This is a quick note for the Web Foundation Open Government Data guys
looking at Chile as a candidate.
To the list of virtues that we all love and cherish add the following
political topping:

Mr Piñera:
By implementing and enforcing Linked Open Data policies during this
presidential ( 2010 - 2014 ) period you will achieve two things:
* Easily reveal the status of "currently" mis-managed ( ehem. Corrupt
) institutions. This data need not be analyzed now, but it will stay
"for the record" and someone will join the dots ( a University, NGO,
etc ).
* Dramatically increase the visibility of all transactions during the
next administration. This will most probably be a deterrent for all
those trying to return to a job where they make money w/o moving a
finger. ( and, yeah. A corruption killer as well ).

Piñera has 3 years to make a change to the platform. OGD provides a
unique opportunity to make such positive, irreversible and strategic
change with long term projection and high ROI.

Also, for short term ROI, there is PR: being amongst the first
countries to get on top of Linked Data powered OGD.

Regarding execution strategy: Grassroots is not an option, we need the
govt, money and a LAW.

For those contacting me for this very same purpose today (
participating in Open Data in Chile ), my official statement is this:
I have the will to provide support, training and participate in such
effort as long as we go all the way up to the president. I don't want
to spend any more time fighting middle ranks that only lead us to more
bureaucracy. I already burnt too much money and you should learn from
this experience.

No grassroots. We don't have a large enough developer base.
No middlemen. They don't have the authority to "hand over" the data,
much less implement repeatable and sustainable processes ( which cost
money ).

Also. Beware of big tech companies here who are used to getting ALL
govt projects. The only way OGD will work is if we democratize this
and create an open ecosystem, right from the source.

So,
1. Remember the pitch above
2. Aim for grants for small teams, including universities
3. Avoid big companies that will try to land EXCLUSIVE contracts
4. Define a set of no more than 5 easy practices that should be enforced by law.

This is a huge infrastructure biz opportunity as well. So watchout for
the sharks. Of course, WF directors know that.

Keep it open

And bring it on ;) !!!

 

I thought Chile was going to be further down the OpenData adopters
list, but I am pleased to announce that it is all happening as you
read this.
The recent 8.8 mega quake/tsunami + the entry of a new ( oppositional
) goverment converge to generate a very special scenario.

On one hand, the country is in distress and we need to hastefully
increase our agility in order to react to the acute crisis and long
term reconstruction phases. Situational analysis is poor because data
is fragmented. Logistics are deficient and planning depends on data. The
success in all three timeframes ( short, mid and long term ) seems to depend
on the very same fuel: information. 

But lets zoom in to short term, which is the drive today:
Everyone wants to help but they are running into each other or going
to the wrong places. 25 vets arrive where tents are needed, and the
tents end up in a pile somehwere.
Yeah, it is that bad. The disaster left severe infrastructural damages
and, if we were fragmented before, we are totally enthropic now.

So that's one side of the story: *we need to integrate what we know
and we need to do it now*. Linked Data is a blessing the best tool at
hand.

Now onto the second item:

The incoming government will see fierce opposition and it will have to
dodge several kinds of attacks. These will come in ( at least ) two
shapes:
* Trying to make the new govt pay for errors stemming from the past.
We already saw this happen with the recent country-wide blackout. This
is clearly a ghost from the past but go tell that to the media
monster. And then try to stop it from eating you when you don't even
have the correct data at hand. Someone made a mistake, but it is hard
to know who.
* Stopping initiatives on their tracks because of the fierce
opposition in government. Congress can loose its blocking power if
people are informed of what's being proposed.

I'm not saying the new govt won't craft its own collection of
mistakes. But we should not make it harder for them. After all, while
politicians fight for power, it is the people below that pay the price
and in moments like these we simply can't afford that.

So there you have it. Two alignments. And I can see more, but these
should be enough to jump through the first obstacles ( finally! ).
Now, let's make it happen.

First milestone is done. Initial group of developers have been
evangelized and they are all willing to get their hands on some data.
Now, let's organize the World Bank's crisis camp in such a way that
NGOs can provide us their data and their requirements.

Lots of work ahead!

Links:
* http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/27/chile.quake/index.html
* http://opendata.cl/
* http://bitbucket.org/abucchi/opendata-chile/wiki/Home

( I posted this via email )