Best Practices in Government Information: A Global Perspective
Edited by Irina Lynden Jane Wu
K. G. Saur
Best Practices in Government Information: A Global Perspective
Best Practices in Government Information: A Global Perspective Edited on behalf of IFLA by Irina Lynden and Jane Wu
K · G · Saur München 2008
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de U Printed on permanent paper The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard – Permanence of Paper for Publications and Documents in Libraries and Archives ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) © 2008 by K . G . Saur Verlag, München An Imprint of Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG Printed in Germany All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system of any nature, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed / Bound by Strauss GmbH, Mörlenbach ISBN 978 - 3 - 598 - 11769- 5
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE.............................................................................................................. 7 1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................. 9 2. THE STRUGGLE TO MAKE GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS ACCESSIBLE TO CITIZENS ............................................................................ 11 Problems of access to information and factors hindering management of government information with three areas/countries featured as case studies. The role of government information in strengthening democracy and economies Insistence and Resistance: The NGOS and the Struggle for Access to Government Information in Nigeria, by Lukman Ibraheem Diso ....................... 11 The Right To Access Government Information, Democracy & Development In Sub-Saharan Africa, by Marion L. N. Chibambo............................................ 29 Management Of Government Information In Kenya, by George G. Shibanda ... 49 Factors hindering effective management of Government Information in Kenya, by Nerisa Kamar...................................................................................... 57 Informed Citizens in the Global Information Commons, by Geoffrey D. Swindells ............................................................................................................. 67 Accessibility of Government Information as a Determinant of Inward Foreign Direct Investment in Africa, by Abraham A. Azubuike......................... 85 3. NEW SOLUTIONS FOR MAKING ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC........................................... 99 Modernizing access and making government information and e-government available to all citizens Management and Planning Organization of Iran: Official Publications, by Mariam Ansari ..................................................................................................... 99 Government Information and Centers of Business and Legal Information in Russia, by Emma Voskanyan ............................................................................ 107 Caribbean E-government portals or gateway websites: implications for libraries and librarians, by Fay Durrant............................................................. 125 Government Publications and Information Dissemination: Indian Scenario, by P.R. Goswami and Mrs. Kalpana Dasgupta ................................................. 147 Developing the digital world of government information and official publications: a view from the United States, by Thomas F. Lahr, Robin Haun-Mohamed and Eleanor G. Frierson.......................................................... 161 5
Table of Contents
4. BUILDING BLOCKS FOR MAKING GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC......................................... 173 Training librarians and citizens to use online government information as well as making portals and Geographic Information Systems accessible Information and training through the net: the experience of DFP (Italian Government Information on the net), by Maurella Della Seta and Fernando Venturini............................................................................................................ 173 Lifting Ourselves by our Bootstraps: Developing a National Peer-to-Peer Training Program for Data Librarians in Canada, by Ernie S. Boyko, Elizabeth Hamilton, Chuck Humphrey and Wendy Watkins ............................ 185 The YritysSuomi (EnterpriseFinland) Portal as a One-stop-shop for Public Information to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Finland, by Jaana Kaakkola............................................................................................................ 197 The National Agricultural Library – Providing Tools for Education and Development in Agriculture, by Yvette Alonso ................................................ 205 The challenge of creating and sustaining a socially inclusive e-citizenry: The proactive advocacy role of the National Library Board, Singapore, by Rajen Munoo and Rakunathan Narayanan ................................................... 215 GIS and Data Sharing in Libraries: Considerations for Digital Libraries, by Nan Hyland................................................................................................... 229 Index .................................................................................................................. 237
6
PREFACE A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul… George Bernard Shaw What, one might ask, will we do with yet another volume about information? Our motivation for this work is prompted both by the excellence of the work presented by our able colleagues and by our profound recognition of the inextricable linkage between the fundamental rights of citizens and the freedom of access to the information collected and produced by their governments. Perhaps it is too much to hope that this small volume will become a best seller, one talked about on television and over the dinner table. However, we do expect that all readers will share our convictions and revel in admiration of the many voices of courage and ingenuity which comprise this small volume. We would like to dedicate this book to our families who have encouraged us in this project and to the management teams at IFLA and Saur who have been unfailingly supportive. Fear is the foundation of most governments. … John Adams
7
1. INTRODUCTION Many best practices in handling government information around the world were described during the past five years at the IFLA Government Information and Publications Section (GIOPS) Opens Sessions and Seminars. The editors of this special volume were faced with the difficult task of selecting the best and most representative from each region and requesting the authors to bring them up to date for this publication. Over the past decade there has been a global transformation in the format and dissemination of government information. Most publications originate in electronic form allowing the transition to electronic dissemination to be relatively seamless. In addition to the electronic equivalent of the printed publications, the government information contained therein can now be extracted and presented in various ways, including individual topical or regional maps, statistics, videos and sound bites. All of the advantages presented by the electronic infrastructure have created a revolution in government information, such as instantaneous transmission, ability to search on any word or phrase, easy reproduction, remote access of full text, and reduction of storage problems. Regardless of country and continent, government information affects every aspect of the daily lives of citizens, from basic laws, human rights and freedoms, property rights to legal proceedings and precedents. Access to the government information which defines the degree of freedom as citizens and the respective responsibilities of individuals and governments is key to personal, community, and national stability. As this volume illustrates, the process of getting electronic information to the public in electronic form provides the greatest potential and the most overwhelming challenges. Providing electronic information to the public is most difficult in countries where technology infrastructure is sub-standard, or non-existent. An even greater test of the efficacy of computerized information is the ability of the user to access information once she/he has a computer and connections which operate effectively. Poor portal design can be a serious impediment to access. Even if it will be possible in the future to provide everyone with a device to read materials electronically, basic training on how to use the computer, how to search, and how to download information will still be necessary. Electronic information requires not only devices to access the information, but also education of the user to determine the what and the how of access, i.e., making the user “computer literate.” Electronic information and infrastructure magnify the question of censorship. Government information in any format can be censored, and it is especially easy to block government information in electronic form or to change it. This volume in9
Introduction
cludes testimonies of extraordinary efforts to ensure freedom of access to information. It is only once the information is freely accessible, that the second problem arises of how the user obtains it. Although there is a temptation among the technological experts to find new solutions, time and again the authors of the individual chapters show that best practice is to have this question resolved by libraries. Libraries must provide access to vital government information everywhere and anywhere in a country, and also must make it easy for citizens to find it. Finally, in some countries, where the infrastructure is already sound, more sophisticated questions surface. For example, not just how can information be located, but how can actual participation of citizens be enhanced through libraries and computer technologies. Training issues for both the librarians and users arise as well as developing systems for access and these issues are also addressed in this volume. This book is therefore divided into three sections: SECTION I: The struggle to make government documents accessible to citizens: problems of access to information (Nigeria); factors hindering management of government information (Kenya); and the role of democracy in the development of access to government information (Sub-Saharan Africa); SECTION II: New solutions for making electronic government information available to the public: modernizing access using the Internet and intranet (Iran); making e-government available to all citizens through Business and Legal Centers (Russia); using portals or gateway websites to make available documents to citizens (Caribbean); the National Agricultural Library (US) and allied databases; and the importance of coordination for dissemination of government information (India). SECTION III: Library applications for making government documents available to the public: training library staff in the skills of using electronic documents and making them available to users (Canada and Italy); developing portals for access (Finland); making e-government available to all citizens (Singapore); how to increase political literacy with libraries using government information (US) and using Geographic Information Systems[GIS] (US).
10
2. THE STRUGGLE TO MAKE GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS ACCESSIBLE TO CITIZENS INSISTENCE AND RESISTANCE: THE NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT INFORMATION IN NIGERIA Lukman Ibraheem Diso Department of Library and Information Sciences, Bayero Univeristy, P.M.B 3011, Kano-Nigeria (
[email protected]) Abstract This chapter attempts to examine a long-drawn out struggle for freedom of access to government information in Nigeria, led by three non-governmental organizations (NGOs) namely, Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). The paper provides a background to the struggle and its objectives. It focuses essentially on the following: a) The NGOs legislative advocacy for the enactment of a Freedom of Information Act; b) Their proposed text of the bill: “Draft Access to Public Records and Official Information Act”, in its amended and gazette form; c) The analysis of the bill within the context of relevant provisions in the Nigerian constitution, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and such extant Laws and degrees that restrict access to information; d) The analysis of the obstacles and resistance, visible and invisible, encountered in the struggle, and e) The analysis of the implications of non-inclusion (by Commission or Omission) of important stakeholders, such as archivists, information officers, records managers / officers, and librarians, as partners in this struggle. The chapter concludes by analyzing the future prospects of the bill in a fledgling “democracy” that thrives on brazen disrespect of the law and pervasive impunity. 1. Introduction In recent years, the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), unions, civil society, and human rights groups came to realize that their struggles for human rights and democracy in Nigeria were seriously constrained by the lack of information, not 11
Lukman Ibraheem Diso
only for their advocacy and mobilization activities, but also for their own legal defence and that of the victims of human rights abuse. They realized that it was extremely difficult to obtain reliable information, especially from official sources, about the activities of government and its agencies. Government officials are often uncomfortable and therefore unwilling to allow access to any information that they consider capable of being used, in any way, against the government In fact, the sensitivities and fears of government officials are informed by the ambiguities in the existing laws such as “official secrets Act of 1962,” which makes it difficult to distinguish between information which warrants and which does not warrant secrecy. In this situation the secrecy law enjoys blanket application to cover almost every document, especially active records, that emanate from the government or its agencies. In extreme cases that involve allegations against government officials of financial malpractices, contract scandals, human rights violations, illegal or extra legal actions, maltreatment of workers, or even controversial policies or reports on sensitive or controversial matters, such as budget implementation or probe panel reports, it is inconceivable to get access to such records through official channels. It is obvious that this situation brings freedom of access to government information under serious attack, which undermines accountability, transparency, and popular participation in governance, the basic tenets of democracy. While all this constitutes serious obstacles to discharging the primary responsibilities of these organizations’, such organizations are often forced on the defensive in the face of any legal actions against them for libel, “spurious” information, or “unfounded” allegations, as the lack of reliable information renders the basis of proof weak, or inadmissible. This fact simply stresses the point that neither the practice of democracy, nor the struggle for it, has a secure basis as long as the government and its agencies continue to operate under secrecy. Concerned about the question of the possibility of democracy without access to government information in Nigeria, three civil society organisations: the Media Rights Agenda (MRA), the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ)-formed a coalition in 1993 to push for legislative provision for access to government information. The idea of the coalition was a consequence of their conception (independently of one another) of the initial idea to campaign for the Enactment of a Freedom of Information Act in Nigeria. According to MRA’s report: The objective of the campaign was to lay down as a legal principle the right of access to documents and information in the custody of the government or its officials and agencies as a necessary corollary to the guarantee of freedom of expression. It was also aimed at creating mechanisms for the effective exercise of this right (MRA report 2003:3) 12
Insistence and Resistance: The Non-Governmental Organizations and The Struggle for Access
The aim of this paper is to discuss the process of conducting this campaign, including the analysis of the draft bill. It will also analyze the obstacles and resistance encountered in the process and the lapses that may produce long-term negative effects. 2. The Commencement of the Project Under the arrangement agreed upon by the three members of the coalition, the MRA was designated the technical partner, assigned with the responsibility for producing a draft freedom of information law. After extensive research, the MRA, drawing substantially from the experience of other countries, produced the draft bill entitled “Draft Access to Public Records and Official Information Act,” in 1994 (MRA report 2003:3). Having produced the draft bill, the MRA commenced the consultative process with various stakeholders. The draft bill became a basis for further discussions and debates with a view to subsequently subjecting it to a series of review exercises. The beginning was a two-day technical workshop jointly organized by the three organisations on March 10 and 11, 1995. The participants included human rights workers, journalists, lawyers, university lecturers, and representatives of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Federal Ministry of Information. At the end of the workshop the participants announced their resolutions in a 13 point communiqué as follows: 1. That every person whether a citizen of Nigeria or not should have a legally enforceable right to be given, on request, access to any record under the control of any government or public institution. 2. That the access to public records and information bill should be enacted into law to give effect to section 36 of the 1979 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria; which guarantees every person the right to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference 3. That executive, legislative and judicial organs and institutions should be subject to freedom of information legislation 4. That through a freedom of information culture, which will engender openness, transparency, and accountability in government, Nigerians can overcome the vicious circle of corruption, underdevelopment, and political instability. 5. That all laws inconsistent with the realization of the idea of the free flow of information such as the Official Secrets Act, the Sedition Law, the National Broadcasting Commission Decree, the Newspapers Decree, etc. should be reviewed. 13
Lukman Ibraheem Diso
6. the Draft of the Access to Public Records and Information Bill adopted by participants at the conference should be enacted into law without delay. 7. That a Monitoring And Campaigns Committee (MCC), comprising the Civil Liberties Organisation, Media Rights Agenda and the Nigeria Union of Journalists be set up to: i.
Circulate the access to public records and information bill and the conference report to all interest groups which should be involved in the advocacy for the enactment of the legislation, in particular, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), human rights organizations and other non-governmental organizations, environmental protection organizations, minority rights groups, professional bodies and associations, consumer rights protection groups, the business community, the academic community, the Nigerian Press Organization (NPO), the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN);
ii. Urge the Nigerian Bar Association to put the Access to Public Records and Information issues on its agenda at all levels; iii. Urge the Nigerian Union of Journalists to put the Access to Public Records and Information issues on its agenda at all levels; iv. Formally contact the Nigerian Press Council with a view to secure its support and assistance in ensuring the enactment of the legislation; v. Send the Draft Bill to the Federal Ministry of Information and the Federal Ministry of Justice with a view to having the Bill enacted into law, and vi. Generally raise public awareness on the Access to Public Records and Information issue. 8. That the right to receive and impart information and ideas is a fundamental constituent of the right to freedom of expression and as such Nigerians should imbibe the culture of protesting anytime they are deprived of information through the closure or proscription of media institutions. 9. That the duty to be fair and just is a corollary to a right of access to public records and information. (MRA Report 2003: 4-5). The workshop provided the basis for: (a) a review of the proposed bill, which was carried out by the MRA, and (b) the setting up of a Campaigns and Monitoring Committee as resolved by the workshop. This committee commenced the follow-up activities for the enactment of the law through the military regimes of General Sani Abacha and Major Abdulsalami Abubakar. 14
Insistence and Resistance: The Non-Governmental Organizations and The Struggle for Access
The transition to civil rule between December 1998 and February 1999 provided what the organizations considered as the right political climate to bounce back with more vigour. They organized another workshop jointly with ARTICLE 19, the international center against censorship (now ARTICLE 19, the Global Campaign for Free Expression); and the Nigerian National Human Rights Commission at Ota, Ogun State. It was held between March 16 and 18, 1999 and was attended by 61 representatives of the media; regulatory bodies; the legal profession; local and international NGOs; and other interest groups. Other participants were individuals and international organizations including the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, a member of the European Parliament, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), the Chairman of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission, the Special Adviser to the Head of State on Legal Matters, Prince Tony Momoh who is a former minister of information, Tokunbo Afikuyomi, then senator-elect, the Deputy General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in Belgium, the President of the West African Journalist Association (WAJA), Ms Jeanne Seck of the UNESCO in Paris, the Regional Information Coordinator for West Africa at the British Council and Mr Olisa Agbakoba, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). (MRA Report 2003: 5-6). The consensus document – “The Ota Platform of Action on Media Law Reform in Nigeria” – that emerged at the end of the workshop provided a basis for further review of the draft bill. The MRA carried out the review based on the recommendations of the document, which stipulated that: (a) The Act be enacted at the earliest possible opportunity reflecting the principle of maximum disclosure (b) The Draft will be taken as the basis for discussion, and its provisions require further review. (c) All legislation that unduly restricts the right of freedom of information be amended to reflect the principles of the proposed Bill. (d) The cost of obtaining publication information should be affordable to the majority of the citizens. (e) The proposed act provides that the individual requesting the information need not demonstrate any specific interest in the information requested. (f) Doctoring of public records and obstruction of access to them be made a criminal offence.
15
Lukman Ibraheem Diso
(g) Exceptions from access to public records should be narrowly drawn and subject to a test of actual harm. (MRA Report 2003: 7) 3. Advocacy for the Passage of the Bill The three organizations launched an advocacy program for the passage of the bill in mid-1999. In the pursuit of the program implementation, they carried out the following activities: (a) Wrote a letter (June 10, 1999) to the President of Nigeria, President Obasanjo soliciting his support to present the bill to the National Assembly as an executive bill; (b) Wrote to the ministers of information and justice soliciting their support for the bill’s speedy enactment into law; (c) Distributed the draft bill to numerous human rights groups, other civil society organizations, and some legislators in the National Assembly; (d) Lobbied and secured the consent of a member of the House of Representatives to sponsor the bill at the house; (e) Distributed copies of the bill with a covering letter to all the 469 members of the National Assembly; (f) Met with principal officers of the House of Representatives and individual members of both the House and the Senate; (g) Organized an awareness seminar (December 16–18 1999); (h) Organized a cocktail reception (February 16,2000) for members of the House of Representatives; (i) Organized a workshop (May 3, 2000 – World Press Freedom Day) on the Freedom of Information Act; (j) Met with editors and political correspondents; (k) Wrote letters to the 30 political parties in Nigeria; (l) Sponsored media advocacy programs; (m) Produced and distributed campaign materials-stickers, posters, handbills, and, 16
Insistence and Resistance: The Non-Governmental Organizations and The Struggle for Access
(n) Organized a number of activities including an advocacy training seminar, a series of stakeholders’ meetings and roundtables, and a regional workshop to build civil society support. (MRA Report 2003: 8-39). There were several other efforts by these organizations to mobilize individuals and groups through letters, visits, meetings, organizing a cocktail reception, press releases and interviews, radio and television discussions, signature campaigns, personal contacts, and representation to various agencies, organizations, and public forums and organized activities, in order to secure popular support for the passage of the bill into law. The tremendous goodwill for, and readiness to support the bill, expressed by the general public, organizations as well as members of the House of Representatives, generated such a significant level of confidence that it seemed only a matter of weeks, or a few months, at most, for the bill to be passed into law. The intriguing facts that turned this sweet dream into a nightmare will be discussed under the heading obstacles and resistance. 4. The Text of the Bill Having undergone a series of revisions including harmonization with another independently produced draft by a Member of the House, the bill was published in the Federal Government’s Official Gazette, No. 91, volume 86 of 8th December, 1999, as Government Notice No. 200. It was entitled: “An Act to make public records and information freely available, provide for access to public records and information to the extent consistent with the public interest and the protection of personal privacy and related purposes hereof” The bill (which may be cited as “the Freedom of Information Act”) has 34 clauses in the following order: 1). Short title 2). Interpretation 3). Rights of Access 4). Information about government institution 5). Request for access to records 6). Notice where access to records is requested 7). Transfer of request 8). Extension of time limits 9). Where access is refused 10). Fees, etc. and Action for waivers 11). Destruction or falsification of records 12). Access to records 13). Where information is not available in separate and distinct form 14). International affairs and defence 15). Law Enforcement and investigations 16). Economic interest of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 17) Personal information 18). Third party information 19). Advice, etc. 20). Legal practitioner/client privilege 21). Course or research materials 22). Severability 23). Judicial review 24). Refusal by head of government and or public institution to disclose records 25). Hearing in a summary way 26). Access to record by court 27). Court to take precautions against disclosing information 28). Burden of proof 29). Order to disclose 30). Exempted materials 31). Protection of Public Officer Cap 77 LFN, 1990, cap 245 LFN, 1990, cap 335 LFN, 1990 32). Document un17
Lukman Ibraheem Diso
der security classification cap, 335 LFN, 1990 33). Submission of reports, and 34). Complementary procedures. In the interpretation of the bill, “public records or document” means a record in any form having been prepared, or having been or being used, received, possessed by or under the control of any public body or private bodies relating to matters of public interest and includes any writing or any material, any information recorded or stored on other devices and any material subsequently derived from information so recorded or stored, any label, marking or other writing that identifies or describes anything of which it is attached by any means, any book, cards, form, map, plan, graph, or drawings, or any photograph, film, negative, microfilm, tape, other devices in which one or more visual images are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other equipment) of being reproduced. (MRA Report 2003: 42). The interpretation of a public document is indeed extensive, covering all conceivable types, categories, and formats of information carrier, without ambiguity in the identification of such documents. However, one problematic area is where the concept of the public has been extended to cover some aspects of the private when it relates to “matters of public interest”. The problem lies in the assumptions that “matters of public interest”, irrespective of the nature of the document involved, are clear, unproblematic and unambiguous, or that court intervention is a predetermined requirement for conflict resolution. In this respect, virtually all documents in public institutions are subject to the provisions of the bill, but only those relating to “matters of public interest” (which is subject to varying definitions) kept in private organizations, are subject to such provisions. Under the right of access to records clause the bill states that: Subject to the provision of this Act but notwithstanding anything contained in any other Act, Edict, Law, or Regulations, any person whether or not that person is a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has a legally enforceable right to and shall, on request, be given access to any record under the control of a government or public institution (MRA Report: 45) This is the fundamental clause of the bill, which stipulates that access to public information is a legally enforceable right, thus providing the option, in case of information denial, for court intervention to compel the head of any government institution to comply with the provision. It further provides that request for such information be satisfied irrespective of whether or not the purpose for which the request is made has been disclosed. In fact “An applicant need not give any reasons or justifications for his interest in the information being requested for” (MRA Report: 43). One significant feature of this clause is its non-discriminatory nature, which puts Nigerian citizens at a par with non-citizens in terms of right of access to public in18
Insistence and Resistance: The Non-Governmental Organizations and The Struggle for Access
formation/record. Another significant feature of this clause is the way in which it nullifies laws (and there are many), which contradict its provisions. The subsequent provisions (clauses) are mostly extensions and details of the Right to access clause–under what conditions/terms, what, when, where, how, why, i.e. the context in which right of access exists and is implemented, or violated. One aspect of violation worth mentioning here is destruction and falsification of records provided under clause 11, which states that: It shall be a criminal offence punishable on conviction to a maximum of 3 years or an option of N500, 000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) fine for any officer or the head of any government and/or public institution to which this Act applies who tries to either wilfully destroy any records kept in his/her custody or attempts to doctor or otherwise alter same before they are released to any person, entity, or community requesting for it (MRA Report: 49) This clause is significant to the extent that destruction, falsification, doctoring or alteration of records can be detected or established by the requester. Given the intricate nature of information politics in Nigeria it will be extremely difficult, more often impossible, to establish such violations. Firstly, there is a serious absence of a public record culture in Nigeria. Ordinarily, record maintenance, preservation, and organization are not taken seriously. Secondly, there are instances where sensitive public records have been destroyed or distorted at source by suspecting public officials who fear a possible future backlash. It has become widely shared wisdom among top public officials, while in office, to ensure that they have covered all tracks that can lead to incriminating evidence. In this situation, sensitive public records, which are likely to attract the highest interest, are often originally inaccurate and therefore unreliable. Even where accuracy is guaranteed the absence of a deliberate retention and maintenance policy may lead to damage or loss, and in the face of serious scrutiny, the lack of any back ups may raise questions and doubts about the accuracy of the records. Whether culprits are apprehended or their acts established, the clause remains significant in not only raising the possibility of, but also providing for, wilful record destruction and falsification. Although the primary concern of this bill is “the legally enforceable right of access to any record under the control of a government or public institution”. It provides for access denial under varying circumstances. It specifies the circumstances under which: “The head of government and/or public institution may refuse to disclose any record requested under this Act” (MRA Report: 51). These include circumstances in which the disclosure of the record” may be injurious to, or interfere 19
Lukman Ibraheem Diso
with: a). The conduct of international affairs and the defence of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; b). Pending or actual and reasonably contemplated law enforcement proceedings; c). Pending administrative enforcement proceedings; d). A fair trial or an impartial hearing; e). The identity of a confidential source; f). Personal privacy; g). An ongoing criminal investigation; h). The security of penal institutions; i). Trade secret or financial, commercial, scientific, or technical information that belongs to the Federal Republic of Nigeria or any state or local government thereof; j). Competitive position of a government and/or public institution; k). Personal information – files of clients, patients, students, employees, appointees, elected officials, applicant, registrant, licensee, tax payer, or identity of persons who file complaints with panel agencies, except with the consent of any of the above, or the information is publicly available, or where public interest in the disclosure clearly outweighs the protection of the privacy of the individual to who such information relates; l). Third party information: trade secrets, contractual or other negotiations, proposal and bids for any contract, grant or agreement; m). Result of environmental testing carried out by or on behalf of government; n). Preliminary drafts, notes, recommendations, memoranda; o). Legal practitioner/client privilege, and p). Course or research materials in process or prepared by faculty members, test questions, scoring keys, examination data, architects, and engineers’ plans for public building, library circulation and other records identifying users with specific materials (MRA Report: 51-56) The bill however, states that: “Notwithstanding anything contained in any other Act or enactment or any privilege under the law of evidence … no such record may be withheld from the court on any ground”(MRA Report: 56). It also exempts all published materials, materials available for purchase by the public, and library or museum materials (MRA Report: 57) While it is necessary to recognize circumstances where access to record/information may be denied, it is also important to recognize the difficulty of exercising such discretion as to where the line should be drawn. The list of such circumstances proposed in the bill seems to have been overdrawn, covering wide areas, some loosely defined. Indeed, in the existing reality of increasing privatization and political intrigues, no government (especially in Africa) will recognise an unqualified right of access to information (Roberts 2004: 16). The question is how much qualification will be appropriate? What kinds of information can be exempted? In this bill for instance, what constitutes international affairs or even defence? What are the elements of security, trade secrets, proposal and bids for contract, grant or agreement? There are instances in which even the distinction between private/personal and public/official is only academic, especially in matters involving public officials. This problem of definition provides loopholes, which can be exploited by government officials to constrict information access right through misclassification/overclassification of records, or misapplication of access guidelines (where available). 20
Insistence and Resistance: The Non-Governmental Organizations and The Struggle for Access
Cost consideration is another dimension to access, which has been given recognition in the bill. Access to records entails consideration of the request, searching, possible reproduction, transcription, review, or translation, etc. The entire process of request administration is recognized as having significant cost implications that can result in access minimization. With some few exceptions, the bill recognizes, (apparently taking cognizance of the prevailing realism and compelling reality), the necessity of introducing fees and charges for the recovery of only the direct costs of search, duplication and review. Such fees, however, “shall be limited to reasonable standard charges,” for requests made for both commercial and non-commercial use (MRA report: 47). How negatively this will affect access right will defend on the reasonableness, and nature of charges. The first is the question of affordability and the second of equity (i.e. whether fee schedule will be uniform for all or for different categories of people and different types of information). Both the House of Representatives and the Senate hotly debated the issue of fees before the bill was passed by the two houses and by their joint committee. The debate was centered on who should be responsible for setting and regulating the amount payable as fees-the government institutions or the Senate Committee on Information (as proposed by the Committee itself)? – What should be the minimum or maximum? It was finally decided that the public Institutions should be trusted to do the right thing and therefore the decision as to how much to charge as fees, given the varying forms of documents and records, varying nature of requests and institutions, was left to the discretion of the government institutions as provided in the bill. At its initial stages the provisions of the bill covered in a fair manner almost all the issues that need to be in an Act of this nature,. One serious shortcoming of the bill is its failure to address the chaotic nature of the public record management system in Nigeria and to make provision for a more structured and better-organized system. It must also be recognized that, no matter the nature and volume of records, organization is a fundamental factor in record accessibility. 5. Obstacles and Resistance The struggle to ensure the enactment of a freedom of information act in Nigeria sponsored by the three organizations and spearheaded by the MRA entered its thirteenth year in 2006. It had, no doubt, recorded significant successes in terms of mobilizing support and awareness of individuals, groups, and organizations from within and outside Nigeria. This had developed the bill to its current state and it had already gone through the first, second, and third readings before both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The significant landmark came on November 15, 2006, when the Senate, after clause-by-clause consideration, unanimously passed the bill with only slight amendments. They however, had had to involve “critical 21
Lukman Ibraheem Diso
stakeholders” by inviting their memoranda, through its ad hoc committee, before that unanimous decision. These “critical stakeholders” included the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Nigeria Police Force, the State Security Service (SSS), and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), the Immigration Service, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA),the Nigerian Customs Service, the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA),and the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). While some of these agencies expressed reservations about the bill and some of them supported it, only the NDLEA rejected it in its entirety, according to the ad hoc Committee. In addition, the Committee made reference and comparisons to similar laws in other countries, including the United States Freedom of Information Act, the South African Promotion of Access to Information Act, and the United Kingdom Freedom of Information Act (http://mediarightsagenda.org/senatepassfoib.html). All these served as input to the decision of the Senate to pass the bill. What remains now, on the part of the legislators, is to set the harmonization process, which entails a joint sitting between the Senate and the House of Representatives to harmonize the provisions of the bill and produce a single version. The final process for the Act to become a law is the presidential assent, which is expected to be given in 30 days. The failure of the president to give his assent within this period will cause the bill to return to the National Assembly to be passed into law by two-thirds majority of the members irrespective of presidential veto (http://mediarightsagenda.org/senatepassfoib.html). Given the amount of resources, committed-time, energy, and moral expenditureto the struggle, the journey had been too painfully slow, exhausting, and very costly. Despite the recorded successes, there seems to be little hope to get the bill passed in the foreseeable future. In view of the tense political climate, constitutional uncertainties, and intrigues going on in Nigeria occasioned by president’s unending political ambition, despite the passage of the bill by the two legislative houses, with or without amendments, it is unlikely to get presidential assent. This pessimism may be explained by a number of factors, some of them complex. First of all, the bill in its entirety constitutes a repealing instrument of many extant laws (Acts, and decrees), which fundamentally contradict it. The present people in power made some of these decrees when they were military dictators, and all the laws, because they suppress freedom of information, are very favorable to dictatorial tendencies, which characterize the current political dispensation. These laws include the following:
22
Insistence and Resistance: The Non-Governmental Organizations and The Struggle for Access
• Defamation Act, 1961 • Official Secret Act, 1962 • The Newspaper Prohibition of Circulation Decree, 1967 • Public Officers (Protection Against False Accusation) Decree (No. 4), 1984 • State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree No. 2, 1984. (Akinnola, 1996:1-3). The enactment of the Freedom of Information Act based on the proposed bill may not necessarily amount to repealing all the provisions of these laws, but even where they are not automatically repealed they will be substantially weakened. For instance, Clause 14 of the proposed bill shall prevail if it is considered to be in the public interest over a Provision (5c) in the National Broadcasting Commission (Amendment) Decree No 55 of 1999, which states that:” The commission may withhold publications of records of proceedings containing secret information affecting national defense and security.” To nullify, or even weaken these laws, means to open up greater opportunity for wider access to the past or present records of stewardships of many of those currently in power. It is inconceivable that such a situation will be allowed to happen; very few if any government officials will willingly allow any law that will provide free access to their past or present records of office, even as distorted and falsified as they may be. Secondly, there is no doubt that records can be “dangerous” not only to the individuals but also to the survival of the nation. There is no better example than Nigeria, especially against the backdrop of the politics of corruption that now pervades the country’s general political culture. The deep-rooted widespread popular accusation of corruption against top level government officials may be genuine as manifested in the government’s increasing revenue earning capacity, especially from oil, and yet the increasing deterioration of all infrastructure and living conditions, may remain mere accusations. Records provide the hard facts and one could imagine what would happen if there was free access to the record of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The struggles for resource control in the Niger-Delta, which started as peaceful political protests by civil society groups and have now developed into full and protracted armed militia insurgency, have a basis in these accusations. In any case, the fear of records (records phobia), because of the “danger” records hold for the future of power-holding elite, provide credible explanation to the desperate, dagger-drawn power contest for self-perpetuation that generally characterizes African political culture (TMG Report 2003:2). It is naïve therefore, to expect the president of Nigeria, his serving, or even retired, ministers, other government officials, and even the majority of legislators to give sincere, whole –hearted support to 23
Lukman Ibraheem Diso
the process of the enactment of the bill. The reply of the Nigerian President declining the MRA’s request for the President to present the bill as an Executive Bill was a calculated one, as was the reply (dated January 20, 2000), to their letter of support (dated June 10, 1999) from the Minister of Justice –a reply that took 8 months to be written and 3 more months (March 29,2000) to be delivered to MRA. With the Nigerian constitution based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, all of which express a firm commitment to the principles of an individual’s right to receive and disseminate information, we need not have come so far with this bill. In a democratic dispensation where right of access to information is supposed to be taken for granted, promotion of secrecy becomes the order of the day. This culture of secrecy in the public or civil, or security services has been deeply entrenched and is taking a frightening dimension despite the “democratic” setting in which we live. The CLO provides a graphic illustration in its report: “Although official statistics are hard to obtain (the CLO request to police authorities to make available any statistics on torture including any action taken by the authorities to punish perpetrators was simply ignored)”, (CLO Reports 2005: vii). The climate that nurtures this culture of secrecy seems to be flourishing with growing popular confusion and disillusion with democracy that is grossly short on its promises. The ruling elite thrives on this confusion to further consolidate for more diversionary tactics to divert attention away from the real facts in the record to the emotive rhetoric in the electronic media. Two months after the euphoria and heightened optimism that greeted the Senate’s passage of the bill, suspicions and pessimism were gradually returning. Indeed, the public and many of the legislators themselves expressed high optimism and expectation that the harmonization process would be set in motion immediately, so that the bill would be sent for Presidential assent, which was expected before the end of 2006. Even if the President was to fail to assent to the bill, the public expected that a two-third majority of the National Assembly members would pass it into law before the end of 2006 or early January 2007. Two months may not be a long time, but against the backdrop of the long period (8 years) the bill has been before the National Assembly, the animated public feelings that the bill had reached its crescendo when passed by the Senate, the ominous silence that has now set in with no one to hold account able for it, it is a long enough period to justify the high level of public anxiety. Furthermore, with barely four months to national elections, the political atmosphere is charged and characterized by fears of electoral uncertainties and possible unrest. Therefore the legislators’ attention is no longer on legislation. For those who have already won their party primary elections, their main concern now is how to win the second or third term elections to maintain their seats in the National Assembly. For those who have lost (and there are many), the main business is how to survive at the end of their tenure. 24
Insistence and Resistance: The Non-Governmental Organizations and The Struggle for Access
Hence, the future of the bill, as it is now, faces a lot of uncertainties with a possibility of becoming a recast of its past, unless it becomes law before May 2007 when the new National Assembly will take effect. Whatever happens between now and May is likely to be determined by the dimension of the struggles to get the bill passed into law. While their intensification is likely to yield greater possibility for success, the risk of taking things for granted can only lead to a replay of the 2003 scenario, in which the bill has to be introduced from scratch to the new members of the National Assembly, i.e another cycle of debate for an undetermined period. 6. Miscounting the Stakeholders One of the fears raised about the bill by many politicians and top public office holders was “that the bill, if passed into law, would”, according to some of them, “further arm journalists, giving them more powers to hound us and pry into our private lives”. (Odemwingie 2004:32). This concern, whether or not legitimate, was borne out of the nature of the key actors and dominant participants involved in the processes (workshops, round tables, training, publicity, etc) of getting the bill passed. There is no doubt that the majority of the so-called stakeholders were journalists, followed by lawyers, legislators, and others. The lists of such participants in all the advocacy activities have always been impressive. However, whether by commission or omission, none of these lists contains the names of those professionals, in whose custody all the records that gave rise to the bill will ultimately fall. Nowhere has any of the following, either as individuals or as organizations, appeared as participants in the activities. They include: Public or private records officers/managers, archivists, information officers/managers, librarians, and documentalists. Many of these professionals exist at various levels in federal, state and local governments, in ministries, departments, units, and private organizations. Whatever reasons exist for their exclusion from this project may have serious implications for the implementation of the provisions of the Act after it has been successfully enacted. Firstly, the exclusion has rendered them un-sensitized to the significance of the Act in relation to the information environment, especially the politics of information in a democratic setting. Secondly, they have not been prepared, through the training, workshops, seminars, conferences and roundtables, to face the challenges that might arise from the implementation of the Act’s provisions. Since they will be largely involved in service provision, they would have been better equipped to evolve a more effective approach to generating, organizing, searching and retrieving, preserving, and disseminating such records. They would have been enabled to anticipate difficulties and problems and to prepare and devise means of avoiding or dealing with 25
Lukman Ibraheem Diso
them. Thirdly, with fore knowledge of the purpose of the Act there will be better appreciation of its significance to society. High motivation for service begins from that point. From there, commitment, dedication, selfless sacrifices, enthusiasm and readiness to provide proactive service flow naturally. Overall, performance and productivity will be generally and significantly enhanced. Lastly, involving these professionals as active participants in all the processes would have provided significant insights into the current state of public records. How genuine are they? How are they generated? How are they preserved? How are they organized? What facilities/equipment exist for record management? The knowledge of the current state of these records, and the record management system – its strengths, weaknesses, difficulties, and possibilities – is a necessary input to the process of enacting any bill that seeks to provide effective access to public/government records and information. 7. Conclusion The realization by the NGOs that information plays a fundamental role in democracy and the process of democratization becomes an impetus for the struggle to sanitize and indeed democratize the public information system. While it is important, indeed necessary, to have legislation to compel the institution of transparent governance, it doesn’t simply end there. It is in this respect that the three organizations (CLO, NUJ and MRA) that have led the struggle for the enactment of a Freedom of Information Act should consider the enactment of the Act only as a basis for further struggle for its implementation, for tackling the broader questions of transparency, probity and accountability in governance, i.e. the entire question of democratizing the Nigerian society. The bill they proposed attracted significant interests from both the general public and government officials for its potential to address the long disturbing issue of secrecy in governance. For the general public addressing official secrecy would significantly address and minimize official corruption, and therefore the bill had to be supported. For the government officials, it represented a danger signal that would expose them and therefore had to be resisted. That explains the long-drawn battle between the two, and for thirteen years since the conception of the idea to propose the bill, the war has raged on without abetting on both sides. The public seems to have emerged triumphant from this protracted war: success seems to be directly staring the Nigerian public in the eye. The question, however, is: how could these organizations manage the post war success given the shortcomings of the pre-war strategies, and perhaps given the deficiencies of the Act? It is not too late to address these drawbacks now that the war is almost over, it is only to return to the drawing board and re-strategize so that all 26
Insistence and Resistance: The Non-Governmental Organizations and The Struggle for Access
the important omissions made can be addressed and rectified. It is not too late to incorporate and prepare those who will continue the post-war management of affairs. No public record manager/information officer, archivist or librarian, should be left out, or else more costly preparations must be made for a more fierce war after the first battle. References 1.
