eGovernment at W3C
Better Government Through Better Use of the Web.

Earlier this month, the W3C staff proposed that the eGovernment Interest Group be re-chartered and a new Working Group be formed to create W3C Recommendations for Government Linked Data (GLD).
For more details, see the Activity Proposal. Members of the W3C Advisory Committee are encouraged to provide feedback before 29 April using WBS.

Two weeks ago, we held a series of discussions of eGovernment topics at the W3C Technical Plenary and Advisory Committee meeting (TPAC) in Lyon, France.

The first day consisted of a broad ranging discussion across eGovernment issues, lent some shape by presentations from W3C staff members. Some of the topics provoking the most discussion were licensing, privacy, open government data, identity, and eGov outreach.

The second day was focused on Government Linked Data (GLD). In the morning, thanks to the presence of key participants in these efforts, we had presentations on GLD efforts in the UK, Spain, France, and Germany. In the afternoon, we worked through a list of possible work items for a proposed W3C Working Group in this area. That work should emerge as a draft charter in the coming weeks.

One of the highlight’s of this year’s ICT 2010 event in Brussels was a Government Linked Data session: The European Commission’s Stefano Bertolo counted about 140 people in the room.

For more information about the session and its outcomes, take a look at the presentations, or contact W3C’s Ivan Herman.

For additional coverage, see: EPSIplatform, Euroalert

On Wednesday, 28 April, 9am Boston / 2pm London (see in other time zones), the W3C eGov Interest Group will host a presentation of draft legislation in New York State which would require “state agencies to make all public records, with certain exceptions, available on a single … web portal, without any fees or license or registration requirements.” [1]
Our presenter will be Paul Curtis, from the office of Assembley Member Micah Kellner, who introduced the legislation. Following the discussion, we’ll have an open discussion of this and related topics.

IG member, feel free to edit this wiki page to fill in related links,
question, etc: http://www.w3.org/egov/wiki/Open_Government_Laws.

To join for audio: +1.617.761.6200, +33.4.89.06.34.99 or +44.117.370.6152

• Conference Code: 3468 (“EGOV”), more instructions
• Please press “61#” to mute your line, “60#” to unmute.

To join for text chat:

• IRC: irc.w3.org:6665 channel #egov
• irc at W3C
• connect with mibbit

This is one of our new seminar-style Interest Group meetings: it will be
open the public, and we’ll start with the presentation, for up to an
hour. Afterword, we’ll switch to more of a business-meeting mode, with
our usual discussions about projects, planning, etc. Members of the
public are welcome to stay and listen for that part.

This week (9am ET Wed; see in your local time), the W3C eGov IG will host a presentation on the Linked Data API, a new approach to making Linked Data available for use by mainstream web developers. This development effort has been supported and motivated by the data.gov.uk project. We’re happy to have two of the developers, Dave Reynolds and Jeni Tennison, joining us to present.

To join for audio:

+1.617.761.6200, +33.4.89.06.34.99 or +44.117.370.6152
Conference Code: 3468 ("EGOV")
More instructions: http://www.w3.org/2002/01/UsingZakim

To join for text chat:

IRC: irc.w3.org:6665 channel #egov

http://www.mibbit.com/chat/#egov@irc.w3.org:6665

This will be the first of a new style of IG meeting: it will be open the
public, and we’ll start with the presentation, for up to an hour.
Afterword, we’ll switch to more of a business-meeting mode, with our
usual discussions about projects, planning, etc. Members of the public
are welcome to stay and listen for that part.

Tomorrow afternoon, several members of the Interest Group will be at FOSE presenting Putting Government Data on the Web: It sounds like a great idea. Now, how do we do it?.

If you’re in town, by all means come by. It’s free to many, and only $60 to the rest. I hear it’s a grand event (this will be my first time going), and it’s a good chance to connect with like-minded folks.

Meetings this week:

All meeting are on the usual teleconference bridge (+1.617.761.6200) with the conference code 3468(“EGOV”). For more details see teleconferences.

A few weeks ago, the IG started a set of parallel task force project groups. Here’s what’s on the calendar for this week:

These groups are just getting started, so if you want some say in their direction (and possibly eternal glory), now is a good time to get involved.

In line with its anticipated focus on Open Government Data, the eGovernment Interest Group announces today a first draft of Publishing Open Government Data, which provides step-by-step guidelines for putting government data on the Web. Sharing data according to these guidelines enables greater transparency; delivers more efficient public services; and encourages greater public and commercial use and re-use of government information.

Thanks to the wonderful job of the W3C Brazil and W3C Spain Offices, the Improving Access to Government through Better Use of the Web Note is now also available in Portuguese and Spanish. Both Offices have already started to distribute hundreds of printed copies among the local eGovernment communities.