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The Chicago region’s prosperity and livability depend
on good decision-making by government, business and community leaders. Good
decisions require accurate, up-to-date information about the region, in all
its dynamic and multi-faceted complexity. How can we strengthen the
informational foundations available to these decision-makers? The most
crucial step is to ensure that governments make data available to each other
and, whenever it can be done without violating confidentiality, to the
public.
Promoting the flow of data among units of government is
so vital because so much information is generated and managed by these
public entities. Both horizontal integration (across jurisdictions) and
vertical integration (among federal, state, regional, county and municipal
levels) are equally important. Without data integration, every
decision-maker is acting without access to all the puzzle pieces. With data
integration, something like an “executive dashboard” of indicators can be
created, a dynamic statistical resource that changes as the region changes.
Two important aspects of data integration are
interoperability (government-to-government linkages) and transparency
(public accessibility of government-managed information).
Interoperability allows government entities to
share data and functional processes, which can increase efficiency and
effectiveness of operations. The disasters of September 11th and
Hurricane Katrina underscored the need for interoperability. The National
Information Exchange Model (NIEM) was created by various federal departments
because
“A variety of emergency situations in recent
years have demonstrated in increasingly vivid detail the tragic consequences
that often result from the inability of jurisdictions and agencies to
effectively share information. Terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and
tragic large-scale criminal incidents too often serve as case studies that
reveal weaknesses in our nation’s information sharing infrastructure. Even
daily local events that involve multiple agencies, such as fire and law
enforcement, illustrate the challenges to sharing information.”
(http://www.niem.gov//files/NIEM_Introduction.pdf)
Information Week wrote in September 2005:
“Many of the critical intelligence failures of
Sept. 11 happened because the right people didn't have the right information
at the right time. Since then, data sharing has been a top priority at all
levels of government as well as between government and business, but there's
still a long way to go before nimble, effective, and secure data-sharing
systems are established.”
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=170700240&tid=5979
Even in day-to-day situations, interoperability can
enhance government service delivery and improve decision-making. For
example, multiple agencies might share a single web application form (“one
stop shop”) for a variety of government services. Building inspectors might
tap into county tax assessor records or property deed documents to gain a
more complete picture of a particular parcel.
Transparency gives the public—businesses,
community organizations, educational institutions and citizens—access to the
information they need to operate most effectively. This principle is
enshrined in the Illinois Freedom of Information Act:
“Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of the
American constitutional form of government, it is declared to be the public
policy of the State of Illinois that all persons are entitled to full and
complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official
acts and policies of those who represent them as public officials and public
employees consistent with the terms of this Act. Such access is necessary to
enable the people to fulfill their duties of discussing public issues fully
and freely, making informed political judgments and monitoring government to
ensure that it is being conducted in the public interest.” (http://www.state.il.us/idns/html/legal/statutes/genadm/foia.htm#1)
Transparency is not just
about government accountability to citizens. It may also allow businesses,
universities and non-profit organizations to re-purpose public data for
research, analysis and policy work. It can eliminate the need for many FOIA
requests and give the news media a reliable source of accurate information.
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