Akinnola, Richard (1996) “Rights and Limitations of Nigerian Press”. Lagos: Rich Consult pp. 1-3.
2.
CLO (2005): “Climate of Impunity” A Report on the use of Torture by the Nigeria Police” Lagos: CLO, p.viii.
3.
MRA (2003), “Campaigning for Access to information in Nigeria A Report of the Legislative Advocacy Program Act”, MRA, June.
4.
National Broadcasting Commission (Amendment) Decree No. 55 of 1999”.
5.
Odenwingie, Osaro (2004): The Rights to know: Special Report” Legislative Mandate 4(2) March. P. 32
6.
Roberts, Alasdair (2004) “Access to Government Information: An Overview of Issues”, Liberty 15(1) Jan.-March pp.16-18.
7.
TMG (2003) “Do the Votes Count?” Final Report of the 2003 General Elections in Nigeria, Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), p.2
8.
http://mediarightsagenda.org/senatepassfoib.html
27
THE RIGHT TO ACCESS GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, DEMOCRACY & DEVELOPMENT IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Marion L. N. Chibambo Senior Assistant Librarian, University of Swaziland E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract With advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), information has become a global resource of unlimited potential for all, and it is at the very center of democracy and economic development. In the course of their duty, government officials create information for their own benefit as well as for the benefit of the public they serve. This information is created with public money, by public servants who are paid out of public funds. Government information is therefore held by the government, in trust of the public the government serves. This being the case then, the public has the right to access government information. This chapter discusses the importance of information to democracy and human development. It contends that while the fundamental human right to access government information is vital to democracy and human development, it is not an absolute right. Further, the paper examines the status of legislation on national information access laws in Sub-Saharan Africa. Finally are found the recommendations on how governments can create an enabling environment for the freedom of access to information. The opportunity to develop one’s potential, and the realization of an individual’s personality, political, social, and economic capabilities are all shaped and dependent on the information that is availed to the individual and the society at large. Unless the citizens have access to government information, they cannot realize their potential nor meaningfully participate in their governance. Further, the right to access government information is not only a pre-condition for good governance or participatory democracy and economic development, but it is a fundamental human right, and the basis for all other human rights. The United Nations General Assembly recognized this fundamental right at its inception in 1946, when it resolved that, “Freedom of access to information is a fundamental human right and a touchstone for all other freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated”16. However, the presumption in favour of the public’s right to access government information should only be overruled in extreme and legitimate cases, such as, when the national security of a country is endangered, or in gathering information for intelligence services and criminal investigations. In such cases, government officials 29
Marion L. N. Chibambo
need to review sensitive material and issue a “Private & Confidential Notice” recommending that such information should not be publicized. Unfortunately, some governments have abused the National Security and included in their constitutions a “Seditious Act Clause” in order to deny citizens access to government information; even when such secrecy is unnecessary. It is important to note that democracy works best when the public has all the information that the security of a nation permits. No one should be able to pull curtains of secrecy around decisions, which can be revealed without injury to the public interest. Paper presented at the WSIS Follow-up Conference on Access to Information and Knowledge for Development, United Nations Conference Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 27–30 2006 1. Introduction While, information has always been viewed as the oil for communication and interaction among people, the developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), with capacity for storing, simplifying and communicating information with such speed, have more than before placed information at the center stage of debate among information professionals, economic development pundits, the politicians, and the general citizenry. In addition, the quest for participatory democracy and open society in Sub-Saharan Africa has further brought to the fore the importance of information, not only as a global resource of unlimited use for all, but also as a catalyst for good governance and economic development. Sub-Saharan Africa is an extremely heterogeneous and a vast region that comprises forty-five (45)6 independent states of: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome, Senegal, Sierra Leon, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. According to Freedom House (2003)7 most of these countries have for the past decade, embraced democratic governments with written constitutions. Further, most of them have ratified and acceded to the United Nations General Assembly’s Declaration on Human Rights1 and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, with their attendant freedoms, including the freedom of access to information. The freedom of access to information is a fundamental basic human right and a cornerstone for open or participative democracy. The basic personal freedoms of association, expression and thought are inherently dependent on the availability of 30
The Right to Access Government Information, Democracy & Development
adequate and relevant information to form an opinion and make choices. For instance, the knowledge of one’s right to personal safety depends on whether one has sufficient information about threats to personal safety in order to seek for protection; just like the knowledge of good health and nutrition is dependent on the availability and access to the right information on good nutrition. Open or participative democracy is characterized by the principles of accountability, transparency, the rule of law, responsiveness, participation and consensus; all of which are essential for good governance. These principles are dependent on the free flow of information among the stakeholders, i.e. the government, the private sector, the civil society institutions, and the general citizenry. Clarke and Foweraker, (2001)4 state that in participatory democracy, the people “own” the decisions they have participated in making through face-to-face discussion. Participatory democracy presupposes that citizens have access to information on matters of public concern and interest, in order to meaningfully participate in their governance and make informed choices and decisions. For example, citizen participation in rural or community development projects, presupposes that members of the community have all the necessary information regarding the available resources, the logistics and the time-frame for project implementation, as well as the knowledge of government’s expectation of the citizen’s responsibility and vice-versa. Thus, government policy makers should always bear in mind that whatever policies they make, these must eventually be submitted to the citizens in whose name the policies are made and who, as taxpayers and voters, will at the end of the day be called upon to provide the money, time and other resources for their implementation. The freedom of access to information is central to development and an indispensable element of any functioning democracy. This is because it is only a wellinformed public that can sensibly and effectively carry out its obligations to shape government policy and political institutions. Thus, unless there are extremely compelling reasons, such as those of national security, trade and commercial secrets, government institutions and officials who are entrusted with the organization and management of government records cannot unreasonably deny its citizens access to government information. In order to institute or affect freedom of information, governments have an obligation to create an enabling environment, which among other things, should include enforceable freedom of access laws. In this chapter, the terms: freedom of information; the right to know; the right of access to information; and freedom of access to information, will be used interchangeably to mean the same, i.e. the right of access to information. This discussion is in six (6) parts: Part 1 is an overview of the freedom of access to information; followed by Part 2, which is a general overview of the interrelationship between democracy and economic development. Part 3 discusses the importance of access to government information in particular, and how it impacts on par31
Marion L. N. Chibambo
ticipatory democracy and economic development; whereas, Part 4 analyses the current status of national legislation of freedom of access laws in Sub-Saharan Africa. Part 5 provides some concluding remarks. Finally, Part 6 provides some recommendations on how governments can enact national information access laws. 2. Freedom of Access to Information: An Overview It is undeniable fact that whether it is an individual, a group of individuals, government, or private institutions that create or generate information, information is not created for its creators’ use only, but also for the benefit of any other person or group of persons who may have need of the information. Since information is meant to be shared among people with a common goal or interest; then the right to access information becomes a basic fundamental human right. The human rights violations of World War II resulted in human carnage and sufferings of immeasurable dimensions. The violent excesses of the War made it painfully clear that respect for human rights had to become the touchstone and a general commitment for all countries of the World if a repeat of such devastating experiences were to be avoided in the future. Thus, on 10th December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted and proclaimed the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights “as a common standard of achievement for all peoples of all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for human rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance…” (Preamble) The Declaration consists of a Preamble and 30 Articles setting forth the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms to which all human beings everywhere in the world are entitled without discrimination. It lays down fundamental civil, cultural, economic, political, and social rights, among which Article 19 is the right to freedom of thought, opinion, expression, and access to information. Specifically, Article19 states that: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”16 Article19 has become the basis for global campaign on enacting national freedom of access to information (FOAI) laws; and in a quest to increase global public awareness of the importance of the freedom of access to information, the United Nations General Assembly through UNESCO’s initiatives16, has declared: 32
The Right to Access Government Information, Democracy & Development
• 3rd May as “The World Press Freedom Day”. The date was chosen to commemorate “The Declaration of Windhoek on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press” which was adopted by the Seminar on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press, held in Windhoek, Namibia on 3rd May, 1991. This day also commemorates • “The Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize Day”, first awarded by UNESCO in 1997. It is an annual prize giving day that was instituted to honor an individual, organization or institution that has made outstanding contribution to the defence and/or promotion of the freedom of the press anywhere in the world, especially if such defence involved risk or punishment. The Prize is named after the first recipient, Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated by the drug cartels in 1986. Then since 2002, freedom of access advocates around the world have tirelessly worked together to promote the right of access to information for all people, and recognize the benefits of transparent and accountable governments. The Advocates have declared: • 28th September as “The International Right to Know Day” in order to promote the right of access to information by sharing ideas, strategies and success stories about the development of national information access laws. The Day was first commemorated on 28th September 2003, (Freedom of Information Advocates Network, 2005)9. Global efforts aside, the African Union (AU) – established July 2002, by African Heads of State at the first Summit, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, upheld the human rights principles, and declared that the AU will abide by the “African Charter on Human Rights” (or the Banjul Charter on Human Rights)2, which was adopted on 27th June, 1981 by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), a predecessor of the AU. The Charter was revised in 1982 and it entered into force on 21st October 1986. The African Charter has adopted all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights; and Article 9 of the Charter is the freedom of access to information. Article 9 states that: “Every individual shall have the right to receive information and to express and to disseminate his opinions within the law” The qualification, “within the law” shows that the African Heads of State are mindful of the fact that the freedom of access to information can only be effective if there is an enabling legal and regulatory framework. The onus is, therefore, on individual 33
Marion L. N. Chibambo
governments to translate theory into practice by creating the necessary legal and regulatory framework to enable their expressed commitment. The next section gives a cursory discussion of the complex interrelationships between democracy and economic development and how the freedom of access to information impacts on them. 3. Democracy and Development: An Overview The democratic aspirations of the African people are not only in the political arena of elections and granting of civil and political rights, but include the demand for economic empowerment, better standards of living, and adequate social welfare. Democracy is only meaningful when it delivers socio-economic goods, therefore, democracy must be linked with socio-economic or human development; otherwise, the deteriorating socio-economic conditions of the people in the region is gradually undermining the confidence the people had in a new democratic dispensation. The economic challenges of Sub-Saharan Africa, and the intimate complex relationship between political economy and development are well documented. These include the international lending institutions, i.e. the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Donor Community, (World Bank, 1989 &1992)19 & 20. In the early 1980s, the World Back launched the Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) to improve Africa’s economic recovery. However, SAPs have not achieved their intended goals, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where on the contrary, the SAPs have led to high indebtedness and decline of economies as the countries strive to service their debts using the meager economic gains achieved. As a result, the region suffers from high unemployment; poor quality of education; high poverty levels, and declining and poor health and social delivery systems, which have been exacerbated by the HIV and AIDS pandemic, (World Bank, 2004)21. According to the World Bank, (1992)20 the unwitting neglect of the governance question was probably one of the most important reasons for SAPs’ failure in enhancing Africa’s economic recovery. Thus, the IMF-World Bank and the Donor Community introduced the integration of economic development with governmental principles of accountability, transparency, consensus, citizen-participation, rule of law, and the respect for human rights in order to enhance economic development of the least developed countries; thereby making good governance as a condition for development aid to Africa. In their continued quest to assist the least developed and highly indebted countries, in 1996, the IMF launched a comprehensive debt relief programme called, the “Highly Indebted Poor Countries” (HIPC)10 Initiative. The Initiative involves debt cancellation of the HIPC. According to IMF, the objective of the HIPC Initiative is to ensure that “no poor country faces a debt burden” as it serves its other external 34
The Right to Access Government Information, Democracy & Development
debts and implements its development policies. However, like any development assistance, receipt of the debt relief is conditional on anti-corruption efforts and good governance. Theoretically all Sub-Saharan African countries that are classified as “Low Human Developed Countries” (United Nations, 2004)18 qualify for debt relief by the very nature of their being underdeveloped; however, due to poor governance, (high levels of corruption and human rights abuse), some HIP countries have been left out. Currently, all the least developed countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of Gabon, Uganda and Zimbabwe, have had their debt cancelled under the HIPC Initiative. Following this, in 2000, the United Nations General Assembly proposed and adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)18 as a blue print for global human development in the 21st century. There are 8 specific Goals whose objective “is to eradicate poverty and promote human dignity and achieve peace, democracy and environmental sustainability”. The Goals are clearly presented, with precise, quantified targets, based on widely accepted statistical indicators. Of relevance to this discussion is Goal no. 8, which has 7 Targets; and Targets 12 & 18 specifically bear on this discussion. The objective of Goal no. 8 “is to develop a global partnership for development”; while Target 12 is “to develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, nondiscriminatory trading and financial system including commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction – both nationally and internationally; and Target 18 is “to make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication” (United Nations, 2004)18. Since the introduction of the MDGs, Sub-Saharan Africa countries are among the 27 countries in the world that have been classified as “top priority countries”. Thus, out of the 27 top priority countries that are dismally failing to successfully implement the MDGs, 21 of them are in Sub-Saharan Africa; besides, out of the same group that are facing serious challenges across the Goals, 17 of them are in Sub-Saharan Africa (opcit: p.133). Commenting on democracy and development, Adejumobi (2000)1 states that democracy enhances development. This is especially true if we expand the concept of development to include the welfare of the people at large, and the upholding of the basic civil and political freedoms. A democracy that ensures these basic rights is almost by definition conducive to development because, among other things, it: • Facilitates economic empowerment; • Provides a stable investment climate; and • Ensures rapid mobilization of national energies and resources for economic development. 35
Marion L. N. Chibambo
Additionally, he argues that, the relationship between democracy and economic development is complex and varied. When democracy is constituted and institutionalized, it may serve as the base or political infrastructure on which the foundation of economic development may be constructed, “yet there is a missing link by which democracy may facilitate economic development”. The missing link includes “the character of the state; the nature of economic principles pursued; and external pressures on the economy, in terms of the debt problem or the marginalizing pressures of globalization on trade and investment by the least developed countries”. It is the author’s the view that, in relation to freedom of access to information and its impact on development, the character of the state would include the rights regulatory framework and the grievance response mechanisms because, these affect development whether in a dictatorial or liberal democracy. Herein lies the difference in economic performance between the developed and the least developed countries. It is, therefore, important to analyze these other factors rather than always pitting democracy and development against each other, especially when both concepts can be interpreted subjectively. The economic situation in Sub-Saharan Africa illustrates the above very well. Despite the democratization euphoria that characterized the region since the early 1990s, and the belief that democracy is a panacea for economic development, the region’s development challenges are still enormous. The UNDP (2004)18 records that it is the only region in the world where poverty has increased in the past 25 years; and half of the continent’s population of 840 million people lives on less than a dollar a day. IMF (2005)10 supports this, and it states that thirty-two (32) of the world’s thirty-eight (38) highly indebted poor countries (HIPC) are in Sub-Saharan Africa due to among other things; corruption, protracted armed conflict, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and declining terms of trade for non-mineral primary products, which continue to exacerbate the situation. The next section will discuss the importance of the freedom of access to government information and its effect on economic development in a liberal democratic system of government. 4. Access to Government Information, Democracy and Development One tenet of liberty is that an individual must, within the limited community resources and the fairest system of distribution of the resources, be able to develop to the fullest his/her potential. The tenet can only be achieved if members of a community have knowledge and access to information concerning the available resources. Indeed, nowhere is this tenet more pronounced than in the public sector where government economic policies are formulated on the premise that the general citizenry will participate in the implementation of the policies and the overall economic de36
The Right to Access Government Information, Democracy & Development
velopment of the country. In order to fully participate in their governance and economic development, citizens need to access government information. Access to government information is a fundamental human right and central to government’s accountability and transparency, (Commonwealth HRI, 2002)5. As an attribute of sovereignty, access to government information is a public and basic human right as provided for in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights3, as such, any citizen may assert it. Further, MacMaster, (2005)13 is of the view that access to government information enhances the democratic dialogue, and provides the basis for proper and informed debate among the stakeholders in a democratic government, thereby allowing them to: • Legitimize government; • Scrutinize government’s decisions and actions; • Engage in an informed debate on government’s policies; • Understand government’s functions and operations; • Exercise their basic human right, and • Effectively participate in their governance and economic development. Access to government information is a vital safeguard against corruption because it promotes government’s accountability and transparency. Corruption is the misuse of public power for private profit; thus, all corruption cases inevitably involve conflict of interest. Corruption within the region is attributable to among other things, moral decay, greed and poverty among employees in both the government and the private sector. Malan and Smit, (2001)12, state that government corruption should be viewed holistically to include: fraud, nepotism, abuse of government assets, bribery, extortion, and embezzlement of government funds, all of which undermine good governance and human development. The economic consequences of corruption are well documented. Corruption disturbs the economic balance and creates an unstable economic environment due to a number of contributing factors, some of which include: • Loss in output due to resource wastefulness; • Loss in consumer surplus arising from increased prices; • Loss in development project implementation either due to digression of resources, embezzlement or misappropriation of funds; • Loss of investor confidence; 37
Marion L. N. Chibambo
• Distortion of economic transactions; • Discouragement of capital flows and investment due to unstable economic environment; • Insecurity; • Risk of life and private property due to insecurity; • Reinforcement of the unequal distribution of political and economic power in society; • Nepotism in that unqualified people are given lucrative jobs in the government and the private sectors, instead of the qualified and deserving citizens; • Distrust between government and the governed; • Ineffectual judicial systems; All of the above lead to misappropriation and misallocation of resources which inevitably affect economic development. Corruption is like cancer which spreads and permeates the body of its victim, inevitably leading to death. Similarly, corruption fosters more corruption resulting in the underdevelopment or a total collapse of the economy. According to Transparency International, (2005)17 Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest corruption perception index (CPI) in the world last year, with an average of 4.37 as compared to a global average of 4.21; and yet according to the Human Development Report, (UNDP, 200)18, the region is the most underdeveloped; and implementation of anti-corruption efforts in the region continues to be problematic owing to, among other things: • Weak or ineffectual institutional and legal safeguards; • The absence of the rule of law, and • Inadequate institutional capacity and the political will to enforce the law. It is noteworthy that in the Sub-Saharn-region, national anti-corruption legislation and policy have not generally been instituted as a result of genuine political will to combat corruption, but rather, it has been in response to pressure from the international lending institutions whose development aid has been tied to good governance. Access to government information enhances government’s transparency and accountability. Many corruption cases could have been prevented from the outset with more transparency in government dealings and easier access to public files. Transparency can be defined as openness in the process of governance, (i.e. in the election process, policy and decision-making, implementation and evaluation of programs) at 38
The Right to Access Government Information, Democracy & Development
all government levels, (i.e. central and local), and in all branches of government, (i.e. the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary). Scheduler (1999)15, in his discussion of accountability delineated two main strands of the concept namely; the answerability and enforcement. Answerability implies stewardship and the obligation to justify one’s actions and decisions in the office one holds. In a democracy, it also obligates government officials to provide information when required or demanded by the citizens. Since citizens cannot supervise government officials on a day-to-day basis, they have mandated various government agencies with oversight authority, thereby giving these agencies legitimate powers to demand answerability from the office bearers. Other than government agencies, the civil society organizations and the mass media also serve as agents for holding public officers accountable. On the other hand, enforcement connotes the possibility of sanctions by the polity and relevant agencies if the accounting officials fail to discharge their duties in a manner that is expected of them. Sanctions could be through a judiciary process or through verbal reprimand, or disciplinary measures including suspension from work and/or ultimate dismissal. Transparency in government enhances governance, and is conducive to economic development because, among other things, it: • Leads to the identification of corrupt officials; • Exposes the vested national interests; • Upholds the rule of law; • Enhances government’s accountability; • Creates citizen confidence in government, including its judiciary system; • Increases capital inflows by investors and citizens living in the Diaspora; • Creates investor confidence; and furthermore, it • Creates an even playing field among the economic actors, i.e. the government, the private sector and the general citizenry. In contrast, government secrecy enhances corruption because it: • Gives more room for maneuver and cover up by corrupt officials; • Robs citizens of their fundamental human right; • Creates unwarranted fear among citizens and distrust between the government and its governed; • Creates disillusionment which may lead to civil disobedience; 39
Marion L. N. Chibambo
• Impedes citizen’s ability to implement policy decisions; • Impedes citizen’s ability to make informed choices and decisions; and last, but not least, • Is conducive to dictatorial tendencies and human rights abuse. The past Apartheid regime of South Africa and the dictatorial governments in the Sub-Saharan region thrived on government secrecy. Press freedom was habitually compromised either through censorship; banning and confiscation of publications; misinformation or manipulation of information and outright hostility to any opposing views. Information became a crucial resource for the Sub-Saharan region’s liberation movements and their alliances in international solidarity movements as they sought to expose the brutality and blatant violations of human rights in their countries. It is actually, the divulgence of information to the world that hastened the collapse of the apartheid regime in South Africa and dictatorial governments in the region. Timely access to relevant government information by the private sector is critical and of paramount importance because, entrepreneurs and investors indulge in investments and risky business ventures precisely in order to maximize profit and realize their potential. Freedom of access to government information on rules, policies, programs and resource allocation enables the private sector to make sound and longterm economic decisions and investment plans. It is vital for tendering, for open competition, and for an efficient market place of ideas and products. On the other hand, delays and denial of access to relevant government information, and ineffectual institutional and legal frameworks lead to missed investment opportunities and business transactions, which inevitably, compromise development. Access to information plays a vital role in security matters of any free open society. When governments or the private sector operate in secrecy, national security and individual personal safety is compromised. The Bhopal Union Carbide Chemical Disaster of 1984 in India and the Russian Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster of 1989 (IRTK, 2003)11, as well as the September 11, 2001 bombing of the Trade Centre and the Pentagon in New York, USA are good examples of the devastating consequences on human life and the environment because of a government’s and/or the private sector’s secrecy and/or denial to access information. The public needs to know about the vulnerabilities they may be exposed to in order to put sufficient pressure on their leaders to make them act in a timely and responsible manner. The absence of information does not necessarily mean the absence of danger; the reverse could be true as was the case in the above examples. In such cases, information is no longer just power, nor just a guarantor of an informed public discourse with its government, nor just an essential attribute for government‘s accountability, but it be40
The Right to Access Government Information, Democracy & Development
comes security in itself. It is in times of emotional crises like these, that maximum and timely access to information is crucial and critical. Access to government information in such cases ensures that: • Sound policies are arrived at with maximum and informed input from the stakeholders; • Prompt delivery of any necessary support the government and/or the citizens may need; • Citizen’ confidence in government is enhanced; and in addition, and • Prompt action by either government and/or the citizens, which could save life and protect the environment is taken. The foregoing discussion has demonstrated that the right to access to government information is a fundamental human right and is critical to good governance and economic development. However, the above notwithstanding, access to government information is not an absolute right. Public access to government information can sometimes be denied and overruled for some compelling reasons such as: national security, trade and commercial secrets, classified law enforcement matters and other classified information, such as cabinet papers, etc. Such exclusions to accessing government information must be clearly stipulated in national information access laws. The next section will discuss the importance of creating an enabling environment to achieve National Information access Laws. 5. Status of Legislation of National Information Access Laws By ratifying and acceding to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, African Heads of State endorsed their political will to uphold Article 9 of the Charter. However, this must be translated into action by passing National Information Access Laws. The importance of enacting a legal and regulatory framework on access to government information cannot be over-emphasized. Unless governments are serious about creating a conducive environment for accessing information, their ratifying and acceding to the African Charter will be in vain. 5.1. The Need for an Enabling Environment It is urged, and rightly so, that unless there is an enabling legal and regulatory framework to access information, participative democracy or good governance; state legitimacy; and human development cannot be achieved. An enabling environment 41
Marion L. N. Chibambo
can de defined as an environment in which laws and regulations are clear, transparent, equitably applied and in a timely manner by an objective judiciary. Where legal systems are weak and the application of the law is uncertain or its enforcement is arbitrary, governance, economic development, peace, and justice are compromised. According to the Open Society Justice Initiative, (2003)14, a number of factors are crucial to the enacting and adoption of national information access laws; some of them are: • A minimum level of open, democratic society must be reached, featuring respect for freedom of association; • A healthy and expanding civil society; • Freedom of expression, extending to a vibrant and independent media; • A genuine political plurality, reasonably free and fair legislative and presidential elections, and • Some commitment within government to transparency. The passing of a law is one thing, and only a start of transforming society from that of secrecy to openness. The biggest challenge however, is in the following: • Drafting internal regulations and establishing appeal procedures; • Training of government officials responsible for the management and organization of government records; • Training of government officials responsible for responding to information requests, and • Undertaking public education and awareness campaigns targeted at the legislators, government officials, general citizenry, the civic society organizations, political party leaders, and community/local leaders. The legislation of National Information access Laws, their implementation and monitoring requires a concerted effort of the legislators, the general citizenry and all leaders from the different sectors of society, i.e. the civil society organizations; leaders of political parties; government officials; local or community leaders as well as leaders in institutions of the private sector. Furthermore, the process requires experienced and properly trained legislators and government officials: otherwise inadequate legislation could lead to legislative irregularities, which could cause problems in application of the law.
42
The Right to Access Government Information, Democracy & Development
6. Regional Status of Legislation and National Information Laws of Sub-Saharan Africa The Table shows the regional status of legislation of National Information Access Laws as at December, 2005 STATUS of LEGISLATION NAME OF THE ENACTED COUNTRY Angola Yes Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Central African Republic Chad Comoros Congo Democratic Republic of Congo Djibouti Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Bissau Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Liberia Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania
PENDING
SILENT
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes -
43
Marion L. N. Chibambo
NAME OF THE COUNTRY Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda Sao Tome Senegal Sierra Leon Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
ENACTED
PENDING
SILENT
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (Constitution came into force, January, 2006) Yes Yes
Yes -
According to Article 19 (2005)3, (see global map attached, courtesy of John Barker, Director of Article 19, through personal communication), by December, 2005, out of the 45 countries in the region, only 3 countries had enacted comprehensive National Information Laws. These are: Angola, Uganda, and South Africa. While 12 countries have freedom of access or expression clauses in their Constitutions; however, enactment of the national law is pending. These include: Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia and Swaziland, which recently adopted its Constitution amid protests from the underground political parties and the civil society organizations. The rest of the countries in the region, have neither the constitutional provisions nor any operational law on freedom of access to information; thus they have been classified as “silent”. Freedom House, (2005)8, has the view that this state of affairs has witnessed the emergency of varying practices, types and quality of democracy in the Sub-Saharan Africa, with the resultant diverse human rights violations. The violations are as diverse as the region itself, and they range from: genocide, slavery, mass disappearances and torture, to denial of the basic human rights, such as freedom of speech and/or expression to that of freedom of the press, and the right to access government information. 44
The Right to Access Government Information, Democracy & Development
7. Concluding Remarks The discussion has shown that the right of access to information is a fundamental basic human right, which is critical to good governance and economic development. This discussion has also demonstrated that this is the basis for all other human rights; hence governments have a moral obligation to grant access to public files. However, access to government information is not an absolute right. At times and due to compelling reasons, such as national security; trade and commercial secrets; classified law enforcement matters; and other classified information; access to government information can be denied. The discussion has focused on the freedom of access to government information in Sub-Saharan Africa, and has shown that the enactment of national information laws is essential to freedom of access to information. Further it has indicated the status of legislation of national information access laws in the region. While the overall regional status of legislation of national information laws is disappointing, it is encouraging to note that there is a political will among African Heads of State as indicated in the number of countries that have so far not only ratified and acceded to the African Charter on Human Rights, but have constitutional provisions for freedom of access. It is hoped that these governments, in collaboration with the civil society organizations and information professionals shall soon enact the laws on freedom of access to information. The enactment of such laws is critical to the consolidation of democracy and economic development. 8. Recommendations In order to put into effect Article 9 of the African Charter on Human Rights in the Sub-region, governments must strive to translate theory into action by carrying out the following:. 1. Governments should as a matter of urgency, enact national freedom of information access laws in their respective countries; 2. Governments should enhance their institutional capacity and records management systems by taking advantage of the ICT developments; 3. Institutional capacity includes trained personnel to efficiently organize, manage, and handle public demand to access government information; 4. Governments should upgrade their computer hardware and purchase appropriate software for records management; 5. Governments should create and/or periodically update their websites to enhance access to government information; 45
Marion L. N. Chibambo
6. Civil society organizations and information professionals should seriously advocate for, and even assist in drafting of national information access laws in their respective countries; and last but not least, 7. If there is need for technical skills to enact and implement the law, assistance should be sought from either those African countries that have successfully enacted National Information Laws, or from international institutions such as, The Open Society Justice Initiative and The Freedom of Information Advocates Network. The national information access laws should include, among other things: • National information access laws should clearly delineate the chain of authority responsible for responding to information requests from the public; • National information access laws should clearly define discretionary powers of ministers or government officials withholding government information; • National information access laws should indicate the reasons for restricting access to certain government information; and that • National information access laws should, where applicable indicate the charges for incidentals, such as photocopying; postage, scanning, etc. References 1.
Adejumobi, Said (2000) Between Democracy and Development in Africa: What are the missing links? Paper presented to the World Bank Conference on “Development Thinking in the Next Millennium”, Paris, 26–28 June
2.
The African Charter on Human Rights. http://www.africa-union.org/Official_ documents/Treaties (Accessed 12/12/2005)
3.
Article 19: Global campaign for free Expression http://www.article19.org/ (Accessed 01/12/2005)
4.
Clarke, Paul B. and Foweraker, J. (eds.) (2001) Encyclopedia of Democratic Thought. London: Routledge.
5.
Commonwealth (2002).CHRI: Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative: Right to Information. www.humanrightsinitiative.org/programs/ai/cti/what/ htm (Accessed 10/11/2005)
6.
Frame, Iain (ed.) (2006) 35th ed. Africa South of the Sahara: Regional Surveys (2006), 35th ed. London: Rutledge
7.
Freedom House (2005). National Freedom of Information Laws www. freedominfo.org/survey.htm (Accessed 10/12/2005) 46
The Right to Access Government Information, Democracy & Development
8.
Freedom House (2005) International Right to Know Day, September 28, 2005 News www.freedominfo.org (Accessed 10/12/2005)
9.
Freedom of Information Advocates Net (2005). 3rd International Right to Know Day, 28 September 2005 www.foiadvocates.net/documents (Accessed 15/12/2005)
10.
International Monetary Fund, IMF (2005) Highly Indebted Poor Countries. http://www.imf.org/external/np/hipc/index.asp (Accessed 14/12/2005)
11.
International Right to Know Campaign (2003) www.irtk.org (Accessed on 08/11/2005)
12.
Malan, F. and Smit, B. (eds.) (2001) Ethics and Leaders in Business and Politics. Cape Town: Juta
13.
McMaster, Paul (2005) Denial of Access shushes the democratic dialogue. http://www.freedomform.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=15517 (Accessed 09/11/2005)
14.
Open Society Justice Initiative (2003). Freedom of Information www. justiceinitiative.org/activities/foifoe/foi (Accessed 10/11/2005)
15.
Schedler, L., Diamond, L., and Plattner, M. F. (eds.) (1999) The Selfrestraining State: Power and Accountability in New Democracies. Boulder, London: Lynne Rienner Publishers
16.
Symonides, J. and Volodin, V. (eds.) (2003) A Guide to Human Rights: Institutions, standards, and procedures. Paris: UNESCO
17.
Transparency International (2005) Corruption Perceptions Index 2005 http://www1.transparency.org/cpi/2005/dnld/cpi2005.highlights_africa.pdf (Accessed 10/12/2005)
18.
United Nations Development Programme (2004) Human Development Report: Cultural Liberty in Today’s Diverse World. Washington, D.C.: UNDP
19.
World Bank (1989), Sub-Saharan Africa: From Crisis to Sustainable Growth. Washington, D. C.: World Bank
20.
World Bank (1992), Governance and Development. Washington, D. C.: World Bank
21.
World Bank (2004) World Development Indicators Washington, D. C.: World Bank
47
MANAGEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION IN KENYA George G. Shibanda1 Western University College of Science and Technology P.O. BOX 190-50100, Kakamega, Kenya
[email protected],
[email protected] Abstract More than 50 per cent of Kenyan imprints constitute official publications. They form part of the multiplicity of Government publications emanating from ministries and departments, local governments (councils), judiciary, parastatal (semi-governmental) organizations, Commissions and government and education institutions. They contain very important information on legal policy, education, agriculture, economic, health and environment with implications for day to day lives of citizens. People require this information in appropriate and adequate format to keep in step with government thinking and directives. Educational institutions use government publications to support their curriculum while other sectors of publications support scholarship in terms of research funding emanating from Government research institutions. In the name of indigenous publishing, the government set up its own publishing houses to compete with multi-national publishing companies to produce cheap textbooks for schools through the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation and Kenya Literature Bureau, forming the Government Printers to produce official documents and University Presses for publishing University level books. Some government institutions resort to hiring private or commercial publishing firms to produce their documents (known only to themselves) thus avoiding the services of the Government printers and other government publishers. The Government has legal instruments supporting its own publishing activity. It is important to analyze these legal instruments in relation to the behavioral pattern of official information. There is also a need to find out the extent that Kenya Government publications meet the Universal Bibliographic Control (UBC) approach. The paper looks into categories of Government publishing houses, the nature, range and scope of publications, and bibliographic control and levels of accessibility. Basically the argument is that the gov1
A paper for the Joint FAIFE/GIOPS Workshop in Addis Ababa Ethiopia, March 29–30, 2006. Presented at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa WSIS Follow-up Conference on Access to Information and Knowledge for Development, United Nations Conference Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 27 – 30, 2006. International Seminar on the Strategic Management and Democratic Use of Government Information in Africa, Wednesday, 29 March 2006.
49
George G. Shibanda
ernment publications lie in situ and require sustainable professional efforts to bring to light all that is published for the common good nationally and internationally. 1. Introduction Kenya Government publications are from ministries and departments, local governments (councils), judiciary, parastatal organizations, Commissions and government educational institutions. Government publications contain very important information on legal matters, education, agriculture, economics, health and environment. Such information has an immediate impact on the day to day lives of Kenyan citizens. Therefore the people would normally require this information in appropriate format, in an adequate and timely manner just to keep in step with government policy and directives. The school education sector relies on government publications to support the curriculum in terms of textbook and other educational materials. Reports and research findings emanating from parastatal research institutions are useful for further research, planning, training and extension services. The Kenyan government has therefore set up its own publishing and printing houses to produce the textbooks that are relevant for schools. Official information needs to be available promptly and cheaply. Besides, it plays the role of indigenous publisher against the multinational companies to equip its people with official information conveniently. Problem Conceptualization While looking into categories of the Government publishing lines, the nature, the range and scope of publications, this paper argues that the Kenyan Government publications lie in situ and require professional and international efforts to bring to light all that is published for the common good nationally and internationally. The government has to pass its information management capability through bibliographic control and levels of accessibility. The leading questions are : • whether Kenya’s bibliographic control activities have on board all government published information for ease of identification, and • whether all Kenya government information is available to people through organized centers of knowledge, information system and services. 2. Assumptions The management of Government information is based on the following assumptions: • Government information needs are common among Kenyans and Kenyan institutions. 50
Management of Government Information in Kenya
• The Kenyan Government ministries, departments and parastatal institutions form a strong corporate author base. • The Kenya Government information emanates from a vibrant publishing house. • There exists an infrastructure for information accessibility and document delivery. • Document descriptions meet international standards. • Language is not a barrier in information utilization. 3. Objectives of Government Information Access to government policy and legal matters. • Democratization of the citizenry. • Cost-benefit analysis • Education based • Research based • Indigenous role player 4. Characteristics of Government Information Government information is produced as a result of the work of official bodies at all levels. Large volumes are produced every year and are important and authoritative in nature. They contain legislation, statements of government policy, debate on current topics of importance, reports of government sponsored research, official histories, statistical data. The government information appears virtually in all subjects and is published in any format including book, periodical, map and electronic. Kenyan Government official publications emanate from Government Printers covering reports, legislation, government policy reports and statistics. Others are Kenya Literature Bureau, Jomo Kenyatta Foundation, Kenya Ordinance Survey (maps) and University Presses. The Government Printer is obviously overwhelmed by demands for its services. Quite often, some government bodies outsource for publishing of their documents to commercial publishing in order to beat deadlines.
