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Open Data Policy

We want your input!

In the spirit of open and transparent government, the City of Hamilton would like to encourage citizens and businesses of Hamilton to provide feedback on The City’s Open Data Policy.
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Keith McDonald Mar 26 2023 at 2:50PM on page 8

Suggestion
From personal experience as the first Open Data Lead with the City of Toronto, there must be a manager lever position with enough equality to other managers to provide a realistic chance of acceptance of requests for data and for the policy to have any chance of being accepted.

Words such as "Coordinator", "Architect" etc do not suggest or provide enough clout to leverage leadership in the organization. An individual needs equal power and authority.

Until the City of Toronto stepped up with a manager position and job description, there was nothing but argument and lack of cooperation. (This is a small exaggeration of course, but the full power of open data has only recently been edging closer.)

Addressing the authority precisely does not seem to be in this document and many could infer they would have the ability to say "no", "not now", "too busy" etc.
replies

Sara Mayo Mar 23 2023 at 11:40AM on page 1

Suggestion
Will this policy solve the problem of data existing in other places on city webiste, but not available in the open data portal. For example, the Hamilton Opiod Information System webpage shows charts from various datasets, but they only be exported as images, there's no way to download the underlying dataset. Why is this data not available in the Open Data portal. Directives such as "If data is avaible in one format on departmental webpages, it must always be also added to the Open Data portal" should be added to this policy to solve this problem.
link
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Sara Mayo Mar 23 2023 at 11:32AM on page 1

Question
It's not clear if this policy will fix the problems we have encountered with the datasets currently available.
Very often the datasets do not contain essential fields or meta data. For example, this dataset linked below "Paramedics - Reasons for call" does not have the year/date range that this data represents. It says published in June 2019, so does that mean it is data for calendar 2018? Completely unclear.
This example dataset also shows the problem of "one-off" datasets being added to the portal, it only shows a snapshot, and there's not timeseries data to see the trends over time. Especially with the pandemic, it's important to be able to access data that shows how indicators have changed since the pandemic. Will this policy push departments to provide up to date annual data on a regular basis?
link
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Ted Hildebrandt Mar 23 2023 at 11:13AM on page 1

Suggestion
Evidence-based decision making should be also be listed as a benefit and might be able to replace the last bullet - "Driving a "data-driven" culture.
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Andrea Kloet DeVries Feb 28 2023 at 7:27PM on page 5

Suggestion
Before priortization occurs, a full list of data should be created (and continued to be maintained) per department so that the City and citizens know what data exists (See link ). A master list may help for identification of partial datasets which could be merged, old town data, or data in formats which are not easily released.
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Lyn Folkes Feb 28 2023 at 11:50AM on page 1

I believe that this kind of transparency will provide much needed data to the public in order to make our municipality a more progressive, safer and climate-resilient place to live. Thank you.
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Rita Chimienti Feb 28 2023 at 9:22AM on page 2

Suggestion


In the past I have made inquiries regarding the following: licensed rooming houses; licensed rentals; licensed halfway houses; park and street maintenance schedules. I was informed that this information was not available to the public. I was also informed that the city does not track data of when maintenance is done across the city in parks and on streets. These types of concerns affect the health of neighborhoods and allows the public to see if resources are used equitably across the city. In order for me to evaluate these proposals for open data I would need to understand what types of information will be available to the public. This document does not list the types of information that will be open by department.
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Robert Drake Feb 27 2023 at 11:04PM on page 13

Suggestion
I am cautiously optimistic, but fear that the entrenched culture of secrecy at city hall at all levels of staff (as on display recently at the Red Hill Valley Expressway hearings) will mean that staff consciously or subconsciously will find ways to limit open data. I think that training is needed, and that a robust dispute-resolution system needs to be put in place to respond to citizen complaints about open data in a timely manner - justice delayed is justice denied.
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Robert Drake Feb 27 2023 at 11:00PM on page 5

Suggestion
Part of the point of open data is making data that is currently available accessible to the public in its native format (i.e. if you have an excel spreadsheet, upload that excel spreadsheet, don't print it and convert it into a jpg). I'm concerned the reference to "extract, format, and maintain" is somehow going to allow staff to justify making data available in some different format that thwarts its use as open data.
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Anonymous Feb 27 2023 at 3:12PM on page 7

Suggestion
might be worthwhile to expand the metadata requirement pieces - 1) data stewards need to provide complete and clear information about the data file and all variables, data source, caveats/limitations etc. to ensure proper use of data. this metadata file, much like the data file, should also be reviewed by a group before being posted to ensure completeness, clarity etc.
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Ralph Berney Feb 26 2023 at 12:00AM on page 1

Suggestion
It would be useful to say what efficiencies are being increased. In it's current form, this is quite vague. All the items in this list seem good, but none of them seem to be measurable. I'm not sure this is ever really touched on elsewhere in the document. It reminds me of "pilot" programs where the criteria for success (or failure) are specifically defined.
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Wilfreda Edward-Dolcy Feb 24 2023 at 2:36PM on page 13

Suggestion
Overall a comprehensive and evidently well thought out policy. Consider the role of data quality and stipulating the criteria that could define it.
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Wilfreda Edward-Dolcy Feb 24 2023 at 2:19PM on page 5

Question
What will this prioritization be based on?
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Wilfreda Edward-Dolcy Feb 24 2023 at 11:21AM on page 5

Suggestion
Consider citing alignment with federal open data best practices as outlined by the Government of Canada's Digital ambition, priority 2.1 to maximize the public value of data and information by prioritizing "the release of high-quality and demanded open data and information to allow the public to generate their own economic and social value".

link
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Neal Bonnor Feb 24 2023 at 9:50AM on page 13

Suggestion
The Policy seems well thought-out and if implemented in whole could be very useful to citizens, researchers and businesses. Having a good search function is crucial for effective usage of the data, which likely means comprehensive meta data creation (unless the algorithm is "Google good" and goes beyond meta data). Adopting all policy proposals will likely be very expensive, so consideration of proper funding is crucial and should be part of the conversation.
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Wilfreda Edward-Dolcy Feb 24 2023 at 7:58AM on page 1

Suggestion
Consider adjusting the explanation of "open by default". Note it represents the 2nd wave of open data, building upon the first wave, which centered on Access to Information laws. The concept of open by default was not based on public needs or interest, rather on availability and business value. Essential, simply open the data we can. The third and current wave of open data expands beyond this to truly "publish with a purpose", by not just anticipating public needs but directly responding to public demand based on two-way communication between the publisher and the user. See the GovLab for more information: link.
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Wilfreda Edward-Dolcy Feb 24 2023 at 7:40AM on page 1

Question
Have you formally contacted to ODC to express your adoption of the charter?
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Wilfreda Edward-Dolcy Feb 24 2023 at 7:39AM on page 1

Suggestion
Consider that transparency & openness are synonymous and the use of both is redundant.
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Paul Spanier Feb 22 2023 at 11:19AM on page 2

Suggestion
Or data that could be used to personally identity an individual.
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