for consultation until noon Eastern time, Monday October 20, 2014. You can contribute to the consultation by leaving a comment at the bottom of the draft document. (Note: this is the fourth and probably final phase of consultation on the 2nd Open Gov Action Plan.)

starting a new open science policy position

As of Monday September 15, 2014 I have joined Environment Canada for a one-year Interchange (a kind of temporary work assignment).  I will be working on policy and planning related to the Open Science proposal for the 2nd Canadian Open Government Action Plan.  The open science initiative includes open access and open research data.  To quote from the proposal

The Government of Canada proposes to maximize the release of federal scientific data and make more federally funded, peer-reviewed scientific articles and research publicly available ... free of charge.

If you're a Government of Canada employee, you can find information and provide feedback on the government wiki GCpedia as well as joining the discussion group on GCconnex.

Members of the public and GC employees can also leave a comment about the proposed activities at http://data.gc.ca/eng/Open_Science

Previously:
Sept 6, 2014  update on Open Science and Open Access for Government of Canada research
June 18, 2013  2013 G8 Science Ministers Statement