51
George G. Shibanda
5. Generation Lines The Kenya Government Printer is the single publishing house producing all government publications containing legislation, government policy, debates, reports and statistical data. The Kenya Ordinance Survey deal mainly with the production of cartography maps through the Department of Kenya Survey, Ministry of Lands. The Kenya Literature Bureau and the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation are strategic government publishing houses for production of school textbooks as recommended by the Kenya Institute of Education or Kenya Ministry of Education. They also undertake publishing within the commercial market for profit. Moi University and University of Nairobi have existing presses for production of university level books to support teaching and learning in their respective programmes. Most government bodies involved in documentation services engage in film, video documentary production at their local levels. A number of government institutions outsource publishing activities from the private sector. The documents sourced contain important information on research activities and service operations of the organization concerned. 6. Legal Instruments for Government Information The Kenya Government National Development Plan 1997–2001 provides for information resources and management whose objective is to have effective means of institutionalizing the systematic flow of and access to information in the country. The Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 63, 2005 provides for access to information emphasizing the right to demand the correction of deletion of untrue or misleading information. The state also supposed to publish all important information affecting the nation whereas Parliament is given leeway to enact legislation to provide for access to information. The Books and Newspapers Act (revised 1987) provides for deposit and registration of books and newspapers published in Kenya to an appointed Registrar to keep returns and register of books and newspapers collected in respect to this act. However, this act exempts books and newspapers printed or published by or on behalf of Government institutions. Beneficiaries of this legal requirement include the Kenya National Library Services (KNLS), Kenya National Archives and the University of Nairobi. 7. Bibliographic Control Concepts in Official Information Management The Universal Bibliographic Control (UBC) programme evolved from IFLA and adopted by UNESCO is a major policy objective that works towards the creation of 52
Management of Government Information in Kenya
a world wide system for the control and exchange of bibliographic information. It makes universally and promptly available, in a form of which is internationally acceptable, basic bibliographic data on all publications issued on all countries. The Universal Availability of Publications (UAP) was derived as a programme whose objective is to have the availability of published material to intended users wherever they are and whenever they need it. It targets making improvements in the availability of publications at all levels of society from local, national to international. This was a precursor to having listings of all published material for ease of identification via national bibliographies and subsequently making them available for use. 8. Government Information is the Missing-Link It is noticeable that while the Kenya Government National Development Plan 1997– 2001 provides for effective means of institutionalizing systematic flow of and access to information, the official ‘ball-game’ is distorted with bad refereeing. Most government information is confidential, not freely acquired, is inaccessible and remains untraceable. The Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 63, 2005 provides for the right of citizens to access information held by the state but it is not practical due to official bureaucracy and typical public ownership syndrome. Lack of civic education and political interference led to the loss of this fundamental right through the first ever Kenyan referendum of November 2005. The Books and Newspapers Act, revised in 1987, provides for deposit and registration of books and newspapers published in Kenya, but the government killed the initiative by exempting its own publications. It is not therefore possible to know what government information is available through the Registrar’s records. In the absence of their being recorded as part of Kenyan imprints, over 50 per cent of official information is just lost. Although the Kenya National Archives is one of the three depository centers whose mandate is to document all Kenya government information, the financial implications in procurement of the information and human capacity to undertake proper acquisitions is a limiting factor. The Universal Bibliographic Control Programme has seen the establishment of a Kenya National Bibliography (KNB) whose centre is at Kenya National Library Services headquarters (KNLS). Although KNLS is one the three depository centers and conveniently ideal for Kenya National Bibliography production, it is not able to receive all government information under the Books and Newspapers Act due to legal exemption. The listing of government publications in KNB is a result of concerted efforts of acquisitions on the part of KNLS. The Universal Availability of Publications (UAP) provided for making available published material to intended users wherever they are and whenever they need it. 53
George G. Shibanda
Government information shows peculiarity that cannot conform to the UAP programme concept. As already noted, the information emanating from government lines is not easily identified through International Standard Book Numbers and International Standard Serial Numbers because it is not a requirement for such publications to have ISBNs and ISSNs. Furthermore, most of these publications are not listed in the Kenya National Bibliography (KNB). Documents containing official information are classified and are available in Kenyan government offices and libraries to serve only those officers serving in government. Lastly, accessing such literature in a government institution is restrictive to the general public and where they can be sanctioned for public use, their organization for storage and access is another deterrent. 9. Tracing Government Information Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. Judiciary documents include laws, court decisions and recommendations of presidential commissions. Ministries and Departments publish administrative reports, five year plans, Parliamentary proceedings, laws, statistics, general reports, economic policy plans, maps, survey plans and extension services publications. Local Authorities and Government publish Council committee minutes, committee plans and reports and laws and statistics. Bibliographic Control Services can help in a limited manner to trace government publications. The Government Printers Catalogue is the most commonly available catalogue on government publications but it is a 1977 edition. Otherwise the Government Printers Bookshop is the current source. The Kenya Gazette is a weekly publication printed by the Government Printers which normally lists all government publications published by the Government Printers. The Catalogue of the Kenya National Archives, one of the three centers falling under the jurisdiction of the Books and Newspapers Depository Act, produces a listing of government publications within their collection in the Guide to the Kenya National Archives. The Kenya National Bibliography (KNB) attempts to provide a complete listing of all Kenyan imprints. The information on government documents is not conclusive, however it is a useful annual tool for books and periodicals. The Kenya Publishers Catalogue attempts to list all books produced by publishers who are members of the Kenya Publishers Association. The Library of Congress (Nairobi office) produces the Library of Congress list bimonthly with an annual supplement and also lists government publications. The University of Nairobi, National Union Listing of Periodicals, contains periodical holdings in libraries within East Africa. Government documents are also included in the annual African Bibliography which is edited by Hector Blackhurst and The African Publishing Companion: a resource Guide by Hans Zell Publishing Consultants. Individual libraries and information centers pro54
Management of Government Information in Kenya
duce guides to their collections which include accession lists, subject indexes, union catalogues listings and general indexes and abstracts. 10. Challenges To achieve solutions to the leading questions of this paper in bibliographic control services and accessing government in organized centers of knowledge, information systems and services, there is need to direct efforts in addressing the following challenges: (i) To ensure the right to access government information. (ii) To put in place an information service infrastructure that looks into telecommunication deployment, digital divide, hybrid libraries (internet based services) and creation of repositories. (iii) To create databases and develop content information. (iv) To place content on the Internet in local languages (v) To cover the implicit cost in generating/creating knowledge and information, access and use. (vi) to develop village ICT centers / Telecentres. 11. One Way Forward IFLA in partnership with World Bank, UNESCO, CIDA, SIDA, USAID and national institutions could work out an achievable formulae and projects within sectoral programmes to jump-start activities that will help manage and access government information. 12. Conclusion There is a need to incorporate government information in the information society concept and there is also a great need to recognize that access to knowledge and information is fundamental. There is a further need to recognize that government information is plenty yet scanty to those who need it Forming consortiums and collaborations with deployment of ICTs may provide solutions in the patent issues of information management and delivery. What is therefore required is the creation of an enabling environment for tracing, acquiring, organizing for access, retrieval and utilization of government information.
55
George G. Shibanda
13. Bibliography 1.
Kenya Government Printers. 1977. Catalogue of Government Publications. Nairobi Government Printers.
2.
Gundu, Shibanda. 1991. Acquisitions trends and the relevance of Universal Bibliographic control in Kenya. A paper presented at the Kenya Library Association, Nairobi 10–12 April
3.
Maxwell, Christine. 200. Global trends that will impact universal access to information resources. http://www.isoc.org/.
56
FACTORS HINDERING EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION IN KENYA Nerisa Kamar Research Librarian, J.D. Rockefeller Research Library Egerton University, Njoro, KENYA. Email:
[email protected] Abstract: The role of government information in good governance is explained and the factors hindering effective management of this information in Kenya are discussed. These factors relate to lack of a National Information Policy, poor information communication technology infrastructure, unqualified manpower, information illiteracy, poor remuneration, and lack of commitment from the information professionals. It concludes with how the hindering factors may be handled to ensure a timely flow of government information. Keywords: Information, Management, Governance, Kenya 1. Introduction – Government Information Information is regarded as power and it is first and foremost aimed and utilized to increase knowledge, reduce uncertainties and to add value when rightly placed. It is both a resource and an asset characterised by relevancy, quality and timeliness. Information is an essential part of a nation’s resources and therefore it is basic in any decision-making, and access to it is a basic human right. With the information age controlled by information and communication technologies it has been assumed that information has now become more than a crucial weapon for acquisition of social, economic and political power in any country. Governments are major generators and users of information. This information includes publications that are issued at the government’s expense or published by the authority of a government body. The publications record the activities and operations of the government. A major characteristic is their originality; most of it is primary information (e.g. statistical findings, proceedings, research findings, reports of appointed commissions) Government information is dictated by the information needs of a country’s citizens. This revolves around delivery of all government materials to the public through government units as coordinated by the relevant ministries and departments. 57
Nerisa Kamar
These ministries and departments collect, organise and disseminate statistical data on all the activities and provide vital information resource for planning, implementing and executing government directives. This kind of data emanates from articles, reports and analysis generated by the government in place. The value of government information is enhanced by research and development, policy making, poverty eradication (through the Kenya poverty reduction strategy). Others include government budgeting, planning, decision making and power shifts which are the source of economic and political power and are associated with acquiring wealth, political strength and more knowledge for development. Government information increases knowledge, reduces uncertainty and adds value when imparted correctly to its citizens and such a system facilitates growth in government circles. 2. Information management In the author's understanding, information management is the application of management to the acquisition, organizing, control, dissemination and use of information relevant to the effective operations of each department/ministry. In addition, Government Information Management is viewed as the management of information as a national resource efficiently and effectively so as to ensure that people have timely access to pertinent, comprehensive and reliable information, to enable them accomplish more efficiently and effectively the development tasks in which they are involved. Other schools of thought look at information management as a process that confers value, quality, ownership, use and security of information in the context of a given country (in this case Kenya) in order to increase efficiency and reduce cost. Therefore and particularly in the author’s scenario, information management aims at increasing the availability and accuracy of current government data and information whenever and wherever it is needed. 3. Information and governance Governance is the process of interaction between the public sector and the government. It involves the establishment and operations of social institutions capable of resolving conflicts through access to available information. For instance, different ministries generate different information that needs to be well managed, coordinated and made available for transparency and decision-making. Pandye, G.N (2005) looks at information and governance in relation to public administration. He says that information for governance should provide a framework within which political, social and economic priorities are based on a broad 58
Factors Hindering Effective Management of Government Information in Kenya
consensus in society, and the voices of the poorest and most vulnerable are heard in the decision making process regarding the allocation of government resources. As a development process, information and governance target improvement in the administration of government and delivery of services to the public. It ensures efficiency, availability, transparency and accountability of government information systems. To achieve this, a good infrastructure for creating, transmitting, storing and disseminating government information is always anticipated to be in place. Information for governance facilitates both production and distribution of government information. This information is then processed, stored, retrieved for economic, political and social use. 4. Sources and types of Government Information in Kenya Governments in most countries of the world are the biggest generators and producers of information at the same time the largest consumers of information. In the Kenya Government, the sources information are: the Office of the President and all other ministries viz; of the Vice- President and Ministry for Home Affairs. Others are: Agriculture, 2Co-operative Development and Marketing, 3East African and Regional Cooperation, 4Education, Science and Technology, 5Energy, 6Environmental and Natural resources, 7Finance, 8Foreign Affairs, 9Gender, sports, Culture and Social Services, 10Health, 11Information and Communication, 12Justice and Constitutional Affairs, 13Labour and Human Resource Development, 14Lands and Housing, 15Livestock and Fisheries Development, 16 Local Government, 17Planning and National Development, 18Regional Development Authorities, 19Roads and Public Works, 20Tourism and Wildlife, 21Trade and Industry, 22Transport, 23Water), the Public Service Commission, the Electoral Commission, the Exchequer and Audit Department, the National Assembly, the State Law Office and the Judiciary. The Central Bureau of Statistics, Government Press, Ministries and other departments have been given the responsibility of not only compiling these valuable information sources but also documenting these as reports that can be consumed any time by both the government and its citizens. Accessibility of the compiled information is not a hurdle as room has been opened without hindrance. The unique and useful part of these publications is that they have become essential tools for planning and decision-making. The Government of Kenya has several types of publications that emanate from the above ministries/departments, they include: • The Kenya Gazette • Monthly Economic Reviews • Development Plans 59
Nerisa Kamar
• The Government Code of Regulations • The Teachers Code of Regulations • Statistical Abstracts • Sessional Papers • The Directory of Diplomatic Corps and International Organizations • Annual Reports • General Publications • Laws of Kenya • Selected Applied Legislation 5. Classification of Government Information in Kenya Government information is classified as per an established classification system as it is generated from the ministry/department. Generally, information is classified into: • Secret – to remain in creating ministry/department. The public does not have access to these publications. • Top secret- their access by the public is dictated by the creating ministry/department. • Confidential • Public records This type of classification has created legalistic obstruction to the flow of information to the general public. 6. Factors hindering effective management of Government Information There are several factors that hinder effective management of Government information in Kenya. They include: • Lack of National Information Policy • Poor Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure • Unqualified manpower • Information illiteracy 60
Factors Hindering Effective Management of Government Information in Kenya
• Poor remuneration • Weak Information Professional Association A National Information Policy (NIP) is a set of decisions taken by the government through appropriate laws and regulations to orient harmonious development of information transfer activities in order to satisfy the information needs of a country. NIP looks into the mechanism put in place in terms of personnel, funds, and information communication infrastructure. The objective of a NIP is to achieve a progressive improvement of the socio-economic development of a country through the provision of information and its effective use. The Government of Kenya, though it lacks a comprehensive National Information Policy, realizes the important role, which can be played by utilization of information in development. There are several sectoral policies in the form of legislation, regulations and guidelines that influence information acquisition, accessibility, dissemination, utilization and availability. They include, public libraries (the KNLS Board Act), archives (the Public Archives Act), and legal-deposit material (the Books and Newspaper Act cap 111 Laws of Kenya). Other relevant laws include the Copyright Act, the Industrial Property Act, the Science and Technology Act, the Museums Act, the Universities Acts, and the Education Act. Others include the district focus circulation No. 1/86 that advocates for the availability and use of publications for effective district development planning by the use of district information and documentation centers. In essence, a comprehensive NIP is expected to give guidelines on bibliographic control, regulate publication titles, determine the number of copies to be printed, and the acquisition of government materials. However, very few creators of information follow these regulations as there is no strict control. In addition, the lack of a comprehensive NIP in Kenya has resulted in irregular publication of government titles, poor bibliographic details and bureaucracy in acquisition of government materials. This has been emphasised by 1lack of physical structures such as a National Library to coordinate government publications from all ministries and departments, 2 an unimplemented legal deposit law, and 3classification of government information. A common feature of all the above laws is that they need a major review and harmonization for effectiveness. The Government of Kenya has for some time recognized the critical role played by the ICT sector in the economy and its potential to improve the economic and social well being of the population (Tuju, 2005). This role according to Minister Tuju has been emphasized in both Kenya’s “Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)” of March 2001 and the subsequent policy paper on “Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation, 2003–2007” of June 2003, where the Gov61
Nerisa Kamar
ernment of Kenya endorsed the importance of ICT in national development and alleviation of poverty. It has also underscored the need to mitigate the myriad of constraints and challenges facing the communication sector that hinder the full exploitation of ICT to achieve national development goals. However the implementation of ICT and related policies has been slowed by the inadequate or inaccessible complementary infrastructure and services (electricity, telephone, data services, financial services), poor policy and regulatory framework and technology dispersion and disparities through out the country, however the Government commitment causes a lot of concern. The role of information professionals is to collect (search databases and other secondary sources of information) process and combine information from all sources and present them in the most effective manner. Despite the increased number of information professionals graduating from training institutions, and the increasing number of information training institutions in Kenya, there is inadequate human resource capability in information centres that govern and disseminate government information. For instance in a case of where tools (computers, libraries) and products (government publications, databases) may be available, there is no adequate manpower to implement and execute the available resources. A majority of the manpower is unmotivated to achieve more or even to learn new skills because there are hardly any incentives to motivate them. Most of the people working in the government sector in Kenya get neither a “carrot” nor a “stick”; that is, they neither rewarded for excellent work nor are they punished or held accountable for not performing satisfactorily. Information illiteracy is the inability to recognise an information need, to find appropriate information from a variety of sources, to evaluate it and to apply it constructively. It is also the inability to shift, evaluate, understand and interpret available information and use it productively in order to generate a product/service and communicate effectively. The low level of literacy and the absence of a reading culture have contributed to information illiteracy in Kenya. This means that a sizeable proportion of Kenyans cannot access government information because they cannot read regardless of the little available infrastructure such the public libraries, (including mobile and camel) and community libraries that make available government information. Many times it is noticed that the average Kenya has basic literacy skills in his or her vernacular languages but cannot access government information as it is written in English. This definitely hinders use of available relevant government information by the larger rural illiterate population that is unable to read the content mostly presented in English language. Therefore in such a scenario, the country now needs experts who can translate these print materials into the vernacular to facilitate the possibility of their being used extensively. 62
Factors Hindering Effective Management of Government Information in Kenya
Information illiteracy has also resulted in a lack of information skills. These are skills relating to seeking, locating, searching, retrieving and handling government information. The other result of information illiteracy is the inability to evaluate the effectiveness and reality of various information channels and sources including libraries for various types of government information. The government of Kenya pays its civil servants poorly. Those working within this sector are forced to look for other jobs or run a parallel business in order to supplement their pay. This has affected their performance in the organization and dissemination of government information. The morale issue needs to be addressed with force and therefore putting the issue of policy in line with human development is a necessity. Kenya as a Nation has one Information Professional Association, the Kenya Library Association (KLA) that advocates for literacy and information provision. This association of professionals has the bulk of information workers in the country whose background is to process and disseminate information to both the literates and illiterates. However, membership is restricted to individuals rather than institutions with librarians having the upper hand. “Ideally, Information Professional Associations should allow anyone interested in promoting quality library services to join the organization as an individual rather than restricting membership to professionally trained librarians”. Chernick, B (1992) Part of these weaknesses can be attributed to uneven distribution of information channels such as libraries within the urban and rural settings in Kenya, poor organizational structure and uneven representation of types of libraries within the association. For example, three quarters of the KLA officials in the current office are from academic library institutions. Though KLA is an information professional body, it does not seem to have a voice on issues of government/ national information infrastructure. 7. Possible solutions to ineffective management of Government information Following are some possible solutions to the present problems: • Emphasize training (professionally and in-house) and improve remuneration for information professionals so as to improve national collection and dissemination of government information for sustainable development; 63
Nerisa Kamar
• Formulate a comprehensive National Information Policy in Kenya to enhance coordination and flow of government information among main stakeholders namely the state and the citizens (civil society); • Set up a government agency that will monitor the generation, processing and management of government information. This agency should, among other things, advise the government on the importance and role of NIP; • Formulate a NIP reflecting the needs of all sectors of the community. This will help in the establishment of a National Information Plan; • Merge ministerial/departmental libraries to allow efficiency in the flow and use of government information; • Carry out a community analysis to understand user needs, information seeking behaviour and where people seek for information in each community. This will facilitate timely delivery of government information for economic development; • Develop and improve systems (plans) that bring government information close to the people such as national libraries, community libraries, mobile libraries, reading tents, box libraries, donkey libraries, and camel libraries; • Translate government information into the vernacular languages to facilitate wider accessibility and use.; • Fully implement and effect the compulsory free primary education and revive the adult education programme especially in the rural area, and • Motivate staff through rewards, job security, high wages, promotions, conferences, seminars and scholarships. 8. Conclusion Effective and timely use of government information for socio-economic and political development throughout the Republic of Kenya may be achieved by enabling all citizens to access government information in all Kenyan vernacular languages. This can be practically achieved through the enhancement of free primary education, adult literacy programmes, development of community and expansion of public libraries. In Kenya, the government has done very little to support information systems. There is a need to develop communication infrastructure such as good roads, a transport network, a national information infrastructure, telephones, libraries and ICT tools to facilitate the flow of government information. An effective Information Policy should be formulated with all stakeholders (the government as information generating agents, the information professionals as in64
Factors Hindering Effective Management of Government Information in Kenya
formation processors and disseminators, and citizens as the information consumers) contributions taken into consideration. The Kenya Library Association should spearhead this. References 1.
Barbara, Chernick (1992) Introduction to library services / Chernick, Barbara. Libraries unlimited inc., Englewood, Colorado, 1992.
2.
Odin, Cephas. The Book chain in Kenya. Www.inasp.info/pubs/bookchain/ profiles/Kenya.html
3.
The Kenya Government E:\Kenya Government Ministris.html
4.
Tuju, R. Communications Commission of Kenya: for your communication. Speech by the Minister for Information & Communications Hon. Tuju, EGH, MP during the official opening of the final National ICT Policy Conference, Held at the Sun 'N' Sand Hotel, Mombasa on 13th – 15th June 2005 Www.cck.go.ke/html/speech.asp?
5.
UNESCO Launches the Communication and Information Policy Framework … www.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php
6.
Usha Mujoo-Munishi (1998). Information Technology: Concerns and Issues in Developing Countries with Special Reference to India. Library Herald vol. 36, No. 2, July- September 1998.
65
INFORMED CITIZENS IN THE GLOBAL INFORMATION COMMONS Geoffrey D. Swindells University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, Missouri United States
[email protected] Abstract While citizens in a global society require access to a wider and more diverse range of political information than ever before, the very technologies that enable this access also tend to bypass the kind of environments, like libraries, where citizens can learn to make productive use of that information. However, rather than marking the irrelevance of the library for citizenship, the author argues that political literacy in the network society may actually depend upon bringing the sophisticated reference structure of the library to the network. The author concludes with a model for distributed, cooperatively managed reference services using domain ontologies. 1. Introduction A Comprehensive Assessment of Public Information Dissemination, published in 2001 by the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS), offers an opportunity to reflect on the real potential of digital dissemination of government information, and on the difficulties of translating this potential into an effective instrument of citizenship. The Commission noted that, although “public sector information has always played a very important role in the political, economic, and social affairs of every country...the advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web have dramatically escalated [its] importance because of the power of the Internet to tremendously increase its availability.”1 However, the report acknowledges that this promise remains largely unfulfilled. The reasons cited for this failure are many and familiar. These include challenges associated with the digital medium per se (such as providing for the authenticity, preservation, and persistence of official information on the web); with the intellectual organization of this information, now made more difficult because of the dispersed and decentralized nature 1
U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, A Comprehensive Assessment of Public Information Dissemination, Final Report (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2001), 1:4.
67
Geoffrey D. Swindells
of Internet holdings; and government information policies that have not kept pace with technological change. Perhaps more worrisome, however, are the problems outlined in the report that relate to citizen access. The report distinguishes between two types of access: physical access, the “physical means and tools to obtain information,” and intellectual access, the abilities “necessary to know how to obtain the information efficiently, effectively, and economically.”2 Intellectual access is a largely unacknowledged aspect of the digital divide, one that cannot be bridged simply by providing more, or more equitably distributed, technological resources – as vitally important as such efforts are. As the report notes, “individual citizens are faced with considerable practical difficulties in knowing what government information exists that might help them, searching for it easily and cost effectively, and then understanding and utilizing it once located.”3 The report identifies three types of competencies as crucial to effective citizenship in a digital age: computer literacy, the knowledge and skills that allow citizens to use computers and information technology; information literacy, the abilities needed to locate, evaluate and use information resources; and the “special skills related to understanding and using public information.”4 This last, political literacy is the focus of this paper. However, while agreeing that political literacy is vital to effective citizenship, I tend to disagree with the approach to literacy adopted in the NCLIS report. Literacy is one of those “essentially contested concepts,” an idea whose meaning is unavoidably caught up in politics and embedded in history, a concept that admits of no full and final resolution; therefore today, two years into the United Nations Literacy Decade, it is incumbent upon those who adopt it to attempt some clarity as to its use.5 While there are many ways to look at the range of meanings attached to literacy, perhaps most useful for this discussion is to distinguish between those which view literacy as a set of more or less definable skills or social facts that must be mastered and those which see it as a more contingent complex of social and cultural practices.6 Without drawing hard and fast lines between these two perspectives, we can say that the NCLIS report tends toward the former position, and that the author leans toward the latter. Practically speaking, this means that this paper makes a distinction between political information, political knowledge and political literacy, the first being the universe of potentially-informative-things about which citizens may want (or need) to know or use, the second being what they actually do know, and the 2 3 4 5
6
A Comprehensive Assessment, 1:22 A Comprehensive Assessment, 1:49 A Comprehensive Assessment, 1:50–51 William E. Connolly, The Terms of Political Discourse. 2nd edition (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983). New London Group, “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures” Harvard Educational Review 66(1996): 60–92.
68
Informed Citizens in the Global Information Commons
third being related to the practice of citizenship itself, to the process of becoming informed about and participating in political life.7 2. Political Information Let me begin, then, by explaining what I mean by “political information.” A recent study of the information needs of British citizens defines political information as that which is “produced by or about national and local government, government departments and public sector organizations which may be of value to the citizen either as part of everyday life or in the participation by the citizen in government and policy formulation.”8 While this is a good place to start, I would amend this definition slightly: first, by recognizing a broader array of political actors, including international and regional organizations and politically-active private sector organizations, such as transnational corporations; and second, by including information about the structure of government documentation. The former acknowledges some of the real complexity of politics in a global society, while the latter points toward one of the consequences of a networked society. With respect to this last, a recent guide to United States government information on the Internet asks, “Why do we need any print guide to government resources on the Web?” Bypassing a guide such as this one and searching independently requires knowledge of government structure, types of publications ... terminology, and specific titles...Without prior awareness of these issues, it is easy to look at a Web site and miss valuable content. For example, in dealing with congressional information sources, it is important to be able to differentiate between a report and a hearing. In the case of the executive branch, the information seeker needs some elementary understanding of the Freedom of Information Act and the difference between a publication and a record.9 In their influential study on political knowledge in the United States, Michael Delli Carpini and Scott Keeter developed a useful typology that gets at this broader notion of political information. They divide the universe of information about politics into three kinds: information about the rules of the game (the institutions and processes of government); information about the substance of politics (“the major domestic 7 8
9
Michael Buckland, Information and Information Systems (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991). Rita Marcella and Graeme Baxter, “The Information Needs and Information Seeking Behavior of a National Sample of the Population in the United Kingdom, With Special Reference to the Needs Related to Citizenship” Journal of Documentation 55(1999): 161. Peter Hernon, John A. Shuler and Robert E. Dugan, U.S. Government on the Web: Getting the Information You Need (Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 1999), xx.
69
Geoffrey D. Swindells
and international issues of the day, current social and economic conditions, key policy initiatives, and so forth”); and information about people and parties (“the promises, performances, and attributes” of candidates, parties and nongovernmental organizations).10 Some understanding of these three categories of political information, they maintain, is essential for producing informed citizens. 3. Political Knowledge For most citizens, this is largely unfamiliar terrain. Marshalling a half century's worth of survey data, Delli Carpini and Keeter argue that, on the whole, voting-age citizens in the U.S. are generally ill-informed about the details of government, that levels of political knowledge have varied little over the past fifty years, and that disparities in political knowledge among citizens “mirror their standings in the social, political and economic world.”11 Directly comparable data on the political knowledge of voting-age citizens outside the U.S. is thin, but studies from Australia and the Netherlands suggest that Americans are not alone and that relatively low levels of political literacy, along with the unequal distribution of political knowledge along socioeconomic lines, is a common feature of contemporary society.12 Furthermore, extensive cross-national data on secondary school students is also suggestive. In a 1999 survey of 14-year olds from 28 countries, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) found that, although most students have a “fairly adequate” knowledge about “basic notions of democracy and citizenship,” the questions in the test answered correctly by only relatively small numbers of students are part of what might be required to perform such civic tasks as deciding between candidates based on their election leaflets, understanding newspaper editorials and deciding whether to join a political organization with a particular ideology.13 In other words, while establishing that 14-year-olds may be reasonably familiar with the formal processes of government, the IEA survey offers little, if any, justification for assuming that their formal knowledge will translate into the concrete ability to 10
11 12
13
Michael X. Delli Carpini and Scott Keeter, What Americans Know about Politics and Why It Matters (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996), 14. What Americans Know, 271. Ian McAllister, “Civic Education and Political Knowledge in Australia” Australian Journal of Political Science 33(1998): 7–23. Leo B. Van Shippenburg, Carlo Hagerman and Paul Hendriks Vettehen, “Politieke kennis en mediagebruik in Nederland” Mens en Maatschappij 77(2002): 65–79. Torney-Purta, J. and others, Citizenship and Education in Twenty-eight Countries: Civic Knowledge and Engagement at Age Fourteen (Amsterdam: IEA, 2001), 67.
70
Informed Citizens in the Global Information Commons
act as citizens. This failure to translate basic knowledge into actual practice is confirmed by a follow-up study of upper secondary school students (ranging from 16 to 19 years of age) in 16 countries. IEA researchers found that though most of the students “had mastered the principles of democratic government … in many cases, uncertainties persisted when more demanding inferences were required.”14 Of course, we need to be careful in extrapolating from this evidence, but the fact that these students were more likely to have received recent, formal education in civics than the population at large suggests its wider relevance. Moreover, the study might also prompt us to ask what these “more demanding inferences” might be, and to pose questions about how and to what extent the Internet is capable of helping citizens meet these demands. This takes me from the matters of political information and political knowledge to that of political literacy. 4. Political Literacy How one thinks about the information demands of citizenship depends upon how one understands citizenship itself, and this will, in turn, color the judgment of the current adequacy of the Internet as a tool for democratic practice. Very briefly and at the risk of oversimplifying, one can plot a number of reigning models of citizenship on a grid in which the horizontal axis represents the extent of active deliberation expected of citizens, and the vertical axis charts the degree of political knowledge each model requires of them. In the upper right hand quadrant one finds the classic ideal of the “informed citizen” developed during the Progressive era in the United States as a reaction to the excesses of party politics. Independent minded and selfmotivated, this is a citizen both attuned to the complex modern world and fully capable of making the informed choices necessary to self-government.15 This is also the citizen about whom Walter Lippmann famously quipped, “I have not happened to meet anybody, from the President of the United States to a professor of political science, who came anywhere near to embodying the accepted ideal of the sovereign and omni-competent citizen.”16 In the lower left quadrant one encounters Lippmann’s alternative. In the face of both the complexity of modern society and the self-interested myopia of ordinary citizens, he recommends a notion of citizenship that transfers the need for knowledge from citizens to experts and limits citizen deliberation to moments of crisis.17 This is also the quadrant where we find various 14
15
16 17
Amadeo, J.A., and others, Civic Knowledge and Engagement: An IEA Study of Upper Secondary Students in Sixteen Countries (Amsterdam: IEA, 2002), 72. Michael Schudson, The Good Citizen: A History of American Civic Life (New York: The Free Press, 1998), 144–187. Walter Lippmann, The Phantom Public (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1993), 10–11. Lippmann, 53–64.
71
Geoffrey D. Swindells
versions of rational-choice minimalism, where citizen competence is effectively abandoned in favor of “information shortcuts” like the positions of interest groups, political parties, and other opinion leaders.18 The lower right hand quadrant is occupied by the type of citizen promoted in John Dewey’s rejoinder to Lippmann. While accepting much of Lippmann’s pessimistic assessment of the state of citizen competence and acknowledging modern society’s need for expertise, Dewey maintained that “knowledge is a function of association and communication” and that “improvement of the conditions of debate, discussion and persuasion” were the key to democratic governance. Unlike the self-sufficient citizen of Progressivism, Dewey’s model makes no claims of omni-competence at the level of the individual citizen, but instead relies upon the creation of structures of both intensive and extensive deliberation where knowledge can be pooled and rational decisions made.19 There is, you will notice, one final quadrant, the upper left. Before taking up the question of the type of citizen represented there, it is necessary to pause to consider the notion of the citizen that is assumed by American discussions of e-government.. Most models of e-government in the United States rely on a relatively thin conception of democratic engagement, with citizens relegated largely to the role of customer.20 From the perspective of both citizens and system designers, constructing “cost-effective models for citizens, industry, federal employees, and other stakeholders to conduct business transactions online”21 is less demanding than making a commitment to using Internet technology to build “a more open and participatory democracy at all levels of government.”22 In fact, most citizens who use the Internet to conduct business with government tell pollsters that they are reasonably satisfied with available Internet services – though even here the survey data suggest room for improvement.23 However, if one views the “citizen not only [as] a consumer in the product and service delivery chain, but also a partner in the governance process,” the evidence is less encouraging.24 In a study assessing the quality of information ser18
19 20
21
22
23
24
Samuel L. Popkin and Michael A. Dimock, “Political Knowledge and Citizen Competence” in Stephen L. Elkin and Karol Edward Solta, eds. Citizen Competence and Democratic Institutions (University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), 120. John Dewey, The Public and Its Problems (Chicago: The Swallow Press, 1954), 158 and 208. Harold C. Relyea, “E-gov: Introduction and Overview” Government Information Quarterly 19 (2002): 9–35. Thurman L. Whitson and Lynn Davis, “Best Practices in Electronic Government: Comprehensive Electronic Information Dissemination for Science and Technology” Government Information Quarterly 18 (2001): 79. United States Information Infrastructure Task Force, The National Information Infrastructure: Agenda for Action (Washington, D.C.: Executive Office of the President, Information Infrastructure Task Force, 1993), 18. John B. Horrigan, How Americans Get in Touch With Government (Washington, D.C.: Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2004). Elisabeth Richard, “Tools of Governance” in Barry N. Hague and Brian D. Loader, eds. Digital Democracy: Discourse and Decision Making in the Information Age (London: Routledge, 1999), 73.
72
Informed Citizens in the Global Information Commons
vices provided by parliamentary web sites in England and in the recently devolved legislatures of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Rita Marcella and colleagues at Robert Gordon University found that, although most participants considered the sites to be “useful” in the abstract, they were confused by the number and variety of legislative and executive bodies existing at the national level,…uncertain about [their] purpose…[and] consequently about the nature of the information that such agencies were likely to be able to offer on their websites. They found great difficulty in accessing relevant information in an accessible and comprehensible form [and though] the majority indicated that they would use electronic sources in the future; few felt that this was likely to be for democratic participation.25 There are a number of notable issues raised here. First, Marcella’s study identifies considerable bewilderment about the increasingly complex nature of British government; second, it notes that the design of parliamentary web sites contributes to this uncertainty, or at minimum, fails to alleviate it; and finally, it underscores the fact that most of the citizens involved did not perceive the online information provided as inviting political engagement. What is necessary both to argue and to emphasize here is that political literacy occupies the space at the intersection of these three things: the relative complexity of the political environment, the design of our information systems and the responsiveness of those systems to the information needs of citizens.26 This brings us back to the grid of citizenship discussed above, particularly to the remaining upper left hand quadrant, which represents the combination of a low degree of participatory deliberation and high demands on citizen knowledge. This is where it is suggested that models of citizenship be located that better reflect the realities of contemporary life. This argument is framed largely as a response to Dewey, whose model of citizenship occupies the lower right portion of the grid. On the one hand, while the author agrees with Dewey that human cognition is always partial and that political literacy depends to a certain extent on participation in a political community, it bears noting that the demands of modern life require both more and less of citizens than he envisioned. It is not necessary to argue for the reinstatement of the omnicompetent citizen, but instead for the need to recognize the fact of what Lars Qvortrup has called hypercomplexity.27 The phenomenologist Alfred Schutz describes this dilemma as follows:
25 26 27
“The Effectiveness of Parliamentary Information Services,” 41. What Americans Know, 209–217. Lars Qvortrup, The Hypercomplex Society (New York: P. Lang, 2003).
73
Geoffrey D. Swindells
The well-informed citizen finds himself placed in a domain that belongs to an infinite number of possible frames of reference. There are no pre-given ready-made ends, no fixed borderlines within which he can look for shelter. He has to choose the frame of reference by choosing his interest, he has to investigate the zones of relevance adhering to it, and he has to gather as much knowledge as possible of the origin of and sources of relevances actually or potentially imposed on him.28 Schutz compares the demands on the “well-informed citizen” to two other ideal types, “the man on the street” and the “expert.” The first is consumed by the routines of daily life, and the second by the pursuit of his specialty – in both cases, their occupations and preoccupations carry them away from the labor intensive work of public deliberation. This brings the author to his other point of disagreement with Dewey. The problem is that, for Dewey, the passage from man on the street to wellinformed citizen can be accomplished only in and through “debate, discussion and persuasion.” This seems to require a level of engagement in public affairs that belies our experience of living in the world. As Michael Warner puts it, “a public is thought to be active, curious, alert. But actual people are intermittent in their attention, only occasionally aroused, fitfully involved.”29 This is not to disparage deliberative democracy, which, like Dewey, the author believes is crucial to democratic citizenship, but rather to maintain that we need to look for additional, supplementary structures of engagement that citizens can tap into as needed. It is also to suggest that political information systems require both breadth and flexibility to be of use to global citizens whose participation in politics is episodic, unpredictable, and contingent upon a broad array of world events and economic and social processes. 5. An Information Commons As can be seen above, Delli Carpini and Keeter have extensively documented the low levels of political knowledge among U.S. citizens and the apparent durability of these levels over time. Rather than viewing this as evidence of apathy or the lack of adequate cognitive skills, they maintain (first) that most citizens make serious efforts to understand the political world, and (second) that environmental factors rather than individual attributes constitute the principal barriers to political literacy. Chief among these factors is the structure of the information environment, and Delli Carpini and Keeter make a number of proposals designed to render political information more accessible, among them making journalism more responsive to citizen 28
29
Alfred Schutz, “The Well-Informed Citizen,” in Maurice Natanson, ed. Collected Papers (The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1962–1966.) 2: 130–131. Michael Warner, Publics and Counterpublics (New York : Zone Books, 2002), 87
74
Informed Citizens in the Global Information Commons
needs.30 More relevant to our purposes here, however, is John Gaventa’s concept of opening up “spaces for political learning,” of cultivating places where democratic discussion and analysis, however fitful or intermittent, can freely occur.31 The author would argue that libraries are such spaces. Despite the success of the Internet, libraries “remain complex, democratic, onestop shopping and consultation centers for all manner of...information, learning [and] cultural enrichment.”32 This should come as no surprise to members of IFLA. However, the author wants to reflect a bit on what it is that makes libraries such unique cultural institutions. There is a tendency in professional discussions about digital dissemination to reduce libraries to their collections and thus to miss the many other important purposes they serve. This is especially evident in discussions of disintermediation, where it is sometimes argued that once everything becomes available online, there will no longer be a need for libraries unless they reinvent themselves by adopting new roles.33 One of these new roles is that of the information commons, offering extensive patron workspace and a “continuum of service that provides the user with skilled staff consultation and an array of technological options for the identification, retrieval, processing, and presentation of information in a variety of formats.”34 While the author is a strong advocate of the information commons approach and agrees that it incorporates numerous important innovations, there is nothing particularly new about the idea of the library as a space for the production of knowledge. The limitations of viewing the library as a mere “warehouse of books” and librarians as their “custodians” were already apparent by the late nineteenth century, after which a variety of other metaphors for libraries proliferated, many of which are assembled in Katherine Sharp’s 1898 description of the library as “a laboratory, a workshop, a school, a university of the people, from which the students are never graduated.”35 At least since the time of Lippmann and Dewey, the best libraries have been more than information supplying systems; they have been systems that inform. 36 One of the more important ways that libraries have served this informing role is through the provision of reference services. Formal reference services in libraries 30 31
32
33 34
35
36
What Americans Know, 217 John Gaventa, “Citizen Knowledge, Citizen Competence, and Democracy Building” in Stephen L. Elkin and Karol Edward Solta, eds. Citizen Competence and Democratic Institutions (University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), 59. Redmond Kathleen Molz and Phyllis Dain, Civic Space/Cyberspace: The American Public Library in the Information Age (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001), 185. Gellman, R.M. “Disintermediation and the Internet” Government Information Quarterly 13(1996): 1–8 Donald Beagle, “Conceptualizing and Information Commons” The Journal of Academic Librarianship 25(1999): 86. Robert F. Nardin, “A Search for Meaning: American Library Metaphors, 1976–1926” The Library Quarterly 71 (2001): 119. Michael Buckland, Information and Information Systems (New York: Greenwood Press,1991), 80.
75
Geoffrey D. Swindells
developed as a direct response to an increasingly complex information environment, and over time they have themselves become complex and multifaceted. Of particular importance to political literacy is the reference interview, those open-ended dialogues between information seeker and librarian that begin with a question and often become mini-instruction sessions, with librarians helping to develop the topic idea, lay out the structure of information …, explain and differentiate between types of information, provide an overview of general search strategies, demonstrate the use of a particular database, explain the interface, lead users in their search, direct them to where they can retrieve the materials found, and guide them in presenting their information clearly and appropriately.37 As any government information librarian can attest, much of the substance of reference interviews is devoted to helping readers uncover the context of their questions, negotiate the complex web of relationships that obtain between the institutions and processes of government and the bibliographic universe of government publications, and discover their own path through the intersubjective landscape of politics. Drawing on the work of Mikhail Bakhtin, John Budd has described this type of reference interview as a dialogic process, a mutual exploration of the multifaceted, meaningladen information environment.38 However, this process, which the author maintains is crucial to political literacy, is made more difficult by larger developments in the contemporary information environment. Let us turn, then, to a brief discussion of globalization and citizenship in an effort to point toward the development of a new model of library services. 6. The Network Society Manuel Castells has characterized contemporary society as a “network society,” where “networks constitute the new social morphology…and the diffusion of networking logic substantially modifies the operation of and outcomes in processes of production, experience, power, and culture.”39 Networks “make it possible to establish endless connections between different domains,” linking peoples, institutions and organizations across the globe.40 Information technology is fundamental to this 37
38
39 40
John W. Fritch and Scott B. Mandernack, “The Emerging Reference Paradigm: A Vision of Reference Services in a Complex Information Environment” Library Trends 50(2001): 286–305. John M. Budd, “Information Seeking in Theory and Practice: Rethinking Public Service in Libraries” Reference & User Services Quarterly 40 (2001): 256–263. Manuel Castells. The Rise of the Network Society (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1996), 469. Rise of the Network Society, 67.
76
Informed Citizens in the Global Information Commons
organization of social life, and information is one of the primary currencies traded on the networks. Citizens are literally awash in it. Compared to previous eras, where information was relatively costly and political advantage accrued to those who could command more of it, the multiplication of relatively low-cost channels for the dissemination and acquisition of information results in what has been called the first era of information abundance. However, when it comes to political information, there is a danger that this new environment may, paradoxically, actually foster “greater inequality and…a less intelligible public sphere” than was characteristic of periods of comparative scarcity.41 The “increasing complexity of public policy and government action” places such a premium on expertise that the ability of citizens to comprehend and participate in politics is diminished.42 The existence of trans local networks is not new and, arguably, pre-modern interregional or inter-civilizational contacts through trade, conquest, and migration are examples of these networks at work. What is new, according to Castells and other theorists of contemporary globalization, is that the extent, intensity, velocity and impact of these flows of “physical artifacts, people, symbols, tokens and information” through networks is not only quantitatively greater than in previous eras, but also that it has resulted in a qualitatively different kind of interconnectedness.43 “At the end of the second millennium…political communities and civilizations can no longer be characterized as ‘discrete worlds’; they are enmeshed and entrenched in complex structures of overlapping forces, relations and movements.”44 Perhaps the most significant effect of this enmeshment for political literacy is the changing nature of political authority. Beginning with the Treaties of Westphalia in 1648 and continuing up through at least the Second World War, the national state developed into the principal sovereign political authority within its own relatively well-defined territorial boundaries, while those regional and international regimes that did exist were “oriented to the establishment of minimal rules of coexistence.”45 In the years since 1945, however, processes that deemphasize national in favor of both global and local political and economic life have contributed to what has been called the unbundling of territoriality or the new medievalism, “multileveled and multifaceted processes which span global regulatory regimes, global regions, world
41
42
43
44 45
Bruce Bimber, Information and American Democracy: Technology in the Evolution of Political Power (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 246. Information and American Democracy, 239. Kenneth L. Hacker and Jan van Dijk “What is Digital Democracy” in Kenneth L. Hacker and Jan van Dijk eds. Digital Democracy: Issues in Theory and Practice (London: Sage Publications, 2000), 5. David Held and others, Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999), 16. Global Transformations, 79–80. Global Transformations, 37–38.
77
Geoffrey D. Swindells
cities, sub-state regions and localities, as well as states.”46 This complex deterritorialization and reterritorialization of political authority has resulted in a profound and pronounced bifurcation in which a multi-centric macro world composed of a wide variety of nongovernmental, transnational, and subnational actors – from the multinational corporation to the ethnic group, from the NGO to the social movement, from the professional society to the epistemic community, from the advocacy network to the humanitarian organization, from the drug cartel to the terrorist group, from the local government to the regional association, and so on across a vast range of collective endeavors – has evolved to cooperate, compete, or otherwise interact with a statecentric world that consists of collectivities [themselves] increasingly active on local stages.47 The point here is that politics has become much more complex, with many more political actors and dense webs of interest and authority entering the scene. The mental image of relatively stable, relatively legible, nested-hierarchies of political authority that most of us carry around in our heads pertains no longer. However, complexity on its own is not sufficient to remove citizens from politics. As argued above, expertise is neither the lingua franca of citizenship nor the precondition for political literacy. What is essential is access to rich learning environments where sufficient political knowledge can be acquired as needed. However, another aspect of the network society threatens this type of access. Castells argues that one of the effects of the new information technology is to fundamentally reshape our relationship to space and time, providing instantaneous access over the network to widely dispersed, fragmented and de-contextualized bits of information.48 The engines driving this process are increasingly sophisticated search engines, like Google. Surveys have shown that search engines are very popular among Internet users and there is good reason for this popularity. In fact, the author cannot recall a single workday in the last few years when he has not used search engines himself as part of his reference work. These same surveys also show, of course, that most users are overly confident about the adequacy of their searching skills and the reliability of their search results.49 However, it can be argued that the real problem is not disintermediation per se, nor is it really the confident naiveté of 46
47
48 49
James Anderson, “The Shifting Stage of Politics: New Medieval and Postmodern Territorialities” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 14(1996):140. James N. Rosenau, Distant Proximities: Dynamics Beyond Globalization (Princeton: Princeton University press, 2003), 62. Rise of the Network Society, 376–428. Deborah Fallows, Search Engine Users (Washington, D.C.: Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2005).
78
Informed Citizens in the Global Information Commons
most search-engine users, but rather what John Shuler has referred to as “information dispersal,” the “scattering [of] information objects around the digital landscape.” This has serious consequences for political literacy, because government publications are but “bibliographic markers” of larger political events and “have little meaning without understanding the government processes, policies or programs that that gave them reason to exist.” Traditionally, as argued above, the reference interview was the occasion when citizens and librarians together learned to navigate and make sense of this dense web of relationships. However, in the network society, “how to deal effectively with the effects of ‘information scattering,’ or grasp the information ecosystem’s complexity … is the greatest challenge (and opportunity) for government information librarians.”50 7. The Access We Deserve: A Map and a Method In sum then, whereas the contemporary practice of citizenship demands access to more, and more diverse, forms of political information than ever before, the very technologies that enable this access also tend to bypass the kind of learning environments, like libraries, where citizens can acquire the knowledge needed to make productive use of that information. However, rather than marking the irrelevance of the library for democratic engagement, in this last section it is argued that political literacy in the network society actually depends on how well one can bring the sophisticated reference structure of the library to the network itself. The starting point is two recent efforts to address the challenges of using government information online. The first is an example of how one might begin to create online resources that model, albeit at a broad conceptual level, some of the political knowledge that the government information specialist currently brings to the reference process. EULEGIS (European User Views to Legislative Information in Structured Form) was a European Commission funded project designed to assist people with varying levels of expertise in European Union member states to identify and retrieve legal documents created in different legal systems and at different jurisdictional levels, from municipalities to international intergovernmental organizations. While there is significant variation among the legal systems of European nations (e.g. both civil and common law jurisdictions and considerable variation in internal power sharing arrangements within national states), researchers in the EULEGIS project identified a common conceptual structure underlying government activities across jurisdictions: legal systems have actors; these actors participate in processes; and docu50
John A. Shuler, “Nonlinear literacy and the Dispersal of Librarianship” The Journal of Academic Librarianship 30(2004): 418.
79
Geoffrey D. Swindells
ments types are produced by these processes. They also found that, despite considerable heterogeneity in document structures and languages, they could identify a number of generic document types common to all the legal systems studied. Drawing on these findings, they then constructed a prototype of a web-based reference tool with a graphical interface that allowed citizens to browse across multiple jurisdictions, from a variety of perspectives, and retrieve documents of interest.51 The second example to highlight, very briefly, is the Government Information Online project (http://govtinfo.org/) currently underway in the United States. GIO is a national pilot project to develop models for online, cooperatively managed virtual reference services specializing in government information. The project uses OCLC’s QuestionPoint software suite, combining real-time chat and email reference services with a knowledge base of question-and-answer sets created and maintained by project participants. Currently, over thirty libraries are participating in the project. All are members of the Federal Depository Library Program and many are also depositories for their respective state governments. The goal of the project is not only to pool the collective expertise of participating government information specialists, but also to expand their reach. Whereas most other models of online reference services require citizens to come to the (virtual) library, GIO is attempting to deliver its services to those places on the web where citizens already congregate online, providing links to the service at popular web portals like GPO Access (http://www.gpoaccess. gov/) and FirstGov (http://www.firstgov.gov/). John Fritch and Scott Mandernack have argued that we need a new vision for library reference services, calling for a multifaceted and multimodal approach that can meet the demands of the online environment without abandoning the real advantages of the physical library. They make a strong case for providing a continuum of services, from the nuanced, face-to-face communication possible with in-person reference interviews and formal library-based instruction, through a variety of digital services such as online tutorials, searchable FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) databases, web portals or gateways and virtual reference.52 However, as much as the author agrees with their argument, unless one can also find ways to address the fact of disintermediation and the decontextualization of knowledge, one cannot meet the demands of political literacy in a network society. Taken together, the author believes that the EULEGIS and GIO projects point toward the types of services that can do just that. Briefly put, it is necessary to build web-based reference tools that 51
52
An overview and screenshots are available in Virpi Lyytikäinen, Pasi Tiitinen and Airi Salminen, “Challenges for Euopean Legal Information Retrieval” in F. Galindo & G. Quirchmayer, eds. Proceedings of the IFIP 8.5 Working Conference on Advances in Electronic Government (Zaragoza: Seminario de Informática y Derecho, Universidad de Zaragoza, 2000), 121–132. John W. Fritch and Scott B. Mandernack, “The Emerging Reference Paradigm: A Vision of Reference Services in a Complex Information Environment” Library Trends 50(2001): 286–305.
80
Informed Citizens in the Global Information Commons
citizens can discover in their everyday lives online and which offer both mediated and unmediated opportunities for political learning. One way to do this is through the construction of domain ontologies. The concept of the “domain” comes from the work of Birger Hjørland. To recall Schutz’s metaphor of the well-informed citizen, public persons thrown into unfamiliar environments, crisscrossed by countless pathways, with no clear way forward, but through which one must nevertheless make one’s way. However, this landscape is not random; it is in fact highly and complexly structured. This is the domain. “Ontologies” are simply formal models that allow us to chart the relationships between the entities in a given domain.53 The author’s current research looks at ways one might use domain ontologies to help citizens re-contextualize the contemporary universe of political information and put that information to work. A simplified diagram of a prototype is shown below. The diagram uses a modeling technique called Object Role Modeling (ORM), in which the broad classes of real things or abstract concepts that populate the domain, called objects, are represented using ovals, and the relationships between these objects, called roles, are symbolized by rectangles.54
Actors
in ... have authority over
Subjects
Polities
Actor Types
in ... participate in
Activity Types
Task Types
Document Types
produced by / produce
Very briefly, seven objects are identified as central to the domain of political information: actors, actor types, document types, activity types, polities, subjects and task types. At first glance, this seems to be quite similar to the ontology developed by the EULEGIS project. However, the author differs from their approach in a number of ways, however. First, he sees much more isomorphism in the political landscape, the 53
54
Birger Hjørland, “Domain Analysis in Information Science” Journal of Documentation 58(4): 422–462 (2002). Lars Marius Garshol, “Metadata? Thesauri? Taxonomies? Topic Maps? Making Sense of it All” Journal of Information Science 30(2004): 378–391. Terry Halpin, Information Modeling and Relational Databases: From Conceptual Analysis to Logical Design (San Francisco: Morgan Kaufman, 2001).
81
Geoffrey D. Swindells
tendency for otherwise heterogeneous political regimes to develop similar political structures and processes.55 He indicates this in the model by distinguishing between [object] types (such as legislatures or legislative bills) and [objects] (e.g. The Knesset or Missouri House Bill 93-432), which are unique manifestations of those types. In addition to allowing citizens to compare objects across regimes, the addition of these types also allows them to recognize patterns in the roles played by these objects. 1. Actor Types in Polities participate in Activity Types 2. Activity Types produce Document Types 3. Actors in Polities have authority over Subjects 4. Task Types are associated with [objects] and [roles] For at least one of these roles, this leads to an even stronger claim. The author takes the view that document types or genres are “typified communicative action[s] invoked in response to a recurrent situation[s]” and that similar types of activities, when they occur, will inevitably produce similar types of documents.56 Of the four roles in the ontology, this is the only one where this kind of global claim is made. All of the other roles are dependent upon the context in which they occur, although there will be clusters of regimes that exhibit strong similarities. For two of the roles, the polity object represents this context. In the model, polities are institutions with a certain amount of rule-making authority over a specified domain and this allows the author to represent both political authority and political participation at a variety of governmental levels, from the local town council to the United Nations.57 The political authority role did not exist in the EULEGIS model. It has been added to recognize the many types of political authority that operate in contemporary politics, from the formal jurisdictions of government agencies, to the knowledge-authority exercised by many nongovernmental organizations. The fourth and final role listed above is also new and is used to represent the many different ways that citizens can interact with the ontology. Some tasks would be available for all the entities in the model, such as a link to a definition or description of that entity. Others would be specific to particular entities. For example, the document type object will allow citizens to retrieve documents of a particular type from digital libraries or to conduct 55
56
57
John W. Myer and others, “World Society and the Nation-State” American Journal of Sociology 103(1997): 144–181. Joanne Yates and Wanda J. Orlikowski, “Genres of Organizational Communication: A Structural Approach to Studying Communication and Media” Academy of Management Review 17(2): 301 (1992). Yale H. Ferguson and Richard W. Mansbach, Polities: Authorities, Identities and Change (Columbia, SC:University of South Carlina Press, 1996).
82
Informed Citizens in the Global Information Commons
searches in library catalogs; the actor object would allow the citizen to retrieve a voting record, link to a web site or find contact information; and so on. This ontology needs further testing to determine whether it can successfully model the complexity of the contemporary political environment. However, even if it proves successful in theory, there are number of other hurdles to its practical implementation. By way of concluding, it is necessary to a point to some of these hurdles, as well as to explore briefly some possible solutions. The first challenge is perhaps the most basic: what in the world do we use this thing for? The author is uncertain that he really has a definitive answer to this, but he can offer a couple of suggestions. It could be used, for example, to provide structure and context to popular subject portals such as FirstGov or GPO Access. In combination with services like GIO, this would significantly improve the usefulness of these sites for the average citizen. Another, perhaps grander, use would be to integrate elements of the ontology with the bibliographic metadata found in library catalogs and digital libraries, enabling the delivery of rich, FRBR-like result-sets to users. That’s just two, but it is certain there are other potential applications. The second obstacle is the familiar one of interoperability. How does one make this thing work with all the other knowledge organization systems out there? How does one deal with multiple languages, vocabularies, classification schemes, thesauri and metadata schemas?58 The answer to this question will be deferred by first raising a related issue, because there may be similar answers. This is the question of scale: how does one even begin to build and maintain a resource that encompasses political information on a global scale? This is the problem that confronted the developers of EULEGIS, though on a smaller scale, and it is one of the reasons why that project remains a prototype. A possible answer to this question can be found in some interesting new technologies. The first of these technologies is an implementation of the Extensible Markup Language (XML), called Topic Maps (http://www.topicmaps.org/). Briefly, Topic Maps provide a way to represent the structure of information resources using elements called topics and the relationships between topics, called associations. The standard also allows topics and associations to be scoped or limited to defined contexts. In the past year or so, the author has had some success in expressing his prototype as a topic map and then converting this map into a series of interconnected web pages (one of the virtues of XML-based standards is that they support these types of conversions). However, what is even more promising about Topic Maps is that they can be merged or combined into larger Topic Maps with no loss of information. This brings the author to that second technology: the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). OAI-PMH (http://www.openarchives. 58
Marcia Lei Zang and Lois Mai Chan, “Trends and Issues in Establishing Interoperability Among Knowledge Organization Systems” Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 55(2004): 377–395.
83
Geoffrey D. Swindells
org/) is an application-independent framework for harvesting metadata from repositories. These repositories can be full-fledged digital libraries or simply collections of metadata, and the framework places no limitations on the kind of metadata it will accept, as long as it can be expressed in XML. Together, Topic Maps and OAIPMH will allow government information specialists to create relatively small, specialized ontologies, targeted to the needs of the local citizens who are their patrons, designed to work with local systems, languages etc., and to combine these individual modules into relatively large, robust, reference resources that can get at some of the complexity of the global interconnected world. At least that’s the hope of the author.
84
ACCESSIBILITY OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AS A DETERMINANT OF INWARD FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN AFRICA Abraham A. Azubuike United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
[email protected] Abstract Top on the list of the development strategies of most African countries is to significantly increase inward foreign direct investment (FDI). Other strategies – which themselves depend on adequate growth in investment – include high productivity, improved human development, enhanced technological capacities, improved access to world markets, and increased employment opportunities. Unfortunately, Africa’s share of global inward FDI flows and other forms of foreign investments has been very low. Reforms in economic and political spheres designed to change this situation are yielding only very weak results, due to the fact that the continent continues to suffer from high investor perception of risk far greater than warranted by objective factors. The negative investor perception and the consequent low capital inflows could be linked to inadequate information possessed by investors. The findings of this study that there is a direct relationship between high accessibility of government information and high inward FDI flows go a long way to support this hypothesis. 1. Introduction African countries face daunting development challenges. With 800 million people and vast natural resources, Africa’s potential is high, but the performance of almost all African countries fall behind in the main dimensions of economic and human development. The current development environment is characterized by low tradable value creation, high level of corruption, low human capital development, massive health crises, deep-rooted poverty, low life expectancy, weak institutions, and widespread exclusion of segments of the population – mainly women and the youth – from participation in economic and political activities. It is now widely believed that rapid development in Africa, including achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), rests on generating surpluses through innovation, massive value-creating investments, increased productivity and trade. In this vein, one of the main priorities of African leaders as outlined in the New Partner85
Abraham A. Azubuike
ship for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), is to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) as a means of improving Africa’s share of world trade and improving the competitiveness of its economies (North-South Institute, 2003). 2. FDI in economic and human development Research results tell us that increased FDI inflows have very positive impact on host country economic and human development – when the tangible and intangible gains of FDI are effectively transferred to the appropriate sectors of the economy and population. The following are among the gains FDI inflows bring to a country: 1. Dependable foreign capital: FDI increases productive financial resources in a host country by bringing in foreign exchange and supplementing domestic savings. Typically invested in long-term projects, FDI is a dependable source of foreign capital, as it does not take a quick flight during most financial crises, and is easier to service than commercial debt or portfolio investment (Lipsey, 1999). 2. New knowledge and best practices: FDI brings new knowledge to a receiving country. Inflow of new knowledge may benefit domestic firms through imitation and learning of best practices, increased competition in local markets, as well as efficient local labour mobility and virtual knowledge linkages among firms (Busse and Groizard, 2006). 3. Technology and innovation: Foreign firms contribute proprietary and new technology to their host economies through FDI. They also can easily adapt technologies to local conditions, set up local R&D facilities, and stimulate technical efficiency and technical change among local firms, suppliers, clients and competitors. 4. Market access: Foreign investors can provide access to foreign markets for goods and services that exploit a host economy’s comparative advantages. The growth of exports itself offers benefits in terms of technological learning, realization of economies of scale, and gaining of knowledge of the investors’ home country markets. 5. Environmental management: Environmental sustainability can be enhanced by FDI, especially when reputable transnational corporations (TNCs) are involved, as they are leaders in developing clean technologies and modern environmental management systems. And the spillovers of technologies and management methods can potentially enhance environmental management in local firms. 6. Stimulus for good governance: Global mobility of capital limits the ability of governments to pursue bad policies, as FDI acceptance may come with the de86
Accessibility of Government Information
mand and expectations of more openness and disclosure requirements from home countries of foreign investors. 7. Tax revenue: Profits generated by FDI contribute to corporate tax revenues in the host country. 3. FDI inflows to Africa Over the last ten years, the share of global FDI inflows to Africa’s 53 countries of 800 million people averaged less than 2%, which is less than the percentage inflows to Singapore with a population of about 4.5 million. The quality of the flows is also poor, as the largest portion goes to extractive sectors especially petroleum and solid minerals, which tend to have a less pronounced impact on productivity and poverty reduction than investments in other sectors such as manufacturing and services. Table 1 below shows a comparative picture of the global inward FDI performance by region for the period 1988–2003. A rating of above 1.00 means performance is above global mean, and below 1.00 means performance is below the mean. It can be seen that Africa as a region fared less than all other developing regions throughout the period. Africa’s above average global performance in 2001–2003 was due to the sky-high commodity prices, which attracted “gold rush” risk capital into Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, and Sudan. These four natural resourcerich countries along with Egypt accounted for roughly 50% of FDI inflows to Africa during this period. Table 1: Inward FDI Performance Against a Global Benchmark by Region, 1988– 2003 Region Global Developed countries Developing countries Africa Latin America and Caribbean Asia Central and Eastern Europe
1988–1990 1.00 1.03 0.99 0.70 0.90 1.09 1.04
2001–2003 1.00 0.92 1.25 1.16 1.42 1.19 1.35
Adapted from World Investment Report, UNCTAD (2004); and Dupasquier and Osakwe (2006) Despite this significant change, Africa's share of global FDI flows remained low, clearly underlining the very low assessed potential for inward FDI of African coun87
Abraham A. Azubuike
tries. Table 2 below shows that the vast majority of African countries perform far below their inward FDI potential. This table presents inward FDI achievement ratings (difference between potential and performance) for African countries for which data were available. The figures were calculated using median Inward FDI Performance Index (2000–2004) and median Inward FDI Potential Index (1995, 2000–2003) from the World Investment Report 2005. Median figures were used because they offered the most representative data. Table 2: Relative Performance of African Countries on Inward FDI (showing performance above or below assessed Potential) Economy
Libyan Gabon Egypt Cameroon Algeria South Africa Botswana Economy
Tunisia Kenya Sénégal Burkina Faso Niger Guinea Zimbabwe Rwanda
Performance Above or Below Potential 96 52 39 22 19 14 1 Performance Above or Below Potential -1 -4 -4 -6 -6 -7 -10 -11
Economy
Malawi Ghana Congo, DR Cote d’Ivoire Madagascar Nigeria Uganda Economy
Benin Namibia Sierra Leone Togo Ethiopia Zambia Mali Congo Gambia
Performance Above or Below Potential -17 -18 -22 -28 -30 -34 -36 Performance Above or Below Potential -37 -41 -48 -49 -72 -73 -75 -76 -95
Formulated with data from UNCTAD, 2005 (World Investment Report 2005) It can be seen from the table above that indeed Africa’s potential for inward FDI is grossly under-tapped, as only seven (7) of the 37 African countries studied performed at or above potential. That means that only about 4% of African countries are performing well on inward FDI. It can also be seen that six of the seven best per88
Accessibility of Government Information
formers are resource-rich countries, showing that FDI in Africa at present is extracting instead of creating wealth. 4. Market Failures due to Information Failure Foreign direct investment and the benefits of FDI do not accrue automatically. Normally, countries must work for them. That much of Africa’s potential for FDI is unutilized represents major market failures across Africa as a result of the failure of must countries to communicate appropriate information about their endowments adequately and through proper channels. Because the objectives of foreign investors differ from those of host governments: governments seek to spur national development, while foreign investors seek to enhance their own competitiveness to maximize profits in an international context (UNCTAD, 1999) – policy measures and communication of information must aim to achieve congruence between investor objectives and country economic objectives. To achieve this congruence, governments must use policy instruments, comprehensive information services and country institutions to link investors and opportunities. This is to say that opening up economies by providing a level playing field and letting investors respond to market signals is sufficient only to the extent that markets work efficiently. However, developing markets do not always work efficiently. Hence the need for governments to carry out focused information dissemination about investment policies and business climate, as well as geographic and human factors such as “a last mile action” to attract foreign investors. 5. The Link between FDI Inflows and Accessibility of Government Information In searching for a strong link between government information and inward FDI, it was necessary to establish what attributes of a country’s information disposition would matter most to investors. Availability of information is the basic attribute, followed by investor awareness of appropriate set information needed for a particular sector or market, and then the accessibility of the available and needed information. Accessibility emerged as the most important factor on which analysis could be anchored. In determining what constitutes accessibility of government information that is comparable on the basis of the timeframe of the data used in evaluating inward FDI flows for the various countries, standardized information was sought and found in Benchmarking E-government: A Global Perspective (United Nations, 2002) compiled by the United Nations Division of Public Economics and Public Administration (DPEPA) in collaboration with the American Society for Public Administration 89
Abraham A. Azubuike
(ASPA). Two overlapping indices presented in that work: the E-Government Index and the Access to Information Index were found to incorporate accessibility of information. The E-government index captures the capacity of a country to sustain the development and delivery of online information services. It incorporates accessibility of government information enabled by official online presence, telecommunications infrastructure to facilitate information flow, and human development capacity to manage and disseminate information, while the Access to Information Index incorporates elements that measure public access and dissemination of information to reduce public sector corruption. The data to formulate the Access to Information Index were compiled by Transparency International and Freedomhouse International. The indices were considered to be composite enough to capture the essence of accessibility of government information, and hence very suitable for the purpose of this paper. The Information Access Index forms part of E-Government Index in their originators’ conception, but this paper isolated it as a separate measure of accessibility because it directly measures the essential intermediate outcomes of information accessibility irrespective of the level of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure. This methodological adjustment is particularly practical given the African context in the early 2000s (the time scope of the research) when the use of ICT in government was still in its infancy in Africa. Table 3 shows the global comparative summary of accessibility of information by regions. Africa lagged on both the access to information index and the e-government index. Africa’s mean egovernment index was just half of the global mean, and four times lower than North America’s. Table 3: Accessibility of Information by Continent Economy
Global Africa Asia/Oceania Europe South America North America
Information Access Index (2001) (Max=2) 0.646 0.446 0.446 0.863 0.740 0.916
E-Government Index (2001) (Max=4) 1.62 0.84 1.34 2.01 1.79 2.60
Table 4 displays the performance of African countries on the two dimensions of accessibility of government information. It can be seen that among the countries studied, only Egypt achieved e-government performance that was above the global mean. All other African countries performed below the global average. 90
Accessibility of Government Information
Table 4: Accessibility of Information as Measured by E-Government Index and Information Access Index Economy
Egypt Libyan South Africa Morocco Tunisia Djibouti Algeria Gabon Cote d’Ivoire Nigeria Botswana Cameroon Ghana Congo Mauritania Kenya Angola Mauritius
Information Access Index Max=2 .250 .001 .916 .416 .250 .416 .250 .416 .460 .500 .833 .83 .750 .333 .250 .250 .167 .916
E-Govt Index Max = 4.00
Economy
1.73 1.57 1.56 1.47 1.36 1.35 1.27 1.17 1.05 1.02 1.01 0.99 0.98 0.94 0.91 0.90 0.85 0.84
Tanzania Sénégal Madagascar Zimbabwe Burkina Faso Zambia Mozambique Sierra Leone Guinea Namibia Togo Gambia Malawi Mali Ethiopia Chad Niger Uganda
Information Access Index Max=2 .500 .583 .667 .250 .500 .416 .583 .416 .250 .750 .333 .167 .667 .750 .333 .250 .500 .250
E-Govt Index Max = 4.00 0.83 0.80 0.79 0.76 0.75 0.75 0.71 0.68 0.65 0.65 0.65 0.64 0.64 0.62 0.57 0.55 0.53 0.46
Source: United Nations, 2002 However, the purpose of the research is not to rank African countries on egovernment and FDI inflows, it is to see whether there is a strong link between inward FDI achievement and accessibility of government information. To determine the link, 31 countries were used. These were the ones for which both information for inward FDI and accessibility of information indices were available. These countries were divided into two: 16 countries were at or above the African average for relative FDI performance, and the other half scored below the African average. These two categories were displayed on a four-window matrix according to their performance on accessibility of government information. A country which scored above African average for either the e-government index (0.84) or the access to information index (0.446) is scored above average for accessibility, and a below aver91
Abraham A. Azubuike
age score on either of the two, got the below average score for accessibility. The result is displayed in Table 5.
Below African Average
Above African Average
Relative Inward FDI Performance
Table 5: Relative Inward FDI Performance Compared Against Accessibility of Government Information Algeria, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Libyan, Malawi, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania
Gabon, Guinea
Angola, Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe Above African Average Below African Average Accessibility of Government Information
It was found that 14 of the 16 (88%) countries with above average inward FDI, scored above average for accessibility of government information, and 9 of 15 (60%) with below average inward FDI also scored below average on accessibility of government information. Even more confirming of the link is the fact that all the seven countries that performed above their inward FDI potentials all had above average scores on accessibility of government information. Accessibility of government information may also correlate highly with positive investor perception. The five countries which were ranked the most attractive to foreign investor for the period 2000–2003 in an investor survey of 10 African countries by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), also scored above average on government information accessibility in this study. They are South Africa, Nigeria, Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire and Tunisia. Also four out of five countries that were most frequently cited as having a good business-friendly environment – Botswana, South Africa, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire – scored high on accessibility of information also (UNIDO, 2003). 6. The value of government information in attracting inward FDI How does government information contribute to investor decision-making? From the analysis five ways can be identified: 92
Accessibility of Government Information
a) It enhances an investor’s knowledge of the behaviours and operations of institutions in a target economy; b) It helps reduce uncertainty about future changes in policies and administrative practices in the business environment, c) It increases transparency of transactions involving state and non state actors; d) It contributes data and perspectives on how best an investment project can be initiated and managed, and e) It contributes to the creation of country image and affects investor perception. Accessibility of Government information thus enhances the knowledge of institutions in the investment environment Institutions are rules, enforcement mechanisms and organizations (World Bank, 2002; Rodrik et al, 2002). Institutions facilitate information flow and transactions across sectors and among legal persons, enforce rules of equity and resource utilization, and promote competition. They form the bedrock of effective economic development. The most important determinant of investor success is the quality of knowledge it has about institutions in the business environment, because as can be seen from the above definition, institutions rule in matters of markets and public management. Hence, the firm that knows the institutions knows the economy as well as the polity. And the more quality information a firm has about what institutions exist and how they operate, the more understanding of their behaviours and operations it will have. Government information puts into perspective pictures of the performance of institutions. Hence, the more comprehensive, regular and complete the information provided, the more knowledge of institutions would be afforded investors. 7. Reduction of uncertainty about future policy and administrative changes A core constraint on foreign investment by firms is uncertainty and asymmetric information (Audretsch and Weigand, 2005). This thesis suggests that corporate investment opportunities can be represented as a set of real options to acquire productive assets, and that the present values of cash flows to be generated by these assets are uncertain and that their evolution can be described by a stochastic process. Consequently, identification of the optimal exercise strategies for real options plays a crucial role in capital budgeting and in the maximization of a firm's value. Within such a framework, the implicit assumption is made that the firm has virtually no in93
Abraham A. Azubuike
formation about the mechanisms governing the shocks in the economy. Hence, the shortest average expected time to invest is strictly associated with a positive change in the perception of uncertainty (Grzegorz and Kort, 2005). The main means of changing perception of uncertainty in a foreign investment situation is the accessibility of relevant government information. 8. Accessibility of Government Information increases transparency of transactions involving state and non-state actors The subject of transparency focuses on a state of affairs in which foreign participants in the investment process are able to obtain sufficient information from host governments in order to make informed decisions and meet obligations and commitments (UNCTAD, 2004). The overriding aim of transparency in relation to FDI policy is to enhance the predictability and stability of the investment relationship and to provide a check against circumvention and evasion of obligations by covert or indirect means. Transparency demands clear rules and expectations, and information about them in other to monitor performance (World Bank, 2006). Thus, transparency is served when the following information-related events, among others, occur in an investment context: dissemination of information on investor support measures, information about business conditions and opportunities in host countries is targeted to prospective investors, and when open and free access to information creates a climate of good governance, including, for example, a reduction of the likelihood of illicit payments in the investment process. In relation to government information, the categories of items used to promote transparency include: a) Publications on general host country policies that may be of importance to investors; b) Documentation detailing laws, regulations and rules; c) Records of administrative rulings and procedures, including the criteria and procedures for applying for or renewing relevant investment authorizations, as well as the deadlines for processing applications; d) Records of specific administrative decisions as evidence of application of policies, laws and regulations; e) Bulletins detailing proposed laws or regulations, which may be disclosed to afford interested parties the possibility to express their views on such proposals before their final adoption; 94
Accessibility of Government Information
f) Records of judicial proceedings in open courts; g) Instruments that demonstrate general commitment to the rule of law; h) Publications on the process of conducting government business, including procurement and privatization procedures; and i)
Bulletins on government budgets and planned business events, including information on projects, privatization and other forms of asset disposals.
The means of providing assurance of information access include: a) Consultations and information exchange, making information publicly available and accessible, b) Answering requests for information, c) Notification of requirements of specific measures to investors, and d) Freedom of information laws, which go further towards providing legal entities, including firms, with objective rights to access government information. 9. Contribution of data and perspectives on how best the investment project can be initiated and managed Goldstein and Razin (2006) demonstrate that the choice to make direct investment instead of portfolio investment in a particular economic space is highly informationintensive. This is to say that foreign direct investors attempt to know a great deal more about the fundamentals of their investment projects than foreign portfolio investors, because they take more risks and expect to manage their projects themselves. Therefore, foreign direct investors require much more pre-investment information. They like to know how the administrative and legal process would affect their activities and returns, as well as the costs of setting up facilities, operating them, dealing with labour issues, importing and exporting goods, and paying taxes. The more accessible those sets of information are the faster the decision on a direct investment is made. 10. Information can be used to build a positive country image and affect investor perception Despite good resource base and strong economic fundamentals, it is still possible for a country to receive lower FDI than its potential if it has a generally negative image. Country image affects perception and investment inflows. Hence the use of special95
Abraham A. Azubuike
ized and general forms of government information to build a positive image of a country is a legitimate practice. In addition to opening up their economies, African countries have emphasized investment promotion through the use of investment promotion agencies (IPAs) as the main informational cum incentives strategy to attract FDI. Unfortunately research has shown that IPAs in Africa have been minimally effective in attracting the right investors (UNIDO, 2003). Effective promotion should go beyond simply “marketing a country” to providing targeted information services. In general, incentives play a relatively minor role in a good promotion programme, as good long-term investors are not the ones most susceptible to short-term inducements. IPAs must therefore be prepared to use information targeting to address specific investor needs and attempt to alter the perception of potential investors by providing more and better information. Such promotion efforts are highly skills-intensive and potentially expensive, therefore they need to be carried out by professionally qualified and experienced personnel to maximize their impact. The experiences of Ireland, Singapore and Costa Rica suggest that jointly using incentives and information targeting can be quite effective in raising the inflow of investment and its quality (United Nations 1999). 11. Conclusions and implications Certain country characteristics are cited such as attracting FDI, including sound macroeconomic policy management, political freedom and stability, physical security, reliable legal frameworks, an open trading environment, competent institutions, and no corruption. Regulatory regimes based on transparency, predictability, and fairness is also important. But the potency of these conditions is dependent on the accessibility of information, especially government information, because foreign direct investors are affected by market failures owing to their lack of adequate information due partly to geographical asymmetry of information accessibility (Portes and Rey, 2000). Countries in Africa should re-examine their investment promotion strategies to include information targeting so as to do more than simply “market a country.” To make this move would mean the adoption of a new form of investment information strategy designed to remedy the information failures in the investment process, which can lead a country to attract insufficient FDI, or the wrong quality of FDI. This work breaks the ground for further research on the link between access to government information and FDI inflows. It also points to the need for targeted as well as generic information production and dissemination by African governments to address the decision-making requirements of foreign investors. From this study, I can see one clear message for African Governments: To close your countries’ inward FDI gaps, first close foreign investors’ information gaps. 96
Accessibility of Government Information
References Audretsch, David B. and Jürgen Weigand. 2005. Do knowledge conditions make a difference?: Investment, finance and ownership in German industries. Research Policy, 34(5): 595-613. Busse, Matthias and Jose Luis Groizard. 2006. Foreign direct investment, regulation and growth. Washington, DC: The World Bank (Policy research working paper, 3882) Dupasquier, Chantal and Patrick N. Osakwe. 2006. Foreign direct investment in Africa: Performance, challenges, and responsibilities; Journal of Asian Economies 17(2) 241-260 Goldstein, Itay and Assaf Razin. 2006. An information-based trade off between foreign direct investment and foreign portfolio investment; Journal of International Economics; In press. Released online March 6 2006. Grzegorz, Pawlina and Peter M. Kort. 2005. Investment under uncertainty and policy change; Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 29(7): 11931209. Harmon, James A. 2003. A Ten-Year Strategy for Increasing Capital Flows to Africa. A Report from the Commission on Capital Flows to Africa. Washington, D.C: The Institute for International Economics. Available at http://www.iie.com/publications/papers/africa-report.pdf Kugler, Maurice. 2006. Spillovers from foreign direct investment: Within or between industries? Journal of Development Economics, 80(2): 444-477. Lipsey, R.E. 1999. The role of foreign direct investment in international capital flows, NBER Working Paper, Volume. 7094. North-South Institute. 2003. Africa report: assessing the new partnership. Ottawa: North-South Institute Portes, Richard and Hélène Rey., 2000. “The Determinants of Cross-Border Equity Flows: The Geography of Information,” Center for International and Development Economics Research (CIDER) Working Papers C00-111, University of California at Berkeley. Rice, Susan E. 2003. Increasing capital flows to Africa. (Cornell University Emerging Markets Program Annual Symposium) Available from: http://www.brookings. edu/views/speeches/rice20031023.pdf Accessed 12 May 2006.
97
Abraham A. Azubuike
Rodrik, Dani; Arvind Subramanian; and Francesco Trebbi, 2002. Institutions Rule: The primacy of institutions over geography and integration in economic development, NBER Working Papers 9305. UNCTAD.1998. Bilateral Investment Treaties in the Mid-1990s; New York and Geneva: United Nations. UNCTAD.1999. World Investment Report 1999. New York and Geneva : United Nations. UNCTAD. 2004. Transparency. UNCTAD series on issues in international investment agreements). Geneva: United Nations. UNCTAD. 2005. World Investment Report 2005. Geneva: United Nations. UNIDO. 2003. Africa Foreign Investor Survey 2003: Motivations, Operations, Perceptions and Future Plans – Implications for Investment Promotion. Vienna, Austria: United Nations Industrial Development Organization, 121p. United Nations. 2002. Benchmarking e-government: a global perspective. Assessing the progress of the United Nations Member States. New York: United Nations. The World Bank. 2006. Global Monitoring Report 2006 {on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)}. Strengthening Mutual Accountability – Aid, Trade and Governance. Washington, DC.: The Bank. The World Bank. 2002. World Development Report 2002. Washington, DC.: The Bank. The World Bank (1992), Guidelines on the treatment of foreign direct investments. Washington, DC: The World Bank.
98
3. NEW SOLUTIONS FOR MAKING ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING ORGANIZATION OF IRAN: OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS Mariam Ansari Head of Selection and Acquisition Section Management & Planning Organization (MPO), Center for Scientific Doc. & Museum and Pub., Baharestan Square, Tehran, Iran.
[email protected] Abstract The Management and Planning Organization (MPO), formerly the Plan and Budget Organization, is one of the largest governmental establishments in Iran. It has three main types of publications: Legal, Technical and Economic. Legal publications cover most major governmental documents and are distributed nationwide. Included is the country’s budget that is prepared and printed by MPO and presented to the President of the Republic. Technical publications include standards, prices, and specifications for materials that are revised annually and also reports on the evaluation of development projects. Economic publications cover diverse economic reports, including assessment of the current economic situation and forecasts for future national and international growth. The Management and Planning Organization has moved all major publishing activities to digital media with a central library acting in support. The move started in 2001 with the presentation of the Third Development Plan, 2003 budget proposal, and other related items on CD ROMs. It has continued with the growth of electronic publishing throughout the organization. More recently, MPO has started full text presentation of its publications on the Internet and has initiated plans to convert many of its highly valued past documents to digital format. In this chapter, implementation of government policies by the Management and Planning Organization of Iran, in general, and those related to Internet and intranet, in particular, is presented. New challenges, difficulties encountered, infrastructures put in place, and future plans for electronic publishing are discussed. The chapter also makes a brief voyage of discovery into digital libraries describing how many of the past problems have been solved and how new challenges have surfaced. 99
Mariam Ansari
1. Introduction Like most developing countries, Iran places a great emphasis on long-term development plans. Since 1964 all responsibilities for the preparation of the country’s budget have been centralized in a single organization called the Plan and Budget Organization (the first name: Plan Org.). Lately, the State Organization for Administrative and Employment Office has been combined with the PBO and the new organization is called the Management and Planning Organization (MPO). MPO is directly attached to the President’s office. The goals and duties of the MPO are multiple, ranging from the evaluation of the country’s resources, the preparation of its medium and long-term development plans and policies, the preparation of annual budgets, to the monitoring and evaluation of work done under the implemented plans. In this chapter, after a brief voyage of discovery into the digital libraries, we present the evolution of MPO’s activities over time, focusing on the main objectives of the IFLA 2005 conference: • How many kinds of information are being integrated? • What and how are new government policies being put into place to govern digital government information and the effects of the new policies? • What are the new challenges and opportunities concerning the management and provision of digital government information? 2. Digital Library: A Voyage of Discovery It may seem like history, but less than 20 years ago most advanced libraries in the world had hardly any digital documentation. Most libraries had and, some may still have, paper archiving systems. The books and periodicals were given identification numbers. Special locations for each category were identified and books were placed on their respective shelves. The user had to go to the library and consult drawers of classed card files to identify books, reports or microforms (microfilm, microfiche …). Later the possibility of working through the annual index or abstract of books was added. Even at that time library space was a problem. Most libraries had to move less essential items to sites outside the library and users had to request and wait for requested items to be returned to the library. Some libraries were tackling the problem of space with extensive use of microforms but still the users had first to find these microforms and then read them with a microfilm or microfiche reader, mostly available at the library. 100
Management and Planning Organization of Iran: Official Publications
The major risks were, then, the same as those in the Middle Ages: fire, flood, or other natural disasters. Preservation of the most precious documents consisted of placing them in special locations where humidity and lighting were controlled and access to the site restricted. It may again seem far away, but not long ago the memory of microcomputers was only 64 k. When the first user-friendly commercial computer, with its graphical interface and icons and mouse, appeared in 1986, it only had 1 MB RAM. In fact, the whole computer operating system could be placed on a single floppy. People were delighted when the capacity of floppies moved from 400 k to 800 k and then to 1.4 MB. Students were saving their total work on a single floppy. It was then that today’s feared words such as: bad sector, virus, worm and Trojan horse started to take meaning. In those days, there was a clear distinction between micro-computers (personal computers), mini-computers and the main frames. Today, some PCs have surpassed the older main frames in terms of calculation power, and arrays of hard disks can store the data for a full library. 3. New Challenges As briefly explained above, many of the past concerns and difficulties are solved in our digital era. The user does not need to go to a library to consult the articles. This can be done from a PC in the office or at home. The user is not limited to one local library; vast number of information centers can be reached through the Internet. Gone are the old filing systems: today on-line databases are providing easy access to documents. The problem of space is also solved; on the one hand, with the replacement of large books such as encyclopedias with their digital versions, (see for example. references 1-3), and on the other hand, with the availability of larger and larger digital storage facilities. As a result, most, if not all, countries, and ahead of them government establishments, are moving the bulk of their publishing activities and archives to digital formats. A good example of this is available at The Library of Congress / American Memory Internet web site (4) which also shows solutions employed to face new challenges. Parts of such solutions can be generalized, but some challenges are specific to individual countries and require local solutions. For instance, the presentation of the materials through an efficient user-friendly system is a common goal. Yet for countries whose language cannot directly benefit from the large selection of already available software such presentations are more difficult. Often, indigenous software has to be developed to address specific problems. The accurate translation of services and documents to other languages is on the surface a straightforward job. In reality however, it is much easier to translate from 101
Mariam Ansari
English to French or German than from languages whose grammar and text are different. Regular updating of information and keeping track of changes is also more difficult if the available infrastructure or technology in the country is not well developed. The expansion of payment services also depends on the development of computerized banking systems, availability of e-commerce, credit cards, or even stable currency exchange rates which are not necessarily available in all countries. (6) Probably the most time consuming activity, when moving to a digital library, is the digitization of original paper documents, microforms, photographs, etc. Scanning articles and books and presenting them in a Portable Document Format (PDF) is a solution adopted by many organizations, but these documents do not have the flexibility of a typed text with editable equations, tables and figures. As an alternative solution, one can use an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to convert scanned documents to text and images, but the level of error for Farsi documents is too high (as high as 30%) to allow a significant saving in time. In addition, even when the margin of error is less than 1%, small mistakes in numbers or formulae could make the entire scanned document useless. The reason for a higher degree of error in the Farsi language is not due to the quality of software but to the written Farsi text. For instance, a major source of error in recognition of English text is the dot on the i or in French the accent on letters such as e (e, é, è, ê) that can be confused with artifacts on the paper. The reader in most cases has no problem recognizing such errors and reading the text correctly (in fact these dots and accents can be left out in capital letters). In Farsi writing, a letter such as h ()ح, if it takes a dot above becomes kh ( خpronounced like ch in loch ness), if it takes a dot below becomes J ()ج, and if it takes three dots below becomes ch ( چas in Church). A similar situation exists for several other letters. Short and long-term preservation of large quantities of digitized information is another challenge. Making regular backups and keeping separate copies of digitized documents are common precautions. What is probably less thought about is that important backups should be kept in geographically separate sites and on independent machines and software. Finally, with the possibility of accessing or copying large quantities of information instantly over the Internet, the theft of information has become a grave matter of concern, particularly for government organizations. Protecting the information database through encoding, using firewalls and other barriers is receiving more and more attention. In conclusion, today’s library is very different from the past. It has overcome many of the past challenges but the move to digital media has brought new ones. The required qualifications for library staff have changed and the librarians have become main actors in the field of information science and technology. 102
Management and Planning Organization of Iran: Official Publications
4. Implementation of Government Policies at MPO Noting the importance of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the Iranian government in 2002 set up a special plan, called TAKFA (Iran’s Applied Development of Information and Communication Technology Plan), for its nationwide expansion. The plan calls for: • Investments in main ICT infrastructure such as LAN and WAN. • Support for establishment of different websites. • Encouragement of governmental and non-governmental organizations to move to a digital environment. To achieve the above goals, a dedicated budget line has been opened for TAKFA in the budget of government organizations. Examples of utilization of this budget, in terms of the percentage of TAKFA contribution, are: 50% for the establishment of digital libraries, 70% for an Iranian book information databank, and 80% for specific websites in scientific, technical, and religious fields (see e.g. MPO website www.mporg.ir) MPO is one of the main organizations in the TAKFA plan and has played an important role in its implementation. MPO is installing a national Internet portal that provides direct links to all national websites whose numbers have currently exceeded 1000. (5). In addition, MPO has moved most of its own major publishing activities to digital media. The move started in 2001 with presentation of the Third Development Plan on CD-Rom and has continued since with the budget and other economical publications. Along with these moves, the possibility of the growth of electronic publishing is being exploited. Today, most of these publications are archived in a central library and some of them are available on the Internet to international users (http://www.mporg.ir). However, the Farsi section of the site is well developed while the English section is still under construction. 5. MPO Central Library and Publications MPO Central Library is a key element in the organization’s strategy for implementation of digital transition. The central library, not only has a full collection of MPO publications, but also has a large collection of books and documents (over 120,000) and journals (over 500 titles). The digital section of the library is well developed, as are the reproduction facilities. MPO library is a member of Depository library of UNESCO's IIEP and has a collection of all their publications since 1978. It is also a member of library relevant international organizations such as IFLA and subscribes to most information databases. 103
Mariam Ansari
Most items in the central library are classified and indexed and are accessible through Internet search engines. While older and more important documents are kept in the museum section. A list of these documents is available on the MPO Internet site. All above documents and facilities are at the disposal of library users. 6. MPO publication database MPO has three main types of publications: Legal, Technical and Economic. Legal publications cover most major governmental publications and are distributed nationwide. The main publication in this category is the country’s budget that is prepared and printed by MPO and presented to the President of Republic. Technical publications include standards, prices, and specifications for materials that are revised annually. The technical publications also include reports on evaluation of development projects. Economic publications cover diverse economic reports. They include reports on the socio-economic situation of the country, the economic performance of the country during the current fiscal year, and national and international economic growth projections. Since 1984, MPO has been collecting and archiving all MPO publications dating as far back as 1948. A first set collection was released in printed format in 1984, entitled “MPO Publication List 1948–1983”. The work has continued since with the release of 13 other volumes covering up to 1999. With the development of ICT, all documents have been indexed and entered in relevant databases. Today, the MPO Publication database contains over 18,000 bibliographic and abstract records and the intention is to link these to full text digital documents. Since the introduction of advanced online search facilities in the library, there has been a significant increase in the number of consultations. The ease of consultation together with the availability of reproduction facilities has contributed to user satisfaction. The library is currently working on its own dedicated website and is expanding its technical publications database. Preparation of rules and regulations for e-publishing is also underway. 7. MPO Special Collection (CHIZAR) This archive was established in 1971 and contains a large number of valuable and unique collections of development plans and projects and their associated original attachments. The CHIZAR collection is regarded as a national heritage and its high 104
Management and Planning Organization of Iran: Official Publications
technical and legal values attract many executive managers, consulting engineers, contractors, researchers, etc. interested in the country’s development plans. It contains 16541 projects (80,000 Volumes) and 18286 Maps (200,000 Sheets). Most of the archived items are in Farsi, but some are bilingual and some also in a foreign language, especially English. The collection is indexed and divided into 42 subject categories. In 2002 and in line with TAKFA policy, noting the high value of these documents, MPO decided to convert the CHIZAR archive to digital format. The transition started in February 2004 and is expected to finish in February 2006. The final version will contain all documents in full text and full image digital formats and will be available through the Internet to users (7) 8. Conclusions In response to government policy on the modernization of information technology, the Management and Planning Organization of Iran has moved most of its publications to digital format and has expanded the activities of its central library to support advanced digital technology. Today, users can directly access these documents through the Internet. Significant effort is also in progress to convert large number of old and highly valued documents to digital format. Likewise, the translation of many documents from Farsi into other languages is in progress. References 1.
Encyclopedia of Britannica Ultimate Reference suite, DVD-Rom version by Pearson software.
2.
Encyclopedia Universalis, DVD-Rom version, by VPC SERVICES PLUS, http://www.universalis-cfl.fr/
3.
The Aryanpur Progressive Dictionary (Mariam Ansari), Shorter Notice, The Library Quarterly. Vol.73, N.o. 3, July 2003, P: 363
4.
The Library of Congress / American Memory, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ about/techIn.html
5.
A. Safdari, “Maa ra yari konid” (Help us), TAKFA. Vol.1, No.7-8, 2003. pp: 88-93.
6.
Collection of Papers Presented in the Second Conference on E-commerce. Tehran: Ministry of Commerce, Deputy of Planning & Economic Surveys, 2004. P: 53. 105
Mariam Ansari
7.
Tabesh, Ahmad. “A Situation Report on Iran’s Development Projects (Chizar) Archive and the Need to Create a Virtual Archive for Iran’s Development Projects”. In Documents of meetings and workshops on development of a national IT strategy, Focusing on indigenous content development (Tehran:3–4 Oct. 2004), H. Gharibi, M. Sheydaee, Tehran: IRANDOC, 2004. P: 33 – 41.
106
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AND CENTERS OF BUSINESS AND LEGAL INFORMATION IN RUSSIA Emma Voskanyan Department of Official Publications Russian State Library Email:
[email protected] New Russia is based on the principles of law and freedom. Valery Zorkin, The Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation Information is power. Access to the information is the condition of freedom. Daniel Bell Abstract Russia is among the information-richest states with information resources vast both in traditional and in new technologies. At the beginning of the 1990’s Russian legal reform specialists conducted a careful study of the international scene. They came to the conclusion that the major problem is where to locate authoritative sources of official information and legal knowledge to ensure they could be open to general use. Russian experts considered that such a source would be Russia’s public libraries. The paper describes how, building on the solid base of libraries, the government reformers created specialized models of information access throughout the country which function very effectively. Centers of business information, centers of legal information and united centers of legal and business information, electronic (or virtual) centers of legal and business information and centers of public access have been created beginning in 1993, continuing to the present. 1. Introduction. Information and its significance for society in Russia Development of the information society in our country is accompanied by several peculiarities and problems as a result of the coincidence in time of the information revolution and the inherent social-political reconstruction process. Russia is one of the richest countries with regards to information, and its information resources are vast, both in traditional and in new technologies. State information resources of the country are formed and used in the framework of the state and branch systems such 107
Emma Voskanyan
as state government bodies, bodies of scientific and technical information, statistics, systems of education and the great information resources of libraries, archives, and museums. For Russia, with its enormous territory and insufficiently developed social infrastructure, the significance of new information-communication technologies (ICTs) in the building of a modern information society can scarcely be exaggerated. At the same time, one cannot observe significant changes to the available systems used for disseminating information. The limitation, or even absence, of access to ICTs deprives the people of the possibility of exercising their rights in full measure. In addition, the appearance of various forms of property ownership, (other than state), such as municipal, corporate, private, joint, foreign and others, means that the possession of information and access to it is diffused and disaggregated. Free access to and management of the full corpus of information is very difficult. The Russian state, acknowledging the provisions of the UNESCO conventions on international documents, seeks, as far as possible, to make political, socio-economic and research information public and thus to make access to key information easier for everybody. Access to government information and, especially, to the part designated as ‘publicly significant information’ is a special priority. At present many structures are involved in disseminating government information in Russia, but the problems of providing a unified information site in the country have not yet been overcome. The Ministry of Economic Development is at present engaged in implementing information and communication technologies (ICTs) and is making special efforts to integrate information resources which have been created at federal expense. The federal special purpose program ‘Electronic Russia 2002–2010’ (http://www.e-rus.ru) is coordinated by the state with the responsibility for implementing information technologies throughout the activities of federal government bodies. The priorities, principles and directions of the common state policy are defined in the bill entitled ‘Conception of using Information Technologies in the Activity of Federal Bodies up to 2010’ (http://www.it-gov.ru), assented to by Order 27.09.04 № 1244-r of the Government of the Russian Federation (RF). In accordance with this Conception, the Government Portal has to be a systematized entity. It is the central access point to consolidated government information and departments’ services for all Internet users. It has the following tasks: • creating and maintaining electronic access, • provision of information, and • expert support to citizens and business in various types of interaction with government bodies. 108
Government Information and Centers of Business and Legal Information in Russia
Practical realization of state policy in the sphere of ICTs demands the development of information legislation as a system of mutually related legal rules. At present in Russia the legislation which regulates relations in the domain of information and ICT development is growing very rapidly. The basic law ‘About Information, Information and Communications Technologies and Protection of Information’ was adopted in 1995. The Constitution of the RF, federal laws, and the laws relating to RF citizens contain many regulations concerning information problems. The executive order of the Government of the RF ‘About Providing Access to Information on the Activities of the Russian Federation Government and Federal Executive Bodies’ (№ 98 of February 12, 2003) became the basic reference in the domain of systematizing the documents of state government bodies and providing access to all citizens. Many regions of Russia have accepted the normative documents on these problems and are implementing the Information Policy successfully. Among the leaders are the administration of Kchanty-Mansijsk region (http://www. neweco.ru/docs/law/hanty_mansy/18.htm), the regions of Perm, Smolensk, Moscow and others. However, an analysis of the present situation in the country shows that the systematization and provision of access to information is somewhat “patchy”1 and enormous work is ahead to overcome digital inequality and to create new information resources for fulfilling the constitutional rights of the citizens for information. The creation of a fully-fledged system for providing free access to socially significant government information for the whole population of enormous Russia on the basis of modern information technologies remains a complex and wide scale task. The creation of such a system is impossible without cooperation and partnership between the state, civil society, the private sector and international organizations. The creation of new forms of such cooperation is already in the making. Representatives of private business play an important role in defending and realizing human rights in Russia. Therefore, effective cooperation and partnership among and between private business, government and civil society underlie the creation and functioning of the centers of legal and business information. It is necessary for significant universal state systems that provide access to state information to specify and describe the information system in the Federal Agency of Government Communication and Information (FAGCI) (since 2003 this body was renamed to ‘Spezsvyaz of Russia. (http://www.systema.ru). A free market of commercial systems for legal information was formed in Russia. This became one of several profitable and sufficiently stable sectors of the information market owing to the fact that legal information was one of the most sig1
Lebedeva, N.N., Fedoseeva, N.N. The right of citizens for information: establishing and development//’ State and Law” Journal / The Russian Academy of Sciences. The State and Law Institute.– M., 2006. – №5. – P.105.
109
Emma Voskanyan
nificant information resources from a business point of view. This is probably the only sector where competition and cooperation between state and commercial information services are becoming a reality. Among private companies which specialize in the creation and dissemination of databases of the most important products of government operations – normative-legal information – the absolute market leaders are Garant (http://www.garant.ru), Kodeks (http://www.kodeks.ru), and Consultant Plus (http://www.consultant.ru). These companies took an active part in the creation of the centers described below. Among the institutions responsible for collecting, organizing and disseminating information, libraries play a significant role. There are more than 150,000 libraries, subordinated departments and administrative units in the Russian Federation of which 51,000 are public libraries. Under the authority of the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications are 9 federal libraries, 217 central libraries covering all 89 administrative units of the RF; 49,700 public libraries (city and municipal) of which 39,400 are situated in rural settlements and 10,300 in cities. The resources of 150,000 Russian libraries are the largest public traditional information source in the country. The library infrastructure permeates the entire society and is in practically all the settlements. During the past 15 years since ‘perestroika’, Russian libraries have been testing various innovation processes. On this basis they are creating new structures and are summoned to answer the challenges of a modern and rapidly evolving social environment. Information technologies play an important role in these library activities. At the beginning of the 1990s Russian legal reform specialists carefully studied the international experience and environment. They came to the conclusion that the major problem is where to place authoritative sources of official information and legal knowledge to ensure they would be open to general use. Russian experts consider public libraries an ideal source. The library system built during the years of Soviet power proved to be both steady and flexible and the library community was the most receptive of all to change. Government thus created specialized models of information access in the country on the basis of libraries. They function very effectively. Centers of business information, centers of legal information and united centers of legal and business information, electronic (or virtual) centers of legal and business information and centers of public access have been created since 1993. Below, we examine the story of their creation, their purposes, their similarities and differences and their reaction to change.
110
Government Information and Centers of Business and Legal Information in Russia
2. Centers of Business Information – Information for Business and the Business of Information The success of a firm depends upon the information known as business intelligence or business knowledge. Business information is an essential structural element of business knowledge and makes it possible for business managers to have some knowledge about the internal and external environment. The main objective for collecting the information is to form knowledge or intelligence and make the best possible decisions with a minimum of uncertainty. The most frequent sources of business information are government institutions, libraries, trade associations, companies which deal with scientific research and information, newspapers and magazines, business information services and online databases. From the beginning of Russian market reform a new infrastructure for supplying business began to take shape, where libraries tried to assume an active role by creating special structures or centers of business information. Business centers were created with the aim of furthering the development of systems for information support for business and formed a normal business information market in Russia. They promoted the development of resources of qualitative, timely and trustworthy information for Russian business. The specialists of the centers aim to develop operative business information in the sectors of legislation, economics, management, and marketing. They manage complex information services on questions of Russian legislation, business activity and problems of legal regulation. Officially the first center of business information based in a library appeared in 1993 at the State Public Scientific Technical Library of Russia (GPNTB of Russia). Many know this library as the organizer of the famous Crimea conferences. The centers of business information (CBI) appeared in the first years of reform in various regions of Russia – as the saying goes, obeying the demands of the times. The managers’ capability for innovation, for enterprise, for understanding local government powers, and last but not least, foreign colleagues’ help, contributed to the creation of very specialized structures. The first centers of business information were often guided by the experience of foreign business libraries. Several libraries were fully reconstituted as specialized business libraries, but more often the centers of business information were only part of a library. The Centralized Library System (CLS)2 of the Kievsky district of Moscow, one of the most advanced Moscow public library systems, played an important role in creating the CLS. In 1997 the Interregional Association of Business Libraries (MADB) was founded. The main tasks of the MADB are: 2
A Centralized Library System usually consists of a central library and several branches.
111
Emma Voskanyan
• uniting the support and coordination of its members’ efforts for maintaining and developing the activity of Russian libraries in the domain of business information, and • service for the business needs of the population; establishing and strengthening the positions of libraries in the information continuum. The MADB President is Irina Borisivna Mychnova, e-mail:
[email protected]; http://library.ru/1/madb. These centers are widely dispersed all over Russia. The specialists of MADB identified the following groups of business information centers: • specialized public libraries having extensive collections on economics, law and business, which are formed mainly with the help of direct relations with central and regional publishing houses (e.g. Moscow Business Library – http://www. mgdb.ru); • public libraries with various services, oriented to satisfying the comprehensive needs of businessmen related to information, communication, education and culture; • public libraries which have departments where the basic activity is providing the population with business information (e.g. Information Center ‘Modem’ Kemerovo – http://www.kemcbs.ru); • specialized information departments of large research and scientific-technical libraries (such as the Business Information Cabinet of GPNTB (State Public Scientific Technical Library) – http://www.gpntb.ru/win/gpntb/info004.html; Conjuncture Information Cabinet of Novosibirsk GPNTB – http://www.spsl.nsc.ru/win/ h212.html; Business Information sector of Chelyabinsk Regional Universal Research Library – http://www.unilib.chel.su; the Division of Technical Literature at the Murmansk Regional Research Library – http://www.murman.ru/culture/library); • libraries for children and young adults, which provide information support to youth-run businesses and work with foreign public funds (such as The Center of Business Literature and Information of the Russian State Youth Library – http://www.rgub.ru); • scientific-technical and trade-union libraries of large enterprises which provide business information to their staff as well as to all citizens; • divisions of business literature, business information, and book centers of university libraries (e.g. Saint-Petersburg Technical University – http://www.ruslan.ru: 8001/ spb/univer/tu/tu_cdi.html; the universities of Ekaterinburg, Kemerovo, etc.). 112
Government Information and Centers of Business and Legal Information in Russia
Centers of business information based on libraries have their own story of development and of growing and diminishing interest in them. There can be several reasons for these trends. Over the years the commercial business service infrastructure had been established and it was difficult for libraries to compete in gaining access to governmental sources of business information. In some places, it was necessary to overcome doubts that libraries could function as commercial information centers capable of providing the quality of information needed. Nevertheless many libraries in many regions of Russia confidently found their niche. An example of successful resolution of the diverging factors is the activity of the CBI of Tula Regional Universal Scientific Library. In the first post-reform years, owing to the absence of competent sources of business information, many libraries began to develop their own resources. The Tula Regional Universal Scientific Library adopted the model of integrated resources, having created the regional net of business information on the basis of Centers of Legal Services (CLS) of municipal libraries of the Tula region. The principles of distributed collections and the accumulation of information resources in a common center were taken as the base for forming the databases of commercial information, ‘The Producers of Goods and Services in Tula Region’ (http://tounb.tula.net/library/otdely/idc.htm), and the net itself. These databases have been created since 1998 and updating is completed yearly by a whole network of municipal libraries. The information input is programmed to maintain the databases in accordance with the norms and standards accepted by the Department of Automation of the Tula Region Administration and to share the accumulated information resources. Among permanent CBI users there are the representatives of small and medium business and large-scale business of the Central region, which use information resources to find business partners, place orders, present new goods and so on. Other users are all-Russia firms working in the business information sphere to present the information of the Tula region in Russian and foreign markets and also executive and legislative government structures who use the information to make management decisions and to analyze the development of various sectors of regional economies. It is difficult to consider as satisfactory the present accessibility of state economic and business information resources at the present stage of information society development. Owing to the absence of equal access to official information, which was created at the expense of tax-payers, the advantages of the information market are being gained by commercial firms attached to various state structures. These firms use the collected official information resources free of charge and sell them in the market at commercial prices. (It should be said in all fairness that some of them supply the resources at reduced prices or free of charge.) In addition, independent commercial firms are very active in the market. Our experts estimate that more than 40 agencies have as their sole business the marketing 113
Emma Voskanyan
of exchange and financial information. Financial-economic information is widely represented on the Internet and there are more than 1,000 sites providing complex support to business. Among them one may include the Center of Business information of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the RF (http://www.tpprf.ru), Alliance-Media (http://www.allmedia.ru), the Information Center for Business Support (http://www.smb-support.org), the Resource Center of Small Business (http:// www.siora.ru), RosBusinessconsulting (http://www.rbc.ru) and others. All of them were created between 1997 and 2000. After creating the infrastructure for meeting the needs of businesses, the activity of library business centers subsided. Libraries continue to take part in the distribution of the information, providing it on a non-commercial basis. The guarantee is the high accessibility of libraries and the specialized library structures of centers of law and business information, as well as the breadth and depth of their collections. Many libraries create centers of business information on the basis of the collections of normative-technical documents and patents, which are always widely represented in universal scientific libraries. For instance, several regional libraries (such as Kostroma, Rostov-Don and others) work with their clients quite confidently. The resource base of the Center of Business Information of the Russian State Library is based on a collection of 2 million standards, official regulating and methodical materials, normal and technical terms, building, sanitary and other norms and regulations approved by ministries and departments, instructive documents and patent materials. At the same time they adopt and fulfill regional programs of State Support of Small Business which are presently evolving and where libraries also take part. In many regions there has been very good experience in the area of joint activities of state and local administrations, of organizations for creating the infrastructure for the support of business and for creating favorable conditions for the development of the regional information environment. The most effective activity of business centers in small municipal structures is in rural regions; see for example, the document ‘The Strategy of the Social-Economic Development in the Pestyakov Region of Ivanovo Oblast.’ (http://www.rustouns.com/print.php?id=003042111373). The main users and potential clients of business information centers were and still are the representatives of small business in Russia. During the years of market reform, small business became a stable sector of the economy, but its potential is still not fully realized. Among the main reasons for the low efficiency of small business activity in previous years is the absence of working capital and lack of development of mechanisms for financial and credit support. The further development and success of business information centers depends mainly upon the increase of the numbers of their users by whom they are guided – representatives of small business. The situation in Russia is now favorable and at the present time a draft law concerning small business is under discussion. It presupposes three categories of companies: 114
Government Information and Centers of Business and Legal Information in Russia
micro-companies (up to 15 persons), small companies (from 16 to 100 persons) and medium companies (from 101 to 250 persons). After the law is adopted, these companies will get guaranteed state support. The people in Russia proved to be prepared to develop a new mode of production quickly – Russians, in spite of slow economic growth and social-political crises, are still among the most educated in the world, capable of perceiving and generating new ideas and adapting to the changing technical-economic environment. Now there are about one million small enterprises in Russia, which employ 17 million people. In 2005 the government allotted 1.5 billion rubles for the support of small business. In 2006 it will be doubled to 3 billion rubles. “Our aim is by 2010 to achieve the share of a small business in GNP at the level of 40%, and employ 50% of working people” to quote our Minister of Economic Development, German Gref.3 3. Public Centers of Legal Information – a Russian Model of Universal Access to Public Information Up to the present, in Russia4, 1,372 Public Centers of Legal Information (PCPI) have been created based on libraries. These centers collect the federal and regional legislation acts of Russia, municipal acts and standards of international law and make all of this accessible to the citizens. During the years from 2000 to 2005 alone, more than 4 million citizens addressed queries to these centers and were given about 4.5 million references. An analysis of all the inquiries has demonstrated multiple legal problems of citizens, concerning housing and communal services, pensions, military service, rights of youth, business activity and so on. This heavy demand for information first of all demonstrates the great need for such centers, not only for socially unprotected citizens, but also for small businesses and even for professional jurists. It also shows the need for further development and strengthening of the PCPI network. The history of creating such centers began in June1998 in Smolensk, where the first Public Center of Legal Information in Russia was opened using the solid base of the universal scientific library. Providing free access to information is the main thrust of the modernizing policy of the Ministry of Culture of Russia in the domain of library affairs. This is the main aim of reforming the whole system of informational and library services in the country. The Smolensk initiative was therefore eagerly accepted by the Ministry of Culture as a good example for other libraries of the country. At the end of 1998, with the support of the Chief State Legal Administration, of the President of the Russian Federation, the Legal Administration of the 3 4
Izvestya. – 2006. – 25 may. – № 91. registered at the PCLI Portal http://www.pcpi.ru
115
Emma Voskanyan
State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Culture of Russia, the Federal Agency of Government Communication and Information (FAGCI) at the office of the President of the Russian Federation and the Russian Foundation for Legal Reform (RFLR) developed and accepted the Program, ‘The Creation of All-Russia Net of Public Centers of Legal Information on the Public Libraries Infrastructure’. The Program was completed in several stages. Stage 1 (1998–2000) In this stage it was planned to create fourteen Public Centers of Legal Information on the basis of two national libraries – the Russian State Library in Moscow and the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg – and 12 central universal scientific libraries in the administrative units of the Russian Federation (Smolensk, Bryansk, Orel, Tula, Tambov, Ryazan, Rostov-Don, Ekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Stavropol, Krasnoyarsk, Lipezk). The division of responsibility between the coordinators of the Program was as follows: The Ministry of Culture of Russia, using its authority and administrative and informational resources, carried out general coordination, advancing and monitoring the project, developing organizational and methodical materials and cooperation with regional organs of culture and libraries. The RFLR financed the buying of office equipment and technology for the PCPI, carried out conferences and seminars, issued organizational and methodical materials and organized the publication and dissemination of current legal materials among the PCPI. FAGCI, on a non-commercial basis, provided the legal information databases of NTC Systema, which contained official documents of federal, regional and municipal levels on electronic carriers, on communication channels and on interested technical specialists. Libraries carried out the necessary reorganization, allocated space and provided specialists who had knowledge and skill in reference and information services. As a result, by spring 2000, fourteen PCPI were opened and began their activity successfully. The centers at the Russian State Library and the Russian National Library also began to fulfill scientific and methodical functions for the whole PCPI network. Managers and administrators of many disciplines of the Russian Federation took an active part in the achievement of the program. They adopted appropriate methods for creating PCPI and supported them financially. During this period, FAGCI government communication centers and universal scientific libraries played a very significant role in coordinating the activity of organs of information resources and telecommunications. The Ministry of Culture of Russia and RFRL helped considerably by developing the net and supplying the centers with technical equipment. In the years 1999–2000, 116
Government Information and Centers of Business and Legal Information in Russia
the Ministry supplied 58 regional scientific and municipal libraries with computer equipment for developing technical complexes at the Public Centers of Legal Information. Total financial expenditures amounted to about USD 350 000. The key element of the program was the close coordination of the state with commercial structures, forming many different partnerships. The Ministry of Culture concluded agreements about free or preferential information support of PCPI with leading producers of legal information systems – the private companies Consultant Plus and Kodeks. Great quantities of electronic and traditional legal publications were received from sponsors and disseminated among PCPI on charitable terms. The Ministry of Culture of Russia, the Agency for Development of Business Technologies, such publishing houses as Legal Literature of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, Jurist and others provided significant free support to regional libraries. At the beginning of 2000 the idea of creating Public Centers of Legal Information was supported by the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation) which promoted the creating of scientific and methodical centers of comparative law at the Library of Foreign Literature and concentrated its efforts on opening centers in small towns of Russia. As a result over two years about 40 Public Centers of Legal Information were opened on a competitive basis. There was a rather wide public relations campaign for explaining the PCPI activity in federal, regional and local mass media. It promoted the involvement of new regions, advancing the ideas of informing the citizens about legal matters. Little by little, the creating of Public Centers of Legal Information was becoming not only a necessity but a very reputable business. The experience of the first years of the program showed that the PCPI network was of great social value, was actively demanded by the population and needed further development. It provides remarkable possibilities and is a model of joint decisionmaking on socially important national tasks by state, non-state and business structures. The development of the all-Russia program favored the formation of regional programs of legal information, which stipulated the creation of the wide net of centers and subscriber terminals in state and municipal organs, libraries, scientific and educational institutions. The results achieved became possible only because of the great demand for such centers by all levels of authorities and by the population. Owing to another RFLR project, Legal Education in Schools, the first steps were made in including children and youth libraries in the process of creating legal information centers. And for this purpose, RFLR donated 150 complete sets of textbooks on legal themes to the libraries. Legal information centers for children and youth were created in Smolensk, Saint-Petersburg, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod, Murmansk, Perm and many other cities of Russia. For professional support of the Public Centers of Legal Information it was necessary to attract jurists on a non- commercial basis. Such practices appeared for the 117
Emma Voskanyan
first time in the scientific library of the Smolensk region. The official opening of PCPI in the framework of the All-Russia Program called into being congenial competition between regional administrations and libraries and created a kind of order of priority for being included in the second stage of the Program. Regional administrations and libraries adopted and began developing their own programs for creating PCPI nets in Saha-Yakutia, Tchuvashia, Stavropol, Murmansk, Perm and Smolensk regions and some others. For instance, during the implementation of the project ‘Legal Informatization in Smolensk Region’ based on combined software and hardware about 200 public centers and access points of legal information were created, including developing the necessary technology. In the process of creating the permanent regional Public Centers of Legal Information nets the legal operating basis of the centers and their relations with their administrations were carefully developed. In many regions as a result of PCPI activity there were additional initiatives aimed at increasing the participation of citizens in lawmaking activity at local, regional and federal levels, in discussing the effectiveness of already enacted laws and in establishing interaction between the centers and the legislative and executive authorities. Thus libraries began to become the forums for lawmaking discussions between citizens and public organizations, which could seriously influence the legal culture of the population. The same situation evolved at the universal scientific library in the Tula region, where in the framework of PCPI the initiative resulted in public reception offices for civil legislation. The activity of PCPI as an intermediary between power structures and the population is able to influence the growth of civic awareness and promote the inclusion of citizens in public fora. The development of the net of regional and municipal PCPI, using the unified software and hardware of FAGCI, solved the problem of accessibility to local legal information and created in Russia a unified legal information space. As a result of all the efforts, by the end of 2000, instead of the planned fourteen PCPI more than 200 centers had been created in the country. Stage 2 (2002–2003) In 2001–2003 the PCPI network was actively and steadily developing, being supported mainly by regional and local resources. By the end of 2001 the network already had 600 centers; at the end of 2002 there were 850; and by the middle of 2003 there were about 1,200 Public Centers of Legal Information. In 2001–2003 the Ministry of Culture of Russia took charge of the main organizational and financial problems. The Ministry supported the projects of opening Public Centers of Legal Information using the central regional libraries of the Tuva, Northern Osetia, Yamalo-Nenetz, Amur and Ivanovo regions, and also the opening of legal and municipal information centers in the centralized library systems of Kal118
Government Information and Centers of Business and Legal Information in Russia
mykya, Karelia, Tatarstan, Tchuvashia, and of the regions of Stavropol, Belgorod, Vladimir, Novgorod and Perm. In Novosibirsk and Penza youth libraries were used and in Altai, Amur, Kaliningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Smolensk and Sverdlovsk children’s libraries formed the base. Purchase and delivery of the newest legal publications for 40 regional scientific libraries was financed by the Ministry. A sizable contribution towards information provision through creating Public Centers of Legal Information was made by FAGCI, hose databases were introduced in 56 percent of the centers. Consultant Plus, Garant and Kodeks software were used. The significant information potential of the centers, especially that of municipal libraries, was developed by the state and commercial structures and provided free of charge to end users. In 2002 the Russian Committee for UNESCO’s ‘Information for All’ Program joined in the implementation of the Public Centers of Legal Information Program, as one of the strategic directions of this flagship program of UNESCO. This UNESCO program forms the policy and creates the conditions for universal access to information which is public property. It is important to mention that already in 2002, practically everywhere in the country, the aims and tasks of the UNESCO Program were used by local authorities as the guide to action and its implementation passed from a regional to a municipal level. For this reason the coordinators of the Program, regional cultural authorities and central scientific libraries of the Russian Federation began to conduct numerous practical conferences with the participation of representatives of regional and municipal authorities. The decisions of the Ministry of Culture of Russia that had facilitated the union and integration of the efforts of all the participants of the program at a federal level were of major significance for the development of the program and promoted further development of the work at the regional and local levels. The fact that about 700 centers based on municipal libraries were developed during a very short period of the recent history of Russia, speaks strongly about the growing understanding of the extraordinary importance of legal information to citizens at the present time and about the necessity of developing Public Centers of Legal Information, not only at the regional level, but also at the municipal and provincial levels. There were 44 centers created for legal education relating to child and youth law. At the same time Public Centers of Legal Information began to appear in some central regional special libraries for blind people (12 centers). The program initiatives were adopted in other ministries and institutions, first of all in educational institutions of the Ministry of Education (more than 130 centers), the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice of Russia and some other organizations. The experience of the first years of Public Centers of Legal Information activity shows that their successful development is 119
Emma Voskanyan
possible only through the constant coordination, communication and exchange of work experience and information resources, and analysis of the results. In summary, the development of legal information organization and access strongly demands the creation of the integrated information computer network that unites all the participants of the process. It is necessary to create a body or network of library legal information centers using modern information and telecommunication technologies. Further PCPI activity will greatly depend on creating and managing such technology-supported information networks centers that could unite all the PCPI and make it possible to quickly find the necessary information, providing the information not only from their own resources but also from other resources and accumulated corporate network resources. At the end of 2003 the Ministry of Culture of Russia published the following statistical data about the first stages of the Program implementation.5 Combined expenditures on the creation of all-Russia Public Centers of Legal Information net are estimated as USD 5 million. During 1998–2003 more than USD 1.2 million was spent just by the federal organizations and sponsors for organizing the regional nets of centers. There are 2,129 copies of legal databases from leading producers of legal information installed and regularly operating and more than 2,000 complete sets of newspapers on legal subjects have been collected. The Public Centers of Legal Information Program was presented at the Second Session of the Intergovernmental Council of the UNESCO Information for All Program (April 22–24, 2003, at the headquarters of UNESCO). Russia presented the above mentioned program as an example of a positive experience in the building of a legal and free information society. The Russian experience in the creation of a network of legal information centers is already very popular among countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. 4. Conclusion. Further Perspectives of the Legal and Business Information Centers Development In 2002 work on the integration of legal and business information resources in public libraries of Russia began and unified centres of legal and business information were being created. Smolensk region was the first to begin to implement the new project – the creation of a net of electronic centres and points of business and legal information on the basis of libraries, educational institution, and centres of business support. The legal information resources used by PCPI will be integrated with the information resources of the Business Internet Portal of the Smolensk region 5
Kuzmin, E. Setting up a system of access of the citizens of Russia to legal information: results and prospects /Kuzmin E., Demidov, A., Usachov, M. //Library and information science. – 2005. – № 6. – P.14.
120
Government Information and Centers of Business and Legal Information in Russia
(http://business.admin.smolensk.ru), and with the resources already created in the regional legal and business centres. The Smolensk experience is interesting because centre services help users to become oriented in the goods and services market and to better defend their rights. This initiative received the support of the Ministry of Communications of Russia in the framework of ‘Electronic Russia’. Local and regional Governments have begun to create Centres of Public Access (CPA). This is one of the modifications of PCPI offered by the Ministry of Communications. In the framework of the ‘Electronic Russia’ Program, 100 CPA have already been created in remote rural settlements. The experience of creating the specialized analytic public centres of legal information based on educational institutes (for instance, the Academy of Tourism) initiated by the Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Program is very interesting. At present the public of legal and business information in various manifestations are opened in practically all large public libraries at the regional and municipal levels and also in many schools, institutes, public and state institutions. They provide services to more than one million people per year and illustrate the great demand for such by the population, business structures and administrations of all levels. All these are included in the PCPI Program. The Partnership, ‘Interregional Association of Public of Legal Information’, was created with the aim of organizationally uniting the and was called upon to unite their efforts and resources. The leading role in it belongs to the Russian State Library. The Director of Partnership is Emma Voskanyan. E-mail:
[email protected]. Website: http:// www.pcpi.ru/manage/page/?tid=764400029 The all-Russia PCPI Portal (http://www.pcpi.ru), was created by the firm Kodeks, and it has as an objective the integration of resources, providing for the coordination of the net and organizing an inquiry line for informing citizens. The main aim of creating the portal was to overcome geographical and ownership inequality in access to legal and business information. Already the Partnership, which unites multiple centres, and the PCPI Portal, which provides informational, methodological and reference service, render valuable support in ensuring their further development As we see, libraries in Russia are responding to the changes of the time and creating specialized structures for information access. They have found their niche and use accumulated resources. They are close to people and know their needs. They see and show the shortcomings and demand openness of society. Today more than 2,000 libraries and other organizations of different affiliations provide legal and business information services for all layers of the population and different segments of the business population. Owing to the opening of the centres, the new role of libraries in the life of the local community is more and more affirmed. The centres work actively on the legal 121
Emma Voskanyan
education of the population and information support for local authorities. This plays a great role in the forming of local self-government in regions. Therefore libraries are supposed to provide access points to the information about the activities of government institutions in every city and regional library. At present, when the implementation of the Program is entering a new stage, the main problem is that the centres that have already been created to function autonomously to a considerable extent. Therefore it is necessary to unite them into a national information network, carry out the unification and certification of their activities, provide modern computer and communication techniques, provide the connections to qualitative communication channels and prepare skilled man-power. In the process of achieving the third stage, governments anticipate a 100 percent inclusion of all the administrative units of the Russian Federation (up to 2,500 centres as a minimum) into the network. The Ministry of Culture of Russia, ‘Spezsvyaz‘ of Russia and the Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Program have started accomplishing those tasks. If the state gives more support to the Program, such results will be reached in 5 years. The volume of combined special purpose investments to the joint PCPI net during this period must be not less than 500,000 USD a year.6 To conclude the author highlights once more that Business and Legal Information Centres are of great social value, actively acclaimed by the population and demand further development. The development and implementation experience of the Program shows that it is a great opportunity for state, commercial and social structures to collaborate on a wide-scale and perform socially significant tasks collectively. References 1.
Antopolsky A.B. Information resources of Russia. – M., 2004. – 423 p.
2.
Kuzmin E. Setting up a system of access of the citizens of Russia to legal information: results and prospects /Kuzmin E., Demidov A., Usachov M. //Library and information science. – 2005. – № 6. – P.8-16.
3.
Lebedeva, N.N. The right of citizens for information: establishing and development /Lebedeva N.N., Fedoseeva, N.N //State and Law / The Russian Academy of Sciences, The State and Law Institute.- M., 2006. – № 5. – P.98-105.
6
Kuzmin E. Setting up a system of access of the citizens of Russia to legal information: results and prospects /Kuzmin E., Demidov A., Usachov M. //Library and information science. – 2005. – № 6. – P.16.
122
Government Information and Centers of Business and Legal Information in Russia
4.
Koroleva, L.I. The model of regional network of business information centres formation on the basis of public libraries in Tula region // Producers and users of printed and electronic information on the way to information society: conf. proc. Int.conf. (8; June 9–17, 2001. Ukraine, Crimea, Sudak- V. 2. – M., 2001. – P.1011-1014. – (Crimea 2001).
5.
Voskanyan E.A. Integrated service and system approach as two constituents of successful library activities in legal information: experience of Russian State Library // Producers and users of printed and electronic information on the way to information society: conf. proc. Int.conf. (8; June 9–17, 2001. Ukraine, Crimea, Sudak- V. 2. – M., 2001. – P.1015-1021. – (Crimea 2001).
6.
http://library.ru/1/madb.
123
CARIBBEAN E-GOVERNMENT PORTALS OR GATEWAY WEBSITES: IMPLICATIONS FOR LIBRARIES AND LIBRARIANS Fay Durrant Professor, Department of Library and Information Studies University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica
[email protected] Abstract As Caribbean governments provide access to electronic information via the Internet as a means of delivering government services, strategic questions arise regarding the most appropriate means of information and service delivery. The questions include the most appropriate locations of public access points, the delivery mechanisms which match the users’ needs, and the training and guidance which should be provided by libraries and other intermediary institutions. This paper examines the results of global studies of Internet applications used in e-government, and the potential of these websites to contribute effective access to e-government information. The research also assesses more closely a number of Caribbean portals or gateway websites which facilitate e-government and identifies roles for librarians and libraries in enhancing citizens’ access to e-government information. Introduction Libraries in the Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have been re-positioning themselves and are now seeking to be responsive to the issues and concerns of their societies. As the majority of libraries are government departments or statutory bodies, there is great potential for these libraries to participate actively in the development and delivery of government services via the Internet. Several national and public libraries such as the National Library of Jamaica (NLJ), and the National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS) are therefore incorporating access to government information via their own portals or gateways. Libraries and e-government E-government aims to provide all citizens with an efficient and alternative medium for accessing public services and for interacting with public sector agencies. These 125
Fay Durrant
services are expected to result in improved access by citizens to information, government services at reduced costs, and efficient service delivery. The Internet is an important vehicle in the development and delivery of egovernment products and services and libraries and other institutions of access are challenged to exploit the potential of electronic networking to make information and services available to the general public. Crucial issues include the establishment of national e-government policies, coordination among government organizations, implementation of public information service delivery, the provision of guidance to relevant sources through libraries and other public access points, and regular evaluation and re-formulation of these e-government activities to match the changing needs of citizens. Caribbean E-government Policies Implementation of e-government is still in the early days in the Caribbean, and as yet policies are still fragmented. At this stage overall frameworks, strategies and benchmarks are needed to enable and rationalize the development of e-government facilities and functions. E-commerce is a related facility particularly as transactions require digital signatures to be valid. An example of national e-government policy is reflected in The Five-Year Strategic Information Technology Plan for Jamaica, drafted in 2002 and revised in 2004, which makes reference to the establishment of networks “to allow access to government services from libraries, post offices, banks, hospitals and other public locations. … The key focus is to have citizens throughout the country, even in rural areas, be able to find and receive information and services from different government organizations consistently and easily.” This paper examines Caribbean and other initiatives which demonstrate some of the major features of e-government including government portals or gateways, privacy and security policies and protection, clearly stated onsite identification of organizations, access to online databases and publications, links to government and non-government web sites, service delivery, and promotion of services and products. It also considers the ways in which the “average citizen” can be aided in obtaining access to e-government information. Effective e-government Effective e-government seeks to support social, economic and political development, to reduce social exclusion, and to contribute to the well-being of citizens. This requires decreasing separation between the Government and the citizens – community groups, people in businesses, people in government, and in fact any member of 126
Caribbean E-Government Portals or Gateway Websites
the population. Strengthening of the relationships across ministries, across executive agencies and other government bodies, is an important factor, as well as the incorporation of knowledge assets, which provide positive contributions to e-government resources. Governments globally and locally are undergoing change in their structures and are taking initiatives for addressing the issues of reducing costs, increasing efficiency in administration, functioning at the convenience of citizens, and increasing interaction among governments, citizens, business and other groups. In recognition of these issues, Caribbean governments are expanding their use of the Internet, and extending the facilities for interacting with citizens. Some of the important drivers of improving public information service delivery include the modernization of the State, the access to or freedom of information legislation, the increasing national and international stipulations for transparency and accountability. Related developments include the passing of “access to” and “freedom of information” legislation in Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago, and draft legislation in Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Guyana. Defining e-government E-government is a term which is increasing in usage, as a means of capitalizing on the dramatic increase in use of information and communication technologies to improve the operations of governments, making them more efficient and transparent. The general strategic objective of e-government is to support and simplify interaction of all groups within the society – government, citizens and businesses. The question of definition of these emerging concepts is still unsettled. Some of the contributions to the debate come from analyses done by Darrell M. West, of Brown University, Michiel Backus in an IICD Research Brief entitled E-governance in Developing Countries, and by Richard Heeks of the University of Manchester. Heeks (1) defines e-government as “the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve the activities of public sector organisations.” He does not support the concept that e-government should be restricted to Internetenabled applications only, or only to interactions between government and outside groups but instead supports the inclusion of e-government of all digital ICTs and all public sector activities. 127
Fay Durrant
Michiel Backus (1) on the other hand defines E-government as “a form of e-business in governance” and sees it as referring to “the processes and structures pertinent to the delivery of electronic services to the public (citizens and businesses), collaborating with business partners and conducting electronic transactions within an organisational entity.” Darrell West (2001:3) gives a more general definition, which states that “e-government refers to the delivery of information and services online through the Internet or other digital means.” E-governance on the other hand is sometimes seen as a concept which is very close or overlapping with e-government. Backus in seeking to establish a distinction between e-government and e-governance, explains e-governance as “The application of electronic means in the interaction between government and citizens and government and businesses, as well as in internal government operations” and further explains a main objective of e-governance as “simplifying and improving democratic, business and government aspects of governance.” The author suggests here that electronic government, commonly abbreviated as e-government, can be defined as “use by governments of the new information and communication technologies (ICTs) to achieve efficient and effective administration of government, delivery of public services and interaction with citizens individually and as communities.” In addition to the above expected components of e-government are enhanced democratic participation, and the facilities to conduct secure electronic commerce. We are therefore seeing evidence of e-government facilitating a change in the way leaders function, and providing new avenues for discussion and consensus building. We are also finding that new media are being used to access government services, to do business with government, to access education and training. The facilities offered by ICTs now provide the basis for interactive dialogue with citizens and knowledge communities, and enable the introduction of enhanced methods of structuring content, making information available and delivering it in appropriate forms. In Jamaica we see some examples of government ministers periodically appearing in chat rooms regularly organized by the Gleaner online facility. Citizens are therefore able to enter into discussions on topics of concern. To be effective these initial contacts must, however, be matched by an information base which can be accessed by government and by citizens. Further discussion in this paper will use the term e-government, but will consider not only the use of ICTs for efficient and effective public administration, but also for facilitating government interaction with citizens, individually and in community groups, and with business. 128
Caribbean E-Government Portals or Gateway Websites
E-government portals One of the major objectives of effective e-government is to enable people who need to interact with government to be able to do “one stop shopping” via a single point on the Internet. While it may be technically feasible to create a portal such as MyYahoo, the development of a government portal also needs collaboration and ongoing cooperation among ministries, and other agencies as current information from these organisations has to be regularly made available to the public via a unified operation. In the Caribbean portal or gateway websites are being established which enable citizens to make contact with a number of agencies via a single point on the Internet. Such sites include www.e-jamaica.gov.jm which provides links to a number of government sites such as The Jamaica Tax Administration site http://www. jamaicatax-online.gov.jm/ where citizens can transact business and make payments. National portals or gateway sites provide citizens with access to a number of sites and can serve as the starting point of e-government services. The value of portals will depend on the linkages across various organisations which have already made some advances, in providing e-government information. Studies on Global E-government Governments worldwide have been using the Internet and particularly the World Wide Web to deliver information and services and to advance from the delivery of announcements and notices to interactive citizen and business participation. Darrell West in his annual studies of Global E-government, 2001 and 2006, examines the delivery of public sector information and online services through the Internet. In this annual exercise, he studies the features that are available online from the websites located for each government. He uses a detailed analysis of government websites in 198 different nations, measures the information and services that are online, charts the variations that exist across countries, and regions. West’s study examines government websites mounted by Executive, Legislative, Cabinet and Judicial Offices and those of the major agencies mainly: health, human services, taxation, education, interior, economic development, administration, natural resources, foreign affairs, foreign investment, transport, military, tourism, and business regulations. The websites studied were evaluated on the basis of information available, electronic services delivered, and public outreach. The study sought to identify how citizens would find needed information on the websites of government agencies. These covered practical issues such as email, contact names, addresses, guidance to information, and databases, features that would facilitate access by special populations such as the disabled, interactive features that would facilitate outreach to the public, 129
Fay Durrant
and visible statements that would reassure citizens concerned about privacy and security over the Internet. Globally the 2006 survey found that while there have been expansion of e-government activities, only 29 percent of the 1,782 government websites studied offer services that are fully executable online. Caribbean e-government Caribbean governments have also increased their presence on the Internet with a view to reaching citizens, disseminating information and facilitating interaction. West studied fourteen of the twenty Member States and Associate Members of the Caribbean Community. The results show that all fourteen countries provide access to publications while half provide access to databases, and have privacy policies. Those with security policies are slightly less than a half. Only one of the countries studied makes provision for access by the disabled. The study by UNDESA entitled Global E-government Readiness Report 2005: From E-government to E-inclusion assigns scores to countries according to the stage of implementation of e-government. Stage I is limited provision of information which is limited and basic; in Stage II governments provide information including policies, laws etc and access to relevant databases. Stage III is categorized as interactive, with services convenient to the consumer while Stage IV allows two-way transactions. In Stage V governments enable citizens to participate in decision making (p. 17). The UNDESA study found that e-government readiness in the Caribbean region as a whole, improved only marginally even though it remained around the level of the world average. Half of the countries of the region were above the world average. Jamaica (0.5064) continued to be the regional leader in the Caribbean followed by Barbados (0.4920), Trinidad and Tobago (0.4768) and the Bahamas (0.4676). (p. 54). In a graduate research paper done in 2004 at the University of the West Indies, Kareen Bourne undertook a critical evaluation of websites in the Commonwealth Caribbean to determine the level of government information provision via the World Wide Web. Bourne examined seventeen Caribbean e-government or gateway websites, and found that of the seventeen country sites, twelve could be considered portals or gateways to government services. Again Bourne’s study examines the variables relating to identification, interface design, search options, ease of navigation, content, currency, and ranks the sites according to features. Four sites, were judged to be excellent sites, six good, and seven were rated as poor. There still remains need for usability testing of these sites in relation to the concerns and needs of citizens. Bourne’s recommendations include the need to “pursue further studies in accessibility and use of information by citizens.” 130
Caribbean E-Government Portals or Gateway Websites
The general principle of “the right information, to the right user at the right time” does not need debate. The need to match information provision to citizens’ requirements has to be factored into the process of developing and evaluating e-government applications. Priority needs to be given to information which will be used by citizens to undertake activities of immediate concern such as assistance in employment, social security, consumer concerns, meeting registration requirements, voting, and finding out about activities related to their own communities. Libraries and Access to E-government Information Libraries facilitate access by the “average citizen” to print and electronic information and increasingly through public access to the Internet. The reference services provided by librarians enable users to identify and evaluate relevant electronic and print resources. Librarians also support and facilitate the development of ICT skills and information literacy. The availability online of the Laws of Bermuda, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Antigua and Barbuda are examples of resources which would have been held by libraries in printed form and which now also form part of the pool of e-government information resources. Jennifer Berryman, in an extensive global review of the implications of e-government for public libraries, separates the information and regular practice of libraries from the new activities which would be required if libraries are to participate fully in the delivery of e-government information and services. (p. 3). The review identifies the current roles of public libraries in providing electronic access to government information resources as: establishment of access points, provision of links to government web pages, training of users in ICT skills, and delivery of e-services in their own right. Public libraries may also move from information provision and managing library transactions electronically to enabling users to effectively handle government business transactions as well. Consideration of the issues identified by Berryman in relation to public libraries in the Caribbean, shows first that the public access points to the Internet are beginning to enable Caribbean libraries to provide local and remote access to e-government information. Links from library websites to e-government resources are provided by libraries including the National Library of Jamaica the National Library and Information System Authority (of Trinidad and Tobago.) Delivery of e-services is also beginning to be done by some libraries with the majority providing training in ICT skills for librarians and users E-government as a specialized area requires that librarians be able to develop reference services and training in information literacy in relation to e-government information. Reference librarians will require knowledge and understanding of the scope of e-government offerings, and the development of resource bases to facilitate access to the relevant sources and services. 131
Fay Durrant
Information Infrastructure Effective e-government facilities depend on the availability and distribution of the information infrastructure. Citizens are located throughout each country, and while there is usually concentration in the major cities and towns, there is also need for ensuring that there is penetration of the Internet nationwide, development of reliable, low cost access, and the availability of public access points. Some of the initiatives in the Caribbean include the Jamaica Government’s negotiation in 2002 of a project with the Inter-American Development Bank for improving e-government and for establishing about 60 telecentres throughout the country in libraries and other community facilities. In considering the penetration of the Internet in the Caribbean, it is also important to factor in the development, availability and state of readiness of the public access points as found in libraries, community centres, educational institutions, public kiosks and other locations which influence access to e-government information. These “public access points” may not only enable users of the immediate communities to obtain access to government websites, to send e-mail and to access the Internet, but may also permit communities of practice to communicate, exchange experiences, and to develop and offer information resources relevant to their own areas of interest. In considering the context in which citizens would be able to access egovernment resources, it is recognized that there may be some barriers to use of the e-government resources which include basic information technology literacy, and lack of basic competence in using the Internet. David Bawden, in examining the scope of information, computer, library, media, network and digital literacy, recognizes the relevance of all these concepts to the competence of the people who are expected to be beneficiaries of e-government services and products. Information and digital literacy are seen as ‘newer forms of literacy’ which rely on knowledge, perceptions and attitudes as well as the simpler skills-based literacies. The development among citizens of information and digital literacies will certainly reduce some of the barriers to effective use of e-government services. Other barriers, however, which need to be overcome include the cost of computers, connections availability of software, and in some cases the lack of guidance to government websites, and information sources. The Internet because of its origin still tends to be oriented to education, and research and does not always provide the required user friendliness and guidance to the “average citizen”. Further investigation into the role of competence in network use as a resource for citizenship, has been done in Finland by Pirkko Jääskeläinen, and Reijo Savolainen. Their study addresses the questions of the ways in which perceived network competence correlated with the attainment of the goals of citizenship among various 132
Caribbean E-Government Portals or Gateway Websites
groups of people using computers and the Internet and the major implications of low network competence for the development of the digital divide. Reijo Savolainen identifies information literacy as the intersection of computer literacy, network competence, information skills, communications competence, and traditional literacy within the framework of information and communication technologies and the content of information. The author agrees with Jääskeläinen and Savolainen who identify four major requirements for network competence in information seeking as involving : knowledge of Internet information resources and their organization, ability to use of tools such as Internet search engines to locate information, ability to evaluate information in relation to specific information needs and ability to use messaging facilities to exchange information among relevant groups. Increasingly citizens need to access information for their functions in everyday life. People need information to find out about jobs, housing, and educational opportunities, registration, pension and social welfare benefits, consumer protection, markets for their products, and community and leisure activities. Value Added Information Services As evidenced by the findings of Durrance and Pettigrew it is clear that libraries have the opportunity to add value to e-government information. As e-government develops further, libraries must play a major role as institutions of access and must increase their production of value-added products and services. An interesting example of a value added product is the Topical Brief eGovernment Strategies and Practices prepared by the National Library Board of Singapore. This brief introduces the topic by providing an overview, and definition, of e-government. It uses a definition by Accenture, to explain the nature of an e-government strategy. “A true Internet strategy, according to the report, must examine all aspects of the business model, including interactions with customers and stakeholders, and should identify those areas where more value can be created for all stakeholders, by moving processes and interactions online.” The brief continues by summarizing selected country studies on e-government initiatives and providing references to websites. Online sources and recent hard copy materials allow the reader to go further into the topic. This type of value added product is presumably what the people interviewed by Durrance and Pettigrew () were talking about when they said “through the network they felt that they were able to access a 'higher quality' of information – more current, more comprehensive, better organized, and information linked to other relevant sources and sites.”
133
Fay Durrant
Libraries and library networks therefore play the role of selecting and adding content, and presenting it to groups of users in appropriate formats. This is likely to result in the development of official portal sites and providing links to relevant e-government websites and sources. Users can also extend their interaction with the library staff through the electronic reference services and may participate in discussion groups with communities of practice. Libraries may also extend the use of their websites to teach by example. The website of the National Library and Information System of Trinidad and Tobago (NALIS) demonstrates this as their frequently asked questions include questions such as the procedure to apply for a passport and access to other government services. Communities of practice which may exist on a regular basis within organizations, or within the general public interact on a regular basis around a common set of issues, interests or needs. These groups play an important role in teaching and learning and not only the initial use of information, but also with incorporation of experiences to inform further activities. Libraries have also had alliances with governments and community groups but e-government now provides citizens with an efficient and alternative medium for accessing public services and for interacting with public sector providers. Some of the areas where we can see potential for the further development of knowledge communities include those mentioned earlier as natural priorities for e-government. A Single Point of Access via Portals Citizens need a single entry point for accessing government services. Portals or gateways which are easily recognizable to the general public are the means of guiding citizens to the range of information and services which are available. Globally portals such as the Canada Portal Site http://www.gc.ca/main_e.html have features which demonstrate best practices in government portals. Canada is the fourth ranked nation in West’s 2004 survey and this is reflected in the well structured Home Page of the portal. Users can see links to directories of representatives and Federal employees and a scroll down bar provides another route to information through frequently asked questions. Privacy and security policy statements are also related announcements under “Important Notices”. Caribbean E-government websites Caribbean governments have made significant advances in using the World Wide Web to provide information and services, to citizens. The Table below of Features of CARICOM E-government Gateways or Portal Websites summarises the current 134
Caribbean E-Government Portals or Gateway Websites
situation. The global studies of Darrell West and UNDESA show consistent developments in e-readiness within the government, and evidence of some advances in e-participation. Seventeen CARICOM countries currently have official government sites which contain features required for e-government, and which provide links to the websites of ministries and other government agencies. These gateway sites vary in the degree to which they support e-government and several demonstrate indications of best practices. In the Caribbean several governments are developing portals as official websites to make information available to all groups of the general public. The question is how does an average citizen learn about the sites, identify the information required and take advantage of the “one stop shopping” facility being developed? The author suggests that the following additional features need to be taken into consideration in developing effective e-government portal sites. 1. Recognition of the portal or gateway website. The portal or gateway site should be recognized throughout the government agencies as the entry point to government websites and access to services. This should be supported by appropriate statements of policy. Of the twenty Caribbean countries studied, seventeen have portals or gateway websites which enable citizens to move from the general access point to the specific websites which enable them to obtain information. The websites of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands, indicate that there is a national policy and positive interest in informing citizens of the government’s desire to interact with its citizens. The statement, on www.e-jamaica.gov.jm, from the Prime Minister of Jamaica includes the following quote: “The on-line service that are available from this E-Government facility will revolutionise public service delivery from a 9-5 week day operation to a globalised 24/7 business that will benefit our customers.” Each of the countries has a single gateway site except Jamaica which has four sites which provide links to ministries, departments and agencies. The websites of the Cabinet Office www.cabinet.gov.jm, the Jamaica Information Service www.jis. gov.jm, the National Library of Jamaica www.nlj.org.jm, and e-jamaica: government serving you online www.e-jamaica.gov.jm all enable a user to access some aspect of e-government information. The sites of the Cabinet Office, the Jamaica Information Service and the National Library of Jamaica each offer links to over one hundred sites of government ministries, departments and agencies. They also provide some background information on 135
Fay Durrant
these agencies, and access to official documents. The e-Jamaica website, however, while providing links to only eight organizations, is aimed a delivering services and at enabling users to undertake transactions online. This site has recently been promoted on banners in the reception areas of the Inland Revenue Department, and the URL for the site http://www.jamaicatax-online.gov.jm/ appears on the printed bills which are distributed by mail. A graph on the site shows that as of November 22, 2006, there were 5,600 people registered to pay taxes online. 2. Mnemonic URL Elements. The URL should consist of elements readily recognizable by members of the general public. The URL is likely to be recognized by the “average citizen” if it includes government, .gov or other official designation. National symbols, flags and or colours also aid in recognition of an e-government site. The URLs of The Bahamas, Barbados and Jamaica are more likely to be recognized by the “average citizen” as e-government sites, than those of Grenada and the Cayman Islands as may be seen from www.bahamas.gov.bs (Bahamas), or www.barbados.gov.bb (Barbados), or www.e-jamaica.gov.jm, (Jamaica), versus www.gov.gd (Grenada) or www.gov.ky (Cayman Islands). 3. Links to sites of ministries, departments and agencies. There should be a clear indication on the Home Page that the portal provides links to the sites of other government organizations. The names of agencies hyperlinked to other sites provide a fluid means of access and navigation. Of the twenty Caribbean countries studied, seventeen have portal or gateway sites which are hyperlinked to the sites of government organizations. In some cases the existence of the links is understated but in others the user can quickly reach the site required. 4. Site Map. The Home Page should permit the user to have access to a good site map as one means of locating required information and services. The seventeen sites with portals or gateways, show six site maps of varying degrees of complexity. The Cayman Islands and Saint Lucia have classified hyperlinked site maps, while other sites have simple listings of the topics or subjects on the sites. 5. Search Facility. The ability to do searches on the website provides an additional facility for locating information. The Home Page should permit searching to enable the user to have alternative means of access to information and services. Ten sites permit searching and the site of the Bahamas provides very detailed indexing terms and results sorted by relevance. 6. Directory of Government Agencies. Understanding of the areas of responsibility of each ministry, department or agency can aid users in getting to the desired location. The Home Page should facilitate contact with agencies and officials through directories of street addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses. 136
Caribbean E-Government Portals or Gateway Websites
Fourteen of the seventeen sites show government directories or statements of responsibility of each ministry. The website of St Kitts Nevis provides a good example of detailed contact information for each ministry and related agencies. 7. Use of Color and Design. Color layout and design of the Home Page should provide an attractive and functional graphical user interface. The designs of the sites studied are all colorful and attractive in terms of design. 8. E-government forms. The portal should provide access to forms and the ability to transact related services online. Thirteen of the seventeen portals provide forms to enable citizens to initiate applications for transacting business with the government. Forms accessible on these sites include those for registration of births, deaths, marriages, companies, and applications for passports, permits, licences. On the website of The Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Online, application forms for passports, visas and restoration of citizenship can be downloaded but completed forms must be submitted in person. Similar facilities are provided by the website of the Registrar General’s Dept of Jamaica which is accessible via the portal sites. It provides forms online but requires visits to the offices for completing the transactions. 9. Privacy and Security. As e-government develops citizens need to be assured of privacy and security relating to the information posted on e-government sites. Of the seventeen portals studied three sites provide privacy or security statements. The site of the Cayman Islands has the most extensive statement regarding privacy as follows: “the Cayman Islands Government Portal does not store or capture personal information, but merely logs the user's IP address that is automatically recognised by the web server. We do not use cookies for collecting user information and we will not collect any information about you except that required for system administration of our web server. This privacy statement only covers the Cayman Islands Government Portal at http://www.gov.ky.” 10. Access to Full Text Documents. The portal should provide access to full-text documents of laws, regulations, commission reports etc. All the sites studied offer access to current documents and publications such as budget speeches. These documents are rarely part of an organized digital library and as these sites are developed there is evidently a need for organization of this material and adoption of systems to make the information in the documents more accessible.
137
Fay Durrant
11. Online transactions. E-government, if developed to its final stage, will enable citizens to conduct business online without any face-to-face interaction. Four of the seventeen portals studied provide access to the sites which permit online transactions. The portal www.e-jamaica.gov.jm provides access to the website of the Jamaica Customs and to CASE the Customs Automation Services. This Internet-based system enables the global trading community to have online interaction with the Jamaica Customs, and since 2003 –has permitted e-payments and querying the status of transactions. 12. Interaction with Policy Makers. In addition to accessing documents and services, e-government is expected to provide for e-participation – citizens’ interaction with policy makers. Of the seventeen portals studied, none seem to be set up to facilitate regular interaction with senior officials or policy makers. At the same time occasional discussions in chat rooms enable citizens to interact with ministers and other senior officials. The “chat” sessions organized by Go-Jamaica www.go-jamaica.com are mainly interviews with policy makers among others, with questions or comments via email. 13. Strategic Issues for Libraries and Librarians. The advances in the implementation of e-government programs in the Caribbean, raise strategic questions as to the roles of libraries and librarians. Academic, public and special libraries have traditionally collected, organized and disseminated published and unpublished documents produced by local and central governments. Their reference and user services provide citizens and researchers with information from printed and electronic sources. Jennifer Berryman, having reviewed the literature on the implications of e-government for public libraries, points out that these libraries provide access points, identifying links to government websites, and training citizens in using information and communication technologies. She concludes that “public libraries as e-government service providers are clearly significant players in e-government.” (p.3-4). 14. Access points. While governments are increasing the development of their websites, access to the information and services provided is dependent on the availability of reliable and affordable access to the Internet. In the Caribbean, libraries are expanding the number of access points and are providing access to the Internet at no or low cost. NALIS (National Library and Information System Authority of Trinidad and Tobago) is one of the public library systems which provides free access to computers and to the Internet. 15. Guidance in locating and using e-government websites. The “average citizen” will benefit from guidance in identifying and locating e-governments websites and the information required. This guidance may be face-to-face or remote. Libraries 138
Caribbean E-Government Portals or Gateway Websites
should use their own portal websites to identify and enhance the e-government information available. Reference and Customer Service Librarians can offer guidance, pathfinders and other aids in finding and using e-government, information. Several Caribbean libraries provide links to government websites including NALIS and the National Library of Jamaica. There is an important role for libraries to play in enabling users to locate and access these services. As an example of the library’s extended role, The National Library and Information System of Trinidad and Tobago which is linked from the main e-government site does provide a link to answer the question: How do I apply for a Passport? It could go further and make the another link to the passport application form which can be accessed from the e-government portal http://www.ttgov.gov. tt/services/eforms.asp. 16. Feedback on use and usability. Librarians in discussing the information needs of citizens, informing citizens of the availability of relevant information including e-government information on the Internet, and providing guidance in access to and use of the information required, are well placed to assess the usability of these sites and to provide feedback to the originating organizations. Ongoing evaluation when instituted can be a major contribution to improving the accessibility of e-government information and services. The user surveys done by libraries can be extended to e-government issues, to determine how e-government information is meeting the needs of individual citizens and communities of practice which may function in areas of interest of citizens. Evaluation may also take the form of usability studies where librarians can gain empirical evidence of citizens’ competence in seeking and locating information in public access centres, or over the community information networks. These usability studies are important to guide librarians and governments to the ways in which e-government services can be further developed in collaboration with libraries and community groups. 17. Resources for e-government. The issue of human, technical and financial resources required for rolling out e-government also needs to be assessed in relation to the quality and quantity of information resources required. Training of librarians, and other library staff in locating e-government information, needs to be factored into the process. Technical resources in terms of computer systems and affordable Internet access, and training users in gaining and applying ICT skills should also be included in the scenario for enabling citizens to access and use e-government information resources. The teaching and research group of the University of the West Indies, Dept of Library and Information Studies has begun the study of e-government and the Internet in the Caribbean and is permitting the development of capacities of librarians to participate in the delivery of information services related to e-government. 139
Fay Durrant
Conclusion Libraries in the Caribbean are at an exciting crossroads where the opportunity exists for them to play a greater role in delivery of a new area of information service which enables citizens to find appropriate paths to e-government information.
140
Caribbean E-Government Portals or Gateway Websites
141
Fay Durrant
142
Caribbean E-Government portals or gateway websites
References Backus, Michiel E-governance in Developing Countries IICD Research Brief – No 1, March 2001 http://www.ftpiicd.org/files/research/briefs/brief1.doc Accessed November 7 2006 Bawden, David Information and Digital literacies: a review of concepts. Journal of Documentation 2001 http://gti1.edu.um.es:8080/jgomez/hei/intranet/bawden. pdf. Accessed November 7 2006 Berryman, Jennifer E-government: Issues and Implications for Public Libraries. The Australian Library Journal 53:4 2004 http://alia.org.au/publishing/alj/53.4/full. text/berryman.html Accessed June 30 2006 Bourne, Kareem Government Information Provision via the World Wide Web : a critical evaluation of websites in the Commonwealth Caribbean University of the West Indies, Dept of Library and Information Studies, Diss. 2004 Durrance, Joan and Karen Pettigrew. Final report : Help-seeking in an electronic world: The role of the Public Library in Helping Citizens obtain Community Information over the Internet. Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2001 www.si.umich.edu/helpseek
Heeks, Richard eGovernment for Development Basic Definitions Page IDPM, University of Manchester, UK, 2002 http://www.egov4dev.org/egovdefn.htm Jamaica. Ministry of Commerce, Science and Technology Five-Year Strategic Information Technology Plan for Jamaica 2001, updated 2002 Jamaica Cabinet Government at your Service: Public Sector Modernisation Vision and Strategy 2002 – 2012. 21st Century Government Servce Decade of Excellence. 2005 http://www.e-jamaica.gov.jm/publications/index.htm Jääskeläinen, Pirkko and Savolainen, Reijo Competency in network use as a resource for citizenship: implications for the digital divide” Information Research, 8:3, paper no. 153 http://informationr.net/ir/8-3/paper153.html Singapore. National Library Board. Information Services Topical brief : eGovernment Strategies and Practices. 2002 http://www.consal.org.sg/webupload/ resource/brief/attachments/%7B2342FAF8-F4CC-455F-8028-B2752AFA95 2C%7D.doc Accessed May 30 2005 UNDESA UN Global E-government Readiness Report 2005 From E-government to E-inclusion UNPAN/2005/14 http://www.unpan.org/egovkb/global_reports/ 05report.htm 143
Fay Durrant
West, Darrell M. Global e-government 2006, Brown University, 2006. http://www. insidepolitics.org Accessed November 20, 2006. West, Darrell M. State and Federal E-Government in the United States, 2001. http://www.insidepolitics.org Accessed November 20, 2006.
E-GOVERNMENT GATEWAY/PORTAL WEBSITES STUDIED ANGUILLA Official Website of the Government of Anguilla http://www.gov.ai ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA Official website for the Government of Antigua and Barbuda http://www.ab.gov.ag OR www.antigua.gov.ag THE BAHAMAS The Government of the Bahamas The official government website. www.bahamas.gov.bs BARBADOS Government of Barbados Information Network www.barbados.gov.bb BELIZE Office of Governance http://www.officeofgovernance.gov.bz/ BERMUDA Government Portal http://www.gov.bm BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS Official Website of the Government of the Virgin Islands (U.K) http://www.bvi.gov.vg CAYMAN ISLANDS Cayman Island Government www.gov.ky/ DOMINICA No e-government portal/gateway located. GRENADA The Government of Grenada www.gov.gd GUYANA Government Information Agency http://www.gina.gov.gy HAITI No e-government portal/gateway website located. JAMAICA E-Jamaica : Government serving you online www.e-jamaica.gov.jm/ JAMAICA Jamaica Information Service www.jis.gov.jm JAMAICA Jamaica Cabinet Office www.cabinet.gov.jm JAMAICA Customs http://www.jacustoms.gov.jm/ MONTSERRAT Welcome to The Government of Montserrat Online www.gov.ms/ SAINT LUCIA Government of Saint Lucia www.stlucia.gov.lc ST KITTS AND NEVIS Government of Saint Christopher (St. Kitts) & Nevis www.stkittsnevis.net or www.gov.kn 144
Caribbean E-Government portals or gateway websites
ST VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES The Official Website of the Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines. www.gov.vc SURINAME No e-government portal/gateway website located. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO The Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Online www.ttgov.gov.tt/ TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS Government http://www.turksandcaicosislands. gov.tc Library websites National Library of Jamaica (NLJ) www.nlj.org.jm National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS) (of Trinidad and Tobago) www.nalis.gov.tt
145
GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS AND INFORMATION DISSEMINATION: INDIAN SCENARIO Dr. P.R. Goswami Director of National Social Science Documentation Centre, Indian Council of Social Science Research 35, Firozshah Road, New Delhi-110001 [email protected] Kalpana Dasgupta Ex-Director of Central Secretariat Library, Department of Culture, Government of India Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi-110001 [email protected] Abstract In India, the government is the largest collector and publisher of information. It brings out thousands of documents every year in a diffused manner. Apart from regulatory bodies, a number of statistical agencies have been created for the purpose of collection, processing and dissemination of data on the Indian society and economy. The purpose of this paper is to identify different genres of print or nonprint sources of information that are generated by the government agencies. Issues like the ‘right to information’, the reasons for limited access to government information and the use of electronic media for information dissemination have also been discussed in this paper. Dr. P.R. Goswami is Director, National Social Science Documentation Centre, Indian Council of Social Science Research, 35,Firozeshah Road, New Delhi-110001 E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Mrs. Kalpana Dasgupta is Ex-Director, Central Secretariat Library, Department of Culture, Govt. of India, Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi-110001. E-mail: kalpana_ [email protected] and Member IFLA Regional Standing Committee on Asia and Oceania 1. Introduction In a democratic state, information about governments’ own activities is of crucial importance to all citizens, especially to beneficiaries of welfare programs and to the electorate who need to make judgments regarding public policy. The Indian government expanded its activities after 1947 (i.e. the year of independence). A large 147
Dr. P.R. Goswami / Kalpana Dasgupta
number of planning and policy-making institutions have been established in addition to regulatory bodies. A close look at the publication Allocation of Business Rules which contains details of activities of government agencies would substantiate this statement. A number of agencies and institutions have been founded by the government for collection of data on India’s economic conditions. Now the government has become the largest repository of data and information. It publishes quite a large number of documents in a diffused manner. The publications include reports of regulatory bodies (e.g. the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Finance etc.); legislative agencies, experts’ groups; results of surveys and census operations (i.e. statistical compilations). The government also publishes all sorts of compendia containing details of different agencies and implementation of development programs. In addition, results of special surveys are primary sources of data and they also form a part of government information. Recently, the Indian government has been planning a linguistic survey primarily to examine the structure of the various speech varieties of the country. The history, demography as well as the spread of these speech varieties are to be investigated. Other aspects such as diaspora, literacy, education, digitaracy, literatures, linguistic artifacts, media products etc. pertaining to different types of spoken languages are to be examined in detail. It is said that delineation of boundaries of the Indian state after partition in 1947 and their subsequent drawing and redrawing, migration, spread of mass media, social and political movements have complicated the language maps of India. The proposed linguistic survey will help to deal with these problems. Of late, government agencies in India have made efforts to disseminate information to the general public through the Internet. National Informatics Centre (NIC) the apex body for IT applications in government, has developed websites in which one can get an overview of the work of different agencies. Now, there has been a greater emphasis on free flow of information from government to public as it is considered to be an indicator of good governance. The purpose of this paper is to identify different genres of print or non-print sources of information generated, processed and disseminated by government agencies in India. The issues like ‘right to information’, reasons for limited access to government information and the use of electronic media for information dissemination have also been discussed in this paper. 2. Government Documents: Major Groups A close look at official documents collection in a library would reveal that governments at all levels; i.e. municipal; district, state and union publish thousands of documents in a year. However, from the viewpoint of users, Indian government documents can be divided into following major groups. 148
Government Publications and Information Dissemination: Indian Scenario
• Administrative reports: These are generally published annually containing summary records of the activities and achievements of government agencies. • Statistical Publications: Results of statistical operations such as sample surveys, censuses and statistical series derived from administrative records of regulatory agencies of government come under this category. • Commission and Committee Reports: Ministries, departments and their subordinate bodies frequently appoint committees and commissions consisting of one or more members. The purpose is to enquire into various problems or to elicit expert opinion on certain current issues. The findings are recorded and published as reports. The theme and content of such publications are valuable sources of information as these committees and commissions have special powers to ask for any information required by them. • Research Reports: the results of government sponsored research projects fall under this category. Many government agencies have their own research wing. Some of these assign their research projects to autonomous institutions. In addition, there are certain other categories of publications, which are required to carry out judicial, legislative and administrative responsibilities of the state. They are: • Bills, acts, Laws, Codes etc. • Law Reports and Digests • Rules and Regulations; and • Records of proceedings (e.g. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha (Lower and Upper Houses of the Indian Parliament). Reports are useful sources of information about what has happened in the process of administration; and what is monitored by the administrative wings of government. From the viewpoint of researchers, the value of these documents is enhanced by the fact that their content is independent of the investigators’ selective process. However, they suffer from lack of homogeneity and from somewhat erratic availability. There is another category of government documents, which are published regularly through the normal trade channels; and treated as reference sources by the librarians. Examples are: • India: A reference Annual • Statistical abstract 149
Dr. P.R. Goswami / Kalpana Dasgupta
• Mass Media in India • Who is who: Lok Sabha (i.e. Lower House of the Parliament) etc. In addition, books on Indian society and culture as well as biographical accounts of national leaders and freedom fighters are published under the aegis of Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Periodicals in the fields of science and technology, agriculture, socio-economic planning and the like. mostly contain development news and articles by specialist practitioners and are regularly published. Maps and charts (mostly for publicity purposes) are also released by the government agencies. Needless to say, the guarantee of authenticity is one of the abiding characteristics of a government information source. Many government publications are unique in nature. For example, The Gazette of India is deemed to be an authentic record of Acts or Laws. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha debates i.e. Parliamentary debates, contain primary data on a wide array of subjects. Publications such as the Budget of India, the Economic Survey, and National Accounts Statistics are extremely popular among economists and policy makers and one cannot dislodge them from the minds of researchers by compiling a similar type of compendium. In fact, use and non-use of government publications depend on how the contents are organized and how a particular title is publicized among the users. The ability or skill of a user to extract relevant information is also important. Nowadays, evaluation of a source is more in terms of how the information is delivered rather than the information itself. In many cases, the inexplicable format of official publications creates problems for non-official users. The absence of proper bibliographical aids also adds to their woe. Many privately owned information disseminating agencies take advantage of this condition and earn huge profits by selling government data in a repackaged form. The success of a private data dissemination agency, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Mumbai which primarily depends on published government serials, shows how a little imagination and a customer oriented approach can enhance the utility of government publications. In fact, people working in publication units, research wings or libraries of government departments are required to activate the use of their department’s publications. A person who is aware of his or her workplace surroundings can perform better. However, this attitude of awareness is more difficult to instill than operational skills such as indexing, classification or compilation of a bibliography.
150
Government Publications and Information Dissemination: Indian Scenario
2.1. Statistical Publications: In terms of utility and actual use, statistical publications can be reckoned as the most important category of government publications. India has built over the decades, a fairly sophisticated system of statistics, known to be very vast and generally the best managed among the developing countries. The idea that reliable and accessible official statistics are indispensable in a democratic society and market oriented economy is alive in many parts of the world. India has a federal structure of government with a division of responsibility for administration between the central government and states. In most cases, statistical data collection programmes are organized basically at state level and national statistics are built up from below. Much of the statistically activity is now concurrent and this has helped in coordination of statistical programs at the center by the apex body i.e. the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) a special unit of the central government. The apex body, i.e. the statistics wing of MOSPI has two major constituent units.1 They are: • Central Statistical Organization (CSO) and • National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) Apart from these two major agencies, there are quite a few other statistical organizations responsible for collection, processing and dissemination of data on important socio-economic variables. The details of databases developed by the major agencies including a brief description of the spheres of their work are stated below:2 The Central Statistical Organization (CSO) co-ordinates the statistical activities of central, and state agencies, and it keep a close liaison with international agencies. Major databases developed by CSO include: • National Accounts Statistics (NAS); • Annual Survey of Industries (ASI); • Index of Industrial Production (IIP); • Economic Census (EC); • Consumer Prices Index for Urban Non-Manual Employees (CPIUME). The National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) conducts multi-subject household inquiries in randomly selected villages and urban blocks spread all over the country. In each round of its survey, NSSO takes a sample of 12.000 to 14,000 villages and blocks in its central sample and 14,000 to 16,000 villages and blocks in its state sample. 151
Dr. P.R. Goswami / Kalpana Dasgupta
The subjects on which NSSO conducts sample surveys include household consumption, employment, unemployment, manufacturing and trade, agriculture, social sectors (including education, mortality, maternity and child, medical service, public distribution), housing conditions, prices (including data on rural credit) etc. NSSO played a key role in building up a sound database covering several sectors of the economy and providing valuable inputs in planning and policy formulation. Apart from conducting socio – economic surveys, the Field Operations Division of NSSO undertakes fieldwork for ASI and follow up surveys for EC, besides collection of price data from rural and urban sectors. Thus, in certain statistical endeavors, it works in close cooperation with CSO and other bodies. The databases created by NSSO in recent years are available in electronic form. The Registrar General of India (RGI) is one of the premier statistical agencies in India responsible for conducting the population census and registration of births and deaths in the country. The Census of India database is considered to be the largest repository of data. It contains data in various forms, which include classification of persons by sex and age, martial status, rural/urban residence, educational standards, economic activities etc. The census schedule is the main apparatus for collection of data. During the last five decades, several changes have been introduced in census schedules to reflect socio-economic conditions of population. The databases pertaining to vital events (i.e. birth and death) are collected through the Vital Registration System (VRS). The Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) has created a foreign trade database. The database developed by DGCIS is basically a by-product of regulatory mechanisms of the government. Statistics of India’s foreign trade are complied according to a general system. All goods entering the customs area by land, sea or air whether for home consumption or for subsequent re-exportation are called imports. All goods which are products of the country and which leave the customs frontiers are called exports. Goods, which were previously imported and are subsequently exported, are called “re-exports”. Recently the time lag in foreign trade data has been reduced considerably as a result of computerized processing. The Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES) is the apex body for agriculture statistics in India. Though agricultural statistics are primarily the responsibility of states, DES is the co-coordinating agency for data collection and processing of results. DES develops an advance estimate database pertaining to the area and yield through a Timely Reporting Scheme (TRS) and the General Crop Estimation survey (GCES). The Agricultural Census is conducted every five years by DES; and it provides data on land holdings. The Labour Bureau is responsible for developing a database on labor and employment. Data are collected from different regulatory agencies and statistical organizations like NSSO, RGI, etc. 152
Government Publications and Information Dissemination: Indian Scenario
The RBI is responsible for developing databases on banking and finance. The source of data for RBI is a statistical return submitted by banks. According to the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 every banking company is required to submit a monthly return to RBI showing overall assets and liabilities as well as data pertaining to their business operations. RBI also conducts ad-hoc surveys on the banking business particularly in rural areas and in the process collects additional information. The Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development is responsible for publication of education statistics at an all India level. The principal sources of data are the Directorate of Education in the states, the University Grants Commission, the All India Educational Surveys conducted periodically by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi, and the population census data of RGI. In India, just five years ago, the only way to disseminate statistical data to the users was by printed reports. All statistical agencies disseminated data through print media in the form of serials or ad-hoc publications almost always at subsidized rates or free of cost and sometimes on a no-profit no loss basis. The vast myriad of statistical publications are released all over the country in a dispersed manner and have found a place in many government libraries by virtue of the ‘free mailing list’ culture of the government. The staff working in the libraries are drowned in an ocean of data coming from all corners of the country. Even now, most of these reports do not have adequate bibliographical details and it becomes difficult to process them properly for the purpose of maintaining them in the library. In the year 2000, a national policy on the dissemination of statistical data was approved. According to this policy, researchers can have access to unpublished data in electronic form. However, in order to maintain the confidentiality provision, (the Statistics Act of 1953), the unit level data (i.e. a household or an enterprise) is to be released after deleting identification marks. In recent years, the statistical system in India has developed a variety of cracks. The earlier regulated and planned regime has given way to a liberalized setting in which business establishments and production centers or service agencies are not persuaded to furnish timely and accurate information to the data gathering machinery. 2.2. Administrative/Working Group Reports, Committees and Commission Reports and Other Similar Publications. Apart from statistical publications, the government at all levels publishes a large number of volumes in the form of reports. Social scientists believe that reports are intrinsically less reliable than official records that normally remain buried in files; as they contain some intention of justifying the actions and minimizing the failures of 153
Dr. P.R. Goswami / Kalpana Dasgupta
the concerned organizations.3 Libraries such as The National Library, Calcutta, The Central Secretariat, The Planning Commission, The Ministry of Industry and Commerce, etc. (all located in New Delhi) have a strong collection of government reports. A social scientist has recently commented ‘every year the government issues hundreds of reports written by various commissions and committees constituted by it. These deal with every conceivable subject from broad questions of macroeconomic policy to the plight of animals in state run laboratories. However, few of these reports are read and fewer still have any material influence on public policy’4. Most of the committee/commission reports, working group/task force/expert group recommendations and administration reports (i.e. annual reports of working of different government bodies) are unpriced publications. Therefore, they are not available through traditional trade channels. However, there are a number of reports published with a price tag. Most of the prominent social science libraries in India acquire government reports from agents who deal with official publications whereas libraries attached to government departments and institutions directly funded by the government have the privilege of getting complimentary copies of reports through the government’s ‘free mailing list’ system. Priced reports are supplied to the libraries on an ‘as and when published’ basis by the agents. The utility of a report is closely intertwined with the timeliness of its release. Timeliness means both speed and punctuality. The meaning of speed is that the government reports are made available to the users soon after the period of time to which they refer, where as punctuality means that the reports are made available near to the date of their release, which has been decided and made public in advance5. As there is hardly any coordination among the different units of a government body, timeliness factor in release of a report is often not assigned a priority. Many reports are published with a time lag of two to three years. Some of the government reports are published as serials; and there are gaps in their collection in most of the libraries. Serials by definition are published in successive parts and intended to continue indefinitely. They are different from monographs for they continue and change. Normally monograph entries stay unchanged once they are made but all characteristics of a serial may alter during its lifetime. There is no bibliographical control for these compilations at any level of government. A majority of these reports remain confined to government offices and are never distributed. In fact, the diversity of practices in government offices with regard to printing, distribution and announcement of publication year / date of reports has generated a genuine demand for coordination and integration of bibliographic activities in government agencies. Most of the reports are distributed among priority users with the help of a mailing list. Maintenance and revision of a mailing list is normally done by a junior level official. As a result, analysis or judgment is not applied as to what names are to be 154
Government Publications and Information Dissemination: Indian Scenario
placed on the list. This means that potential users of a report may not get an opportunity to consult it. During 1976’s and 1980’s many government publications were indiscriminately marked as ‘for official use’ ‘for restricted circulation’. There is an urgent need to launch an awareness campaign to increase the distribution and use of government reports. Users’ groups from academic institutions and research units must be associated with this campaign. In the USA, the Federal Depository Library Program has served as a major public access point for government information for well over 130 years. All government publications delivered to designated depositories or other libraries are for public use without charge. A similar type of arrangement is needed for Indian government publications, under overall supervision of a coordinating body.6 3. Access to unpublished Records There are mainly two aspects of public access to government information. One is access to published data and the other is to unpublished administrative and other records. One can have access to published information thorough print media or through the concerned department/ministry. It is difficult to have access to unpublished records. The Right to Information Act 2005 (Act no.22/2005) has now made it possible to have access to government records. One cannot dispute the fact that an enormous amount of data and information are collected and processed by the government and only a part of it is made available to the public. There are quite a few reasons why information collected by the government is not made available. It is argued that some of this information is obtained on the condition that its confidential nature will be respected. It is also said that personal information acquired for the purpose of doing a specific statutory duty should not be made available for other purposes. These principles are embodied in the Collection of Statistics Act, 1950. And finally, it is often said that the primary duty of a government agency is to carry out its statutory responsibilities and that dissemination of information collected in the course of these duties may be a burden on resources and also a deviation from their main activities. This argument loses credibility when one considers the need for open government. It is now believed that all rights in a democratic society extend from one’s ability to access information and citizens should have ready access to information in order to keep government accountable. In India, the Right to Information (RTI) movement gained ground only in the last decade. It has been led mainly by grass root activists and NGO’s. Their awareness raising efforts through forums like Jan Sunwai (i.e. public hearing) in Rajasthan state has ensured some degree of accountability on the part of the local level authorities.7 The movement to make information a right and accessible to ordinary citizens 155
Dr. P.R. Goswami / Kalpana Dasgupta
has been somewhat slow and sporadic. Since 1996, nine Indian states have implemented laws guaranteeing the RTI, albeit with varying degrees of circumscription. In some states RTI acts have been successful mainly due to persistent efforts of groups such as the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), in Rajasthan state, Parivartan in Delhi and the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI). The Rajasthan RTI legislation has helped villagers to monitor development and relief programs. In Delhi, the Parivartan led campaign has helped to expose corruption in the public distribution system.8 One of the significant recent developments is the Right to Information Act 2005, passed by the Indian parliament. The act has freed the country from the provision of Official Secrets’ Act 1923, which made divulging official information an offence. In states which have already passed or plan to introduce Right to Information laws, both the state and central acts would coexist, giving citizen a choice. Under the provisions of the Right to Information Act 2005, any citizen of India may request a department of the central government, state government (i.e. provincial government), public sector agencies or financial institutions for information on almost any question related to the department or company’s functioning. The government body is required to provide the information within thirty days failing which the officials responsible for non-compliance face financial penalties and in persistent cases jail terms. The Act also requires government bodies to publish certain specified information on its website. The RTI Act of India was passed by the Parliament on the 15th of June 2005 and it came into force on the 12th of October 2005. In the present era of the information society, it would be increasingly selfdefeating for a liberal democracy like India to try to control what information is released or available; and the real challenge is to provide leadership for the process by which people interpret and make sense of that information. 4. Government Information and Electronic media Recent advances in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have made it possible to develop and disseminate information in various forms and means of media on local, national, and international level. ICT has produced marvels like the Internet, World Wide Web, Interactive Multimedia, CD-ROMs, on-line digital libraries etc. The viewpoint that electronic governance can bring greater transparency and simplicity in governments’ relationship with business and public now has a wider acceptance. In addition, the 64th and 73rd Amendments of the Indian Constitution have made provisions for Gram Panchayat (i.e. Village Assembly) based administration. A citizen can now participate in a decision-making process for which the person is required to be information literate. The government has initiated plans and programs to provide access to official information through electronic media. 156
Government Publications and Information Dissemination: Indian Scenario
Almost all the government ministries, departments, subordinate offices and government-funded autonomous organizations have their websites on the Internet created by the NIC (National Informatics Centre, India), (http://www.nic.in). The spheres of activity, plans and programs of different ministries and departments are made public through their website. For example, The Planning Commission has put all important plan documents and other publications on its website. Similarly, the statistics wing of the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MOSPI) has a website which contains the annual report of the Ministry. It also contains information about publications released by MOSPI and the necessary guidelines for obtaining the publications. The latest macro economic indicators and socioeconomic statistics released by MOSPI have also been included. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has a website which provides access to information on many subjects like (a) money market operations (b) RBI rules and (c) a statement by RBI on recent developments in the foreign exchange markets. In most of the cases, the website of a government department also includes a profile of the Minister in charge, the administrative set up and a report of the working of the organization. In states like Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, several initiatives have been taken to put electronic governance machinery into action with the help of the Internet. Maharashtra has a plan to create community Internet center on a commercial basis. The purpose is to use Internet in areas like (a) admission to schools and colleges (b) job search (c) health care (d) redressing of public grievances (e) distance education (f) disaster warning (g) land record and (h) water management. Andhra Pradesh has published a document, Vision 2020. The document promises to provide Andhra Pradesh residents with ‘one shop one-stop’ service by making automated services available round the clock and providing information kiosks to ensure access to these services for all. In the southern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, computerization of land records has been taken up as an e-governance project. The project has been used as a substitute for governance mainly to cover up the inefficiencies of the administration, and more crucially to lessen the interaction between landholders and government officials9. It has been rightly said that ICT can be used as a lever by imaginatively using it first to remove illiteracy and secondly to improve governance by empowering people with access to information, bring greater transparency and reduce corruption by removing delay and lack of transparency.10 5. Concluding Remarks In India, the government is the largest producer of data and information. Reports, serials and other publications are released in a dispersed manner by the government. There is an urgent need for a coordinating agency which can monitor the publishing 157
Dr. P.R. Goswami / Kalpana Dasgupta
activity. Proper bibliographical control is also necessary. The following measures can be taken to activate the use of government publications. • Sharing of access/collection development responsibilities based on subject strengths of libraries or geographic considerations. • Identification of government information holdings through on-line catalogues, union lists and other locator systems. • Training of staff and users in the use of electronic information sources. • Provision for feedback mechanism for information creators and access providers to evaluate. At present, there is a greater stress on ICT. The government agencies have created their own websites on the Internet. However, information or content development has not received enough attention. There is an urgent need to understand that content is more important than conduit, and proper content development or information consolidation is important for implementation of information facilitation programs through e-governance and also for the implementation of the Right to Information Act, 2005. And it can precipitate the emergence of a more informed and educated group, which can assert a role in governance. The Information Society will ultimately lead us to an economy that adds value through information, ideas, and intelligence. References 1.
MOSPI came into existence as a result of merger of Department of Statistics and Department of Programme Implementation; and creation of a new Ministry at the center w.e.f 9th April 1999.
2.
India. Department of Statistics (1998). Statistical System in India. New Delhi. p. 1-5.
3.
Madge, J (1953). Tools of Social Science. London, Longmans Green. p.93.
4.
Medin, K (1984). Timeliness in the production of official statistics. Statistical Review. 22, p.5.
5.
Kessler, Ridley R (1996). A brief history of the federal depository library programme: a personal perspective. Journal of Government Information. 23,4,p.378.
158
Government Publications and Information Dissemination: Indian Scenario
6.
Jenkins, R and Goetz, A M (1999). Accounts and accountability: theoretical implications of the right to information movement in India. Third World Quarterly. 20,3, p.603-622.
7.
Right to information: slow progress (2004). Economic and Political Weekly. 39, p.5548-5549.
8.
Computerization of land records: moving slowly (2005). Economic and Political Weekly. 40, p.340-341.
9.
Vital, N (2004). My vision of a better India. Futures 36.p.781-785.
159
DEVELOPING THE DIGITAL WORLD OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AND OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS: A VIEW FROM THE UNITED STATES Thomas F. Lahr Deputy Associate Chief Biologist for Information National Biological Information Infrastructure US Geological Survey 12201 Sunrise Valley Dr. MS 302 Reston, VA, 20192 USA Robin Haun-Mohamed Development Project Manager Program Development Service United States Government Printing Office 732 North Capitol Street NW Washington, DC 20401 USA Eleanor G. Frierson Deputy Director National Agricultural Library 10301 Baltimore Avenue, Room 200 Beltsville, MD,20705-2351 USA Abstract U.S. government agencies are creating new digital government information services, many through collaboration and partnerships within and outside the government. Massive digitization and digital preservation initiatives are proposed or in process. Support for e-Government at the highest levels is creating opportunities for innovation and impetus for change in the way government information and official publications are created and made available. Initiatives discussed in this paper include two government-supported partnerships: the National Biological Information Infrastructure and the United States Government Printing Office national digitization plan followed by an overview of a cross-government partnership Science.gov. These innovative US Government systems and programs provide new value added access and retrieval options to U.S. government information which was previously unavailable or time consuming to locate.
161
Thomas F. Lahr / Robin Haun-Mohamed / Eleanor G. Frierson
1. Introduction The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), a U.S. Government agency since 1861, procures, produces, and disseminates tangible and electronic publications of the U.S. Government. The National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) a program of the U.S. Geological Survey, provides increased access to data and information on the nation’s biological resources. Science.gov, an inter-agency (including GPO and USGS/NBII), gateway portal, provides value added access to selected, authoritative U.S. government science and technology information. This chapter gives details on how U.S. government agencies are creating new digital government information services – often through collaboration and partnerships within and outside the government. It discusses projects specific to the U. S. Government Printing Office (GPO), the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) and a cross-agency information service – Science.gov. The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) has three essential missions: • To provide all U.S. Government agencies with expert publishing and printing services, on a cost recovery basis. • To provide permanent public access to the publications and other information products of the U.S. Government. This is accomplished in partnership with approximately 1,250 U.S. libraries in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). • To provide copies of printed and electronic publications and other U.S. Government information products to the general public. Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) ensures no-fee permanent public access to the publications from all three branches of the U.S. Government. Public distribution of U.S. Government publications dates back to 1813, but the FDLP officially began in 1895 when it was transferred to the Government Printing Office. The FDLP includes over 1,250 depository library partners throughout the U.S. and its territories. • 53 are Regionals (100% selection rate) • Others are Selectives (Select the publications that best meet the information needs of their communities) U.S. Government Printing Office legacy digitization project GPO plans to digitize a complete collection of tangible U.S. Government publications. GPO is also identifying and acquiring digital publications through the printing 162
Developing the Digital World of Government Information and Official Publications
process and from agency Web sites. Together these initiatives will create a comprehensive electronic collection of past, present, and future U.S. Government publications. Since the inception of the Federal Depository Library Program, the American public has had no-fee access to many of the information products produced by the Federal government. Until the early 1990s, this information was available largely as print, microfiche, maps, or other tangible formats. As GPO moved to a predominantly electronic FDLP, steps were taken to identify, catalog, and archive online electronic resources. The ease with which the public is able to access online electronic resources via the World Wide Web has generated requests for additional resources to be available in electronic format. These requests prompted many in the depository and the larger information community to begin digitizing the materials in the legacy collections. GPO, in coordination with the depository libraries and other interested stakeholders in the information community, is developing a digitization plan for the material in the legacy collection. As the U.S. Government has an obligation to provide permanent public access to its information products, both current and historic, the objective is to ensure that the digital collection is available, in the public domain, for no-fee permanent public access through the FDLP. The scanned images and associated metadata will be produced at a level of quality that is adequate to support preservation as well as future iterations of derivative products. The project has a target date of December 2007 to digitize at least 70% of the historic collection and GPO is evaluating ways to successfully achieve this goal. Project scope: What is to be digitized and disseminated electronically? U.S. Government publication – informational matter which is published as an individual document at Government expense, or as required by law (44 U.S.C.) National Bibliography of U.S. Government Publications National Collection of U.S. Government Publications GPO is digitizing non-classified U.S. Government publications. A Government publication as defined by statute (Title 44 U.S. Code) as “informational matter which is published as an individual document at Government expense, or as required by law.” As part of its 163
Thomas F. Lahr / Robin Haun-Mohamed / Eleanor G. Frierson
mission to provide public access to U.S. Government publications, for over 100 years, GPO has provided bibliographic control over U.S. Government publications. It continues to do so through the National Bibliography of U.S. Government Publications. All of the publications in the National Bibliography are part of the National Collection of U.S. Government Publications. The National Collection, currently in development, will consist of multiple collections of tangible and digital publications in light and dark archives located in multiple sites and operated with various partners within and beyond the U.S. Government. In scope Federal Project scope: Current and legacy publications: • Legacy, or historic, publications • Current paper publications that are not in electronic format • Other tangible materials, including multi-media formats Legacy, or historic, publications GPO, in coordination with the depository libraries and other interested stakeholders in the information community, is developing a digitization plan for the material in the legacy collection. The initial priority for legacy collection digitization is to provide the public with online versions of major U.S. Government publications, including the United States Code, Congressional Record, Bound Congressional Record, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, Congressional Bills, Slip Laws, Statutes at Large, and United States Reports, to increase the retrospective coverage of these popular GPO Access databases. Other publications that are of special interest to the public or endangered due to brittle paper are also being evaluated for early digitization. Depository libraries were surveyed in 2004, resulting in a list of individual titles libraries would like to see digitized early in the project. Current publications The majority of publications GPO will scan will be part of the historic collection; however, GPO may also digitize some current publications when it is unable to acquire an electronic format from the issuing Federal agency. GPO’s Digital Conversion Services, the unit responsible for digital services, will also convert a wide range of other materials, including microformat, maps, multimedia and tangible electronic publications. GPO continues to work with the information community to develop specifications suitable for the conversion of these specialized formats. 164
Developing the Digital World of Government Information and Official Publications
Authentication Authentic Content is content that is verified by GPO to be complete and unaltered when compared to the version approved or published by the publishing agency. Official Content is content that falls within the scope of the National Collection of U.S. Government Publications and is approved by, contributed by, or harvested from an official source in accordance with accepted program policy and procedures. As part of GPO's mission to provide permanent public access to official and authentic U.S. Government publications, GPO is currently implementing Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) digital signatures to ensure the authenticity of its electronically disseminated content, including converted content. GPO's authentication initiatives enable GPO to certify documents as authentic and official, and provide the capability for users to determine that no changes have been made to files since they were authenticated by GPO. The certification process produces an integrity mark that is used to convey authentication information to users. Version Control Version control is the acquisition, bibliographic control, access, preservation, and authentication of all “unique manifestations” of a publication. Digital content may change on a very frequent basis, and it is easy to transform content without identification or notification to users. Version control may be accomplished by assessing various document attributes (e.g., structure, content, and format), creating metadata about these attributes, monitoring changes to the attributes, updating the metadata to indicate changes to the attributes, and creating links to related documents. GPO is working with others to identify the appropriate triggers that necessitate the acquisition and preservation of a new version for various categories of documents. For example, a version of a continuously updated digital map might be harvested on a recurring basis. Access to the digitized publications will be through GPO Access and the network of Federal depository libraries. For GPO Access http://www.gpoaccess.gov For Access to the Federal Depository Library Program http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fdlp.html The digital preservation masters and the associated metadata will be preserved in GPO’s electronic archives. No-fee public access to the content will be available through derivative files on GPO Access, a Web-based service that provides free electronic access to a wealth of important information products produced by the U.S. Government. Federal depository libraries provide access to GPO Access for those otherwise without Internet access as well as expert reference assistance locating and using the publications. 165
Thomas F. Lahr / Robin Haun-Mohamed / Eleanor G. Frierson
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) recognizes GPO as an official archival affiliate for the electronic content on GPO Access. NARA assumes legal custody of the U.S. Government publications on GPO Access as part of the official Archives of the United States while GPO retains physical custody and is responsible for permanent public access and preservation of the records. Current GPO Projects Associated with the Digitization Plan • Registry of U.S. Government Publication Digitization Projects • Web Harvesting • Future Digital System To enhance access to digital resources and to provide information about GPO and other digitization projects in process, GPO is developing a comprehensive registry of U.S. Government publication digitization projects. GPO is proceeding with a pilot project for automated Web Harvesting of the Environmental Protection Web site to identify fugitive electronic publications. GPO plans to acquire and manage digitized and born digital publications in one content management system. This system, known as the Future Digital System, is currently in development, based on the Open Archival Information System model. The entire system, to be comprised of smaller interoperable systems including GPO’s new integrated library system, is planned for full implementation in 2007.
NBII: What is it? • A broad, collaborative program to provide access to data and information on United States biological resources.
166
Developing the Digital World of Government Information and Official Publications
Another U. S. Government Program, The National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) <www.nbii.gov> – was created to provide a comprehensive framework that allows information on biodiversity and ecosystems to be accessed readily and used effectively by a variety of audiences. The NBII Program is a broad, collaborative undertaking to provide increased access to data and information on the nation’s biological resources. Coordinated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), this user-friendly, Web-based, distributed system provides the public with natural science data and information that are scientifically reliable. The NBII makes it possible to collect and organize biological information from partners, add value, and provide products and services back to these partners and other users to meet their needs. NBII has users from diverse sources: • Federal, state and local government agencies • Academic institutions • Private sector organizations (non-profit, commercial) • Other interested groups NBII end-users are those who manage, study, use, or simply enjoy biological resources. Typically, these users come from both the public and private sectors — scientists; planners; decision-makers in industry as well as federal, state, and local government agencies; international entities; teachers and students; and other private citizens. NBII end users come to the Program with a variety of information needs. The Program’s motto “Building Knowledge Through Partnerships” reflects its goal of uniting the intellectual capital of the private sector with the government’s commitment to meeting the information needs of the country’s natural resource managers and stewards. Partners include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, University of Tennessee, Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network, Hawaii Natural Heritage Program, Bird Life International, Virginia Technical University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Georgia Savanna River Ecology Laboratory, Ducks Unlimited, Information International Associates Inc. and Appalachian Trail Conference, among others. Data and information provided by and to these groups include diverse, high-quality biological databases, information products and services, and a variety of analytical tools. NBII partners and collaborators also work on new standards, tools, and technologies that make it easier for NBII customers to find, integrate, and apply biological resources information. The NBII’s partnership structure leverages the resources of more than 200 organizations. One of the key components of the NBII is a “node”-based structure that is being developed to ensure broad partnerships and information from all sectors of society, a 167
Thomas F. Lahr / Robin Haun-Mohamed / Eleanor G. Frierson
networked information system along with the human capital that supports it. The establishment of these nodes allows the NBII to provide the community of users with rapid access to data and information on biological resources as well as national – and increasingly, international – coverage on a range of major biodiversity and environmental issues. They promote standards for data sharing, analysis and synthesis tools, technology support, data warehousing, data mining, interoperability, collaboration training and education. NBII nodes are focal points through which key elements for providing the information and services envisioned by the NBII are made available. NBII nodes are of three types: Regional – Have a geographic orientation. By taking a regional approach, local data issues, data collectors, and owners are involved in the process. They also allow people closer to the issues and the partner groups to form active coalitions in addressing biological issues within their regions. For example: • Offering information to evaluate strategies and practices associated with helping to stem the decline of salmon in the Pacific Northwest as well as the management of the region’s forest ecosystems. • Supporting information systems addressing interagency biodiversity and watershed assessments in California, the Pacific Coast, and southwestern desert ecosystems. Thematic – Focus on a particular biological issue, such as avian bird conservation, providing the support and infrastructure to help address these issues. Such issues often cut across multiple geographic areas and have national significance. An example: • Invasive Species – the number one environmental challenge of the twenty-first century, they represent a significant economic challenge to our nation. This node provides access through a single Web portal to a vast array of information on invasive species throughout the nation. Infrastructure: – The infrastructure and technical evolution the NBII is undergoing. Emphasis is placed on many varied infrastructure areas including: the networks and their security, standards, vocabulary, hardware/software, content management tools, geospatial applications, and search & retrieval and data analysis tools. The NBII is dedicated to helping us better understand and preserve our nation’s living resources by unleashing the enormous power of the data and information resources that describe them. More specifically, the NBII is committed to ensuring 168
Developing the Digital World of Government Information and Official Publications
biodiversity data are organized, accessible, and available to those who make decisions regarding the care, use, and conservation of natural resources. As technology changes, so too will the NBII’s approaches to solving this important, ongoing challenge. But while this presentation only gives selected NBII successes, the Program’s focus is on the future. We invite all interested parties from around the nation and the world to join us in helping to make the NBII an even more effective tool to facilitate environmental decision-making. The NBII website is at http://www.nbii.gov. I would now like to move to Science.gov to give an overview of a United States inter-agency effort that links and combines data and information from both of the previous examples as well as much other scientific information.
Science.gov: Providing Simple, Unified Access to Scientific and Technical Information through Collaboration and Innovation
You now have heard how two U.S. government agencies are creating new digital government information services. Both of these agencies also participate in Science.gov which provides new value added access and retrieval options to information which was previously time consuming or difficult to locate. This gateway to U. S. government science information allows simple unified searches across 30 databases and more than 1,700 science Web sites and accesses over 47 million pages of government science information. The Vision of Science.gov is to provide cross-agency, gateway access to selected, authoritative U.S. government science and technology resources for the science-attentive citizen, including science professionals, students, teachers, business people, and members of the public interested in science. Science.gov was launched in December 2002, providing for the first time wide public access and a unified search of the government’s vast stores of scientific and technical information as stated in the Science.gov vision. A look at the Science.gov top page at http://www.Science.gov shows the key option available to all users, to enter search terms which will simultaneously search the 169
Thomas F. Lahr / Robin Haun-Mohamed / Eleanor G. Frierson
web sites and databases. Science.gov has more than 1700 Web sites selected and cataloged by agency content managers which are organized for browsing under one or more of 12 topics and 175 sub-topics. Free-text searching of the selected Web sites is based on the text of these Web sites and their linked sites (to one level). Science.gov also allows the user to explore selected Web sites by topic, or to select a featured search or featured Web sites on current “hot topics.” It also highlights new features as they appear, such as the new “Alerts” feature. Science.gov allows users to search the surface Web as well as the deep Web, where traditional search engines cannot go. It provides unified simultaneous searching of 30 databases that are generally not accessible to Web search engines. This special invisible Web searching was developed for science.gov. There is a single search interface for Web sites and databases. All information is free, with no registration required. The Science.gov Alliance is a voluntary group of United States government agencies with science missions. These agencies are involved in the development, operation and enhancement of Science.gov. The Alliance includes the major U. S. science mission agencies and departments, including the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the Government Printing Office, with support and coordination by CENDI, including support from the National Archives and Records Administration. Administrative support and coordination is provided by CENDI (www.cendi.gov), an interagency working group of senior U. S. government scientific and technical information managers. Agencies contribute software, servers, and in-kind services, fund usability testing, contribute content and perform cataloging functions. Each agency selects its best science information for inclusion in science.gov. The Alliance co-chairs serve as representatives to FirstGov, www.firstgov.gov. We have identified several challenges, and many are inherent in the nature of the enterprise – the breadth of federal Research &Development and the scope of the audience that might be interested in this information. These issues are highlighted in the decisions of what URLs to select and the way the taxonomy should be expressed. We are still working to present technical information to a wide audience. Of course, the major challenge has been the blending of resources from different agencies into a cohesive product for the users. By the end of 2005 Version 3 of Science.gov will be available which will provide Enhanced precision searching and MetaRank – an enhanced ranking system using metadata and Boolean searching. Version 4 which is in the planning stages for 2006 and beyond will have enhanced relevancy ranking (DeepRank) and full-text relevancy ranking for precision search. As we produce technical enhancements, we will evaluate customer satisfaction and continue to refine and enhance design and 170
Developing the Digital World of Government Information and Official Publications
search capabilities. Since version 1 in 2002, we have routinely added content and databases, reviewed the taxonomy, and linked to other First.gov portals such as kids.gov. We will work on adding members to the Alliance and developing support and sustaining resources. Very importantly, we will continue what we do best – collaborating and innovating. We have heard today about three innovative U.S. Government systems and programs which provide new value added access and retrieval options to government information which was previously unavailable or time consuming to locate. Thank you very much for your time and attention. References Authentication, Council Briefing Topic, Spring 2005, http://www.access.gpo.gov/ su_docs/fdlp/council/briefing_topics/index.html Baseline Requirements for Digital Reformatting and Delivery of Legacy Federal Document Collections, November 29, 2004, http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_ docs/fdlp/pubs/crl_digital_baseline.pdf Committee on Environment and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Ecological Systems (2001) Ecological Forecasting: Agenda for the Future, Reston, VA: U.S. Geological Survey. Concept of Operations for the Future Digital System, May 16, 2005, http://www. gpo.gov/projects/pdfs/FDsys_ConOps_v2.0.pdf Essential Titles for Public Use in Paper or Other Tangible Format, http://www. access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/estitles.html Information Dissemination Implementation Plan, FY 2005–2006. April 14, 2005, http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/id_plan/index.html Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Between the Government Printing Office and the National Archives and Records Administration, August 12, 2003, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/about/naramemofinal.pdf National Research Council (1993) A Biological Survey for the Nation, Washington, DC: National Academy Press. National Research Council (2001) Future Roles and Opportunities for the U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, DC: National Academy Press. NBII Metadata Clearinghouse (1997) Home page of the NBII Metadata Clearinghouse. Retrieved September 12, 2003 from the National Biological Information Infrastructure, http://metadata.nbii.gov 171
Thomas F. Lahr / Robin Haun-Mohamed / Eleanor G. Frierson
President’s Committee of Advisers on Science and Technology (1998) Teaming with Life: Investing in Science to Understand and Use America’s Living Capital, Washington, DC: Executive Office of the President of the United States. Report from the Meeting of Experts on Digital Preservation: Digital Preservation Masters. Revised. June 18, 2004, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/about/reports/ preservation.html Report on the Meeting of Experts on Digital Preservation: Metadata Specifications. June 14, 2004, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/about/reports/metadata.html Strategic Vision for the 21st Century, U.S. Government Printing Office, December 1, 2004, http://www.main.gpo.gov/pub_print/STRATEGICPLAN.html Versioning: The Future of Managing Changes in Digital Content at the U.S. Government Printing Office, Council Briefing Topic, Spring 2005, http:// www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/council/briefing_topics/index.html
172
4. BUILDING BLOCKS FOR MAKING GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC INFORMATION AND TRAINING THROUGH THE NET: THE EXPERIENCE OF DFP (ITALIAN GOVERNMENT INFORMATION ON THE NET) Maurella Della Seta Information Specialist of Documentation Service Italian National Institute of Health Viale Regina Elena, 299, 00161 Rome, Italy [email protected] Fernando Venturini Head of Acquisitions Department Chamber of Deputies Library Via del Seminario, 76, 00186 Rome, Italy [email protected] Abstract Continuing professional education programs for the library and information science professions are not as yet very well developed in Italy, especially in the area of government information and official publications. This paper presents some initiatives in this regard, focusing in particular on a directory of the Italian government information resources available on the Internet. The name of the directory is DFP: Documentazione di Fonte Pubblica in rete = Italian Government Information on the Net, hosted on the website of the Italian Library Association (AIB) since 1997 (http://www.aib.it/dfp). DFP is mainly a tool to keep librarians and end-users informed on the best resources available on the net: nevertheless, although not originally conceived as a training tool, it also aims at increasing librarians’ expertise. In this way, librarians who are expert in the government information field extend their knowledge and skills to the library community, reaching out to an ever-growing number of endusers.
173
Maurella Della Seta / Fernando Venturini
Introduction The purpose of this paper is to outline some Italian initiatives in the field of training and skill development, concerning government information issues. Experiences of the authors are described: in fact, both authors, although operating with different backgrounds of legislative and public health sources of information, are very familiar with training and education initiatives, practitioner- or end-user-targeted. This will be an in-depth analysis of DFP, (Documentazione di Fonte Pubblica in rete, or Italian Government Information on the Net), and is a directory of relevant websites in the area of information produced by public bodies, hosted on the website of the Italian Library Association (AIB) since 19971. DFP arises from the work of the Associazione Italiana Biblioteche (AIB) Official Publications Working Group2, which developed the idea that the future of public information is on the net. DFP’s creation also originates from a great demand on the part of citizens and library users for data and documents of public origin. This paper will focus on the effects of DFP information spreading through the Internet, and specifically on the aspect of promotion of government information. The authors believe that these effects can be a good example of how the power of the Internet can be exploited for teaching and training purposes, especially in a context like the Italian one. In the opinion of the authors, their experience may be useful also to colleagues operating in other countries. Background: overview of the Italian situation in the area of government information training The basic librarian preparation in Italy is University education, although employers do not always require degrees and diplomas in Library science. Up to about ten years ago, as stated by Petrucciani in a 1991 article3, university degrees and diplomas were offered only by a few academic institutions, and there were post-graduate two year programs in Rome, Milan, Padua and Naples Universities. After University reform, which took place in the academic year 2000/2001, a system based on three years (first degree) plus two years (specialist degree) was introduced in Italy. Therefore, there are now more courses in Library Science, mostly within the context of the Preservation of Cultural Heritage studies. Currently, according to the Directory 1 2 3
Alberto Petrucciani, “Continuing Education in Italy” in Blanche Woolls, ed., Continuing Professional Education. A publication of the Continuing Professional Education Round Table (CPERT) of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. (IFLA Publications 55). Munchen: K.G. Saur, 1991, p. 125-126.
174
Information and Training Through the Net: The Experience of DFP
of Education opportunities for librarians of the Italian Library Association (AIB)4, about thirty universities offer a first-level degree in Library science or Archivekeeping science. About ten Universities offer a second-level degree (specialist), while at least eighteen academic institutions offer both first and second level masters. According to the recently published “Report on Italian Libraries 2001”5, there are “at least 27 courses aimed at the formation of librarians, in 26 universities and with locations in 25 different cities”. In 2003, a lively debate on librarians’ education took place in AIB-CUR (the Italian Librarians discussion list)6: the results of this debate (in which librarians and information specialists participated with more than fifty messages) showed that: • many professionals believe that academic courses in Italy are too much focused on traditional historical subjects, such as Bibliography or Bibliology; • the archivist tradition is still prevailing, as witnessed by education programs. All messages report changes in the library profession during recent years, and stress the need for new skills. Therefore, there is a large demand for updating flexible practical courses, especially by librarians who started their profession many years ago, without any previous formal professional education. This is particularly true for librarians working in special libraries, and mainly in the sector of government information, with an almost total absence of specific academic or training courses. In this field, we can report two recent training courses organized by the AIB – which in its statute “promotes activities which guarantee professional training and continuing education” in the framework of continuing professional development. The first course “Public Documentation: sources and techniques for its finding, retrieval and valorisation” was held in 19997. The second one, “Grey literature: basic principles and new trends” was held in November 20028, with a session specifically devoted to administrative information. It is also worth mentioning the three National Conferences on Grey Literature, jointly organized by the AIB and the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS), respectively in 1992, 1996 and 19999, and the Symposium “From Official Publication
4 5
6
7 8 9
Vittorio Ponzani ed., “Report on Italian Libraries 2001”, Bollettino AIB. 42 (4) (December 2002): p. 475-504. For a summary of this debate see: Vittorio Ponzani, “Quale formazione per bibliotecari e documentalisti?” AIB Notizie. 15 (3) (2003), p. 7. The references to the proceedings of these three Conferences edited by Vilma Alberani and Paola De Castro are available on the ISS website
175
Maurella Della Seta / Fernando Venturini
to Documentation of Public Origin”, organized in 1998 by the Chamber of Deputies and the AIB10. The above mentioned conferences gave important opportunities to librarians willing to develop or to update their knowledge in the field of Government Information, but represent rare, non-systematic initiatives. In this scenario, the potential of a Web directory such as DFP should not be undervalued, both as a training tool for librarians, and as an instrument for diffusion of public information topics. Origins: the Official Publications Working Group of the Italian Library Association Italian librarians and information specialists have always paid little attention to information produced by public administrations, because public authorities libraries are, generally speaking, poorly equipped, thus providing a restricted number of services, as compared to other European countries. In Italy, bibliographic control of official publications does not exist because the Italian National Bibliography covers only a small portion of public sector publications and the country does not have a central official publisher like GPO in USA or HMSO in UK. Libraries like those at the Chamber of Deputies and at the Senate, receive books published by public authorities on the basis of the legal deposit law11, but do not provide any bibliographic control service in this field12. Moreover, Italian citizens do not have the habit of using a public library to gather information about laws and cases related to their daily life, or to find a document published by the European Union or by the local municipality. In 1995, in order to study and change this situation, the Italian Library Association formed a Working Group on Official Publications, which closed its work in 2001. Its activity concentrated on the following points: a wider definition of the official publication, bibliographic control13, the importance of libraries as access points to public information and the role of the Internet in spreading public data. The Internet has been considered the decisive element in changing the Italian situation. In any case, before the age of the Internet, libraries were not in any condi10 11 12
13
< URL: http://www.aib.it/aib/commiss/pubuff/giornata.htm > L. 374/1939, section 11 For a general description of the main Italian official publications see in English: Italy, in: Guide of official publications of foreign countries, 2nd ed., Bethesda, Md.: CIS, 1997, p. 202-209 and Vilma Alberani, Pubblicazioni ufficiali italiane, Roma: AIB, 1995. See also: Fernando Venturini ed., Le fonti per lo studio dell'amministrazione pubblica italiana: guida bibliografica, 1848–1992, Bologna: Il Mulino, 1994, particularly for the section on official publications and grey documentation. On this matter a conference was organized in 2000. The proceedings were published in: Dalle pubblicazioni ufficiali alla documentazione di fonte pubblica: il ruolo delle biblioteche tra controllo bibliografico e diffusione dell’informazione, Roma: Camera dei deputati, 2000.
176
Information and Training Through the Net: The Experience of DFP
tion, except in rare cases, to grant access to a large amount of official documents and often had difficulties even in delivering the simplest legislative information. Through the Internet and the growing availability of public sector information, new possibilities for services in this field have been developed, even for the smallest municipal library, provided that librarians have the necessary skills and know the specific characteristics of official materials. So, in the latter part of its activity, the research group focused on accessibility through public libraries and launched a survey about their role, in collaboration with the Italian National Statistics Institute. This is one of the most ambitious investigations carried out on this matter in Europe. Final results14 show that Italian public libraries do not have a complete awareness of the services provided in this field because, and even if they have a modest but significant number of reference requests for public information, they do not seem to play an active role, and limit themselves to the simplest activities. Librarians and e-government in Italy When the Official Publications Research Group began its work, the first Italian public administration websites had just been established. Some group members began to study the characteristics of Government websites and the different experiences of public data dispersion through the net. The official Italian sites developed without any initial coordination, in particular at the central administration level. The first policy act of the Italian Government was issued only in March 2001: the Civil Service Department directive of March the 13th Guidelines for the organization, the usability and the accessibility of public administration websites15. This document is not exhaustive: for instance, instructions about the minimum level availability, integration, completeness and conservation of public documents are absent. The result is that Italian citizens may access many very technical documents but, for example, cannot gain complete and full access to the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic. Professional librarians, operating in the Italian Public Administration, have never been involved in the development of Government websites. The entire process was managed by IT professionals and by administrators, under political directives completely concentrated on delivering administrative services more than information. The Guidelines of the Government for the Development of the Information Society 16, (June 2002), developed by the former Minister for Innovation and Technologies, Mr. Lucio Stanca, represents a strategic document based on the use of information technologies to modernize a country in which, as far as e-government is concerned, all the attention is directed to the online interactive services (according to the slogan: 14 15 16
177
Maurella Della Seta / Fernando Venturini
from queues to clicks17). The Italian Government, as many other Governments in the world and with the support of the European Union, is determined to exploit the Internet to improve the efficiency and efficacy of public administrations, with the aim of helping the citizen in using the administration from his/her home, saving time and money. For this purpose, the Parliament passed several important laws, which are qualifying Italy as one of the most advanced countries in this field: for instance, the electronic signature and the electronic protocol regulations18. In a press release issued on March 10, 2003, the former Minister for Innovation and Technologies, Mr. Lucio Stanca, stated that “the e-government challenge to bring the enlarged Europe online is starting in Italy”19. More recently, the E-Government Code, a single, consistent legislative framework for applying new digital technologies in Italian government, was adopted (URL: http://www.interlex.it/testi/dlg05_82.htm). On the other hand the egovernment policy has neglected the purpose of making public sector information available simply, efficiently and consistently. For this aspect, each department or public authority acts as a separate entity. Different practices between and within departments result in completely different websites in which public information is scattered, and, for this reason, often very difficult to find. Even in the recent EGovernment Code, the section about Government websites’ obligatory content is very poor. Moreover, there is not a register of public information assets. The National citizen's portal on the one hand displays the services offered by the central and local authorities, being very user-friendly and useful for the layman, but, on the other, does not pay enough attention to the information repositories managed by public administrations, since its contents focus on key events in the life of citizens. For example, in the field of legal information, Italy is the only European country in which the Official Gazette is not accessible for free, if older than the last 60 days . This lack is not counterbalanced by the presence of a legal search engine such as Norme in rete [Statutesonline] , by which it is possible to search the legislation that the government departments and offices have made available for free on their websites. In fact, the list of contributors is quite short, the same regulation is often
17
18
19
This is the title of a booklet published by the Minister for innovation and technology: . It presents the online services offered by the central Government and local authorities. A website completely dedicated to the electronic protocol has been set up by the Italian Authority for IT in public administrations: . See also an English version of the decree No. 513 of 10 November 1997 . See the news in EU E-Government observatory: where it is also possible to have a synthetic view of the Italian situation.
178
Information and Training Through the Net: The Experience of DFP
published in more than one site, and the user is not able to understand whether the retrieved text is consolidated or not20. DFP organization DFP is a catalogue of the Italian Internet Resources relevant to public information. Originally it focused on legal aspects: at present, it covers many disciplines with specific emphasis on law, economics, statistics, public health, environment, culture. DFP is characterized by its accurate selection, according to quality criteria, of the included resources. As a matter of fact, its nature has been evolving in time in two areas: • as a meta-catalogue of directories and guides in the official publications field, already present on the Web; • as a tool for monitoring information policies and trends of public bodies in different areas. Sources of information for DFP are, in order of importance, personal experience of the editors, directories of Internet links prepared by various institutions, postings on print journals and newspapers, and Italian search engines. In this context, great importance is given not only to the activity of retrieving and posting new resources, but also to the steady updating of the records, according to modifications occurring in the reviewed sites. The editorial board of DFP is made by librarians who initially formed the AIB original Official Publications Working Group, followed by other librarians who already used their library websites to disseminate legal information, and wished to contribute to the directory with their resources 21. DFP’s first addressees are reference librarians working in Public Libraries, University Libraries (Law and Social Sciences Schools), special libraries and documentation centres in public structures or private firms. DFP organization: from the web pages set to the SCOUT data base Originally the resources described in DFP were organized in static web pages divided into three sections: General Sources Documentation; Subject Sources Documentation; and Official Websites. The old Homepage is still visible at the URL http://www.aib.it/aib/commiss/pubuff/guida-041112.htm. The standard DFP record included the following fields: 20
21
An English overview of the sources of Italian law has been published by Raffaele Ladu on the site http://www.llrx.com. . List of DFP editors at: ; Fernando Venturini is the coordinator.
179
Maurella Della Seta / Fernando Venturini
• Heading with the name of the website or of the service (e.g. a database) provided in the site. • URL. • Synthetic description of the resource, posting if the site is an institutional or a private one, if its services are free-of-charge or on payment, coverage, information contents, updating frequency. • Last date of consultation. In November 2004 the DFP directory was converted to a database implemented using the software Scout Portal Toolkit (URL: http://scout.wisc.edu/Projects/SPT/), developed by the Internet Scout Project, an initiative of the University of Wisconsin in the United States. A static homepage remains at the address URL:http://www.aib.it/dfp/ but it is possible to access the database directly from URL http://dfp.aib.it. The database counts at present approximately more than 1.000 records and is constantly being increased and updated. Resources are organized in 12 main classes and about 180 subdivisions. Besides browsing the classification tree, quick keyword searches and advanced searches are also possible. Every record is enriched with specific metadata. The fields required to establish a record are the URL, Title, Date Issued, Publisher, Description, Classification code, Origin (refers to the administrative level which produced the resource, whether central, regional, local bodies or research bodies), Language, Resource type, Format, Date of Record Creation and Date Record Checked. New colleagues working in different Italian public administrations joined the DFP editorial board. The tables on legal documentation, regional legislation and Parliament documentation, after revision and updating, were inserted into the new website structure. They still allow therefore an alternative access to selected resources. DFP: the book
180
Information and Training Through the Net: The Experience of DFP
In late 2004, the DFP editorial board published a book: Documenti e dati pubblici sul web: guida all'informazione di fonte pubblica in rete [Official documents and data on the web: a guide to Italian public source information on the Internet] / edited by Piero Cavaleri and Fernando Venturini;with contributions by Laura Ballestra, Graziella Casarin, Piero Cavaleri, Maurella Della Seta, Alessandra Ensoli, Grazia Vecchio, and Fernando Venturini. – Bologna: Il Mulino, 2004. – 347 p (http://dfp. liuc.it/). This volume contains the description of approximately six hundred official websites and documents, besides collecting the remarks and the information produced by the DFP group in nearly ten years of activity . Using DFP to extend government information to the community of librarians and to end users DFP is not only a directory of Internet resources, but rather a tool for the transmission of information and skills in the public information sector, from expert librarians to public library colleagues. For this purpose, before the creation of the SCOUT database, the interaction between DFP and the discussion list of the Italian libraries association was essential. The discussion list of the AIB, called AIB-CUR, reaches nearly 3500 members. AIB-CUR was created in 1992 by the University and Research Commission of the Italian Library Association (from which the acronym AIB-CUR). The list is supported by a technical staff that develops steady work behind the scenes, in order to facilitate the right use of the list, or to organize the mail files, making the list not only a communication tool, but a documentation one as well. A library of documents is associated with the list. It is possible to download subject collections of e-mails, and other documents. The AIB-CUR technical staff has been working steadily to integrate the discussion list with the AIB website. Therefore, some of the AIB-CUR serial mails are public, since they are located on special web pages. These messages are identified by the subject beginning with a key word. This allows the software (LISTSERV) to sort each message to the AIB-CUR subdivisions (so called sub-lists), that each member may activate or not. For example, messages with the subject AGENDA inform one about conferences, seminars, training events and presentations of professional interest, while the subject WORK informs one about working opportunities for librarians. At the same time, these messages are filed on freely accessible web pages (AIB-NOTEBOOK CUR and AIBWORK CUR). The most important DFP updates are posted on the AIB-CUR list by DFP editors, with the subject DFP. This allows the creation of a file including all the mails available between one edition and the other. In this way, the most experienced librarians in the government information field extend their knowledge and skills to the community of librarians. 181
Maurella Della Seta / Fernando Venturini
Since the SCOUT database implementation, specific services for Web content sharing have been set up. On the one hand, an alerting service based on account registration allowing the user to have new resources emailed on a frequency basis he can specify; and, on the other hand, a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) service offering feeds in the RSS format. DFP: an example of good practice and a didactic tool During the training courses organised by the ISS in the field of public health information sources, the DFP Directory is shown as an example of good practice for its selection of high quality Internet resources. Resources are selected according to quality criteria established by the Commission of the European Communities22. This set of criteria includes transparency and honesty, authority, privacy and data protection, updating of information, accountability, and accessibility. Although not all Italian public or private websites adhere perfectly to those criteria, attention is paid to the selection of those sites which at least: • clearly state the sources for all information provided • are concerned about the clear and regular updating of the site, and about guidelines on physical accessibility. DFP, therefore, collects the main reference sources available on the net, and, at the same time, performs a selection of the best authoritative sites developed by private and public institutions. The “Synopsis of the Italian Legal Information on the Web”23, in the General Sources Documentation section, represents a good example of a reference tool addressed also to inexperienced practitioners. It sums up the best information sources for the different fields (National, Regional and European Legislation, Cases, Parliamentary Acts, Juridical Bibliography), dividing each area into two sections: • Where to search. • Where to find the last updates. For this reason, in recent years, DFP has been more and more used as a useful training tool, profitably employed in training courses addressed to practitioners and end22
23
Commission of the European Communities. “eEurope 2002: Quality Criteria for Health related Websites”. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 4 (3) 2002 .e15.
182
Information and Training Through the Net: The Experience of DFP
users. Between the most significant courses devoted to public librarians, three examples which took place in 2006 are cited: L’informazione di fonte pubblica in rete, con specifico riferimento alla documentazione giuridica nazionale Biblioteca elettronica di economia e scienze sociali del Piemonte, Torino, March 27, 2006 http://www.bess-piemonte.it/checosebess/agenda.htm Le fonti informative della pubblica amministrazione: siti istituzionali e documentazione di fonte pubblica Biblioteca comunale centrale di Milano, Palazzo Sormani, May 15, 2006 http://www.aib.it/aib/sezioni/lom/s060515.htm Informazione di fonte pubblica e servizi al cittadino Regione Umbria, Consiglio regionale, Perugia, September 25, 2006 http://www.crumbria.it/page.asp?c=20&p=230&r=&tipor=0 Measuring DFP’s impact This paper concludes with a short note on how DFP is reviewed by library colleagues in Italy and all over the world, and on how it is cited in the international guides to the Internet. The authors tried to measure DFP’s impact by a survey performed through those search engines, such as Google, Arianna, and Yahoo!, which give the possibility of selecting websites that link to a given URL. By introducing the DFP’s URL we found that about 250 sites have a link to it. Most of them are Italian sites, mainly from Universities, Law Schools and Public Libraries guides to Internet resources. DFP is quoted in many Italian guides to the use of Internet resources24, as well. DFP has links from about ten sites from different countries as USA, France, Spain, Switzerland, and Germany. The New York University School of Law in its guide to Foreign and International Legal Databases, states that DFP provides “a very good list of information resources on Italian public documentation”25. DFP is also cited in the FindLaw Directory for Legal Professionals26. The purpose and hope for the near future is to facilitate through this tool the outreach to an ever-growing number of practitioners and end-users, enabling them to better use government information sources. 24 25 26
e.g.: Francesco Brugaletta. Internet per giuristi. Napoli: Simone, 1998, 1st ed.
183
Maurella Della Seta / Fernando Venturini
The authors would like to conclude with the words of Blanche Woolls: “With the rapid changes in technology, we will soon have capabilities beyond our wildest imaginations. It is our creativity that we must employ to make links between us as Continuing Professional Education providers.”27
27
Blanche Woolls, “Building a plan to deliver lifelong Continuing Professional Education across space and time” in B. Woolls and B.E. Sheldon eds. Delivering Lifelong Continuing Professional Education Across Space and Time. The Fourth World Conference on Continuing Professional Education for the Library and Information Science Professions. (IFLA Publications 98). Munchen: K.G. Saur, 2001, p.24.
184
LIFTING OURSELVES BY OUR BOOTSTRAPS: DEVELOPING A NATIONAL PEER-TO-PEER TRAINING PROGRAM FOR DATA LIBRARIANS IN CANADA1 Ernie S. Boyko Director of Library and Information Centre Statistics Canada 2-O, R.H. Coats Building, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A OT6, Canada [email protected] Elizabeth Hamilton Head of Government Documents, Data and Maps University of New Brunswick Libraries 5 Macaulay Lane, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada E3B 5H5 [email protected] Chuck Humphrey Head of Data Library Academic Director of Research Data Centre, University of Alberta 1-01 Rutherford South, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2J4 [email protected] Wendy Watkins Data Centre, Carlton University Library 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6 Canada [email protected] Abstract The magnitude of information flowing from government sources is so voluminous and is disseminated in such a variety of formats that information professionals find themselves under constant pressure to keep pace. To complicate matters, access to these resources is increasingly being driven by changes in communication policies and computing technology. The responsibility to stay current with new formats and methods of access unfortunately falls onto the shoulders of the information professional. One response to this pressure is to provide new approaches to training and learning on the job for the information professional. 1
This paper has been co-authored by Ernie S. Boyko (Statistics Canada), Elizabeth Hamilton (University of New Brunswick), Charles Humphrey (University of Alberta), and Wendy Watkins (Carleton University)
185
Ernie S. Boyko / Elizabeth Hamilton / Chuck Humphrey / Wendy Watkins
This paper examines the training strategy developed in response to a new program, known as the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI), that was introduced in the mid-1990’s between Statistics Canada and post-secondary institutions in Canada. DLI, which provides access to a large volume of quantitative and spatial data through university libraries, became the responsibility of academic librarians to implement and support locally. We will discuss the use of peer instruction and the training principles employed to guide an intentional outreach program to upgrade the skills of the information professions who were called upon to provide service in an area in which they may have had little or no expertise. The experience of Canada’s Data Liberation Initiative illustrates the value of peer-to-peer training in building a national baseline level of service skills for a specific collection. The Context Each nation has its own information culture that defines the context by which its citizens are given access to government information. These information cultures are not static and change over time. The Canadian Government has a long history of providing citizens with systematic access to published government information. The 75-year history of the Canadian Depository Services Program (DSP) with its network of several hundred depositories is a testimony to this fact. As Canada’s national statistics agency, Statistics Canada (STC) also has a long history of serving Canadians with information about the economic and social conditions of the country and its citizens. Statistics Canada, in partnership with the DSP and its network of libraries, has been a traditional channel for a wide range of information. As computing and communication technologies changed, the scope of government publishing also changed. Statistics Canada’s output expanded from a range of paper publications with tabular and analytic highlights to include a series of electronic databases, data files, and geography files. Specialized electronic data files that in the past were shipped on magnetic tapes are now easily distributed using the Internet and accessed using personal computers. This should have boded well for citizen access to a more extensive and more powerful collection of information. However, government information policies were slow to take advantage of new network technology to disseminate government information openly and freely. For example, it took half of a decade for Statistics Canada and the academic library community to reach an agreement by which subscribing universities were granted access to Statistics Canada’s standard data products using the Internet. The creation of the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI)2 in 1996 opened a new channel of access to quantitative and spatial data files making unprecedented amounts of 2
Watkins, Wendy and Ernie Boyko, “Data Liberation and Academic Freedom” Government Information in Canada/Information gouvernementale au Canada 3, no. 2 (1996). [http://www.usask.ca/library/gic/ v3n2/watkins2/watkins2.html]
186
Lifting Ourselves by our Bootstraps: Developing a National Peer-to-Peer Training Program
Statistics Canada's data available for scholarly research and teaching through an affordable annual fee. Initially, the DLI was established as a five-year pilot project. However following a very positive evaluation during the fourth year of operation and upon completion of the pilot period, DLI became an ongoing partnership program in 2001. Under the DLI license, Statistics Canada provides participating institutions with access to all of its standard data products, which includes databases, public use microdata files and geography files. As part of this contract, universities agree to make the data available to members of their communities and to guarantee that the data are used only for non-commercial teaching and research purposes. An important element of the DLI licence is that each institution must designate a local staff member as the DLI Contact who serves as an intermediary between Statistics Canada and her local institution. The DLI contacts are responsible for providing local access to the collection of DLI data products and for ensuring that the license between their institution and Statistics Canada is fully observed. In virtually all cases, the DLI Contact is an information professional in an academic library. The need to provide training for DLI contacts was identified as an early priority in the DLI pilot period. Without an established baseline of competencies among DLI contacts across all subscribing universities, local services would vary radically across institutions. Instead of being facilitators to access, DLI contacts could have become a bottleneck in providing local access to DLI data. The success of this initiative was highly dependent upon DLI contacts developing a basic level of knowledge about the DLI collection and acquiring a set of skills to disseminate data products to local patrons. The Training Challenge While DLI data resources greatly increase the potential for empowerment and insight into Canadian society, they also create new challenges for the librarians and information professionals who are confronted with the task of organising and supporting the access to this material. Prior to DLI, there were fewer than a dozen data libraries in the country and these were minimally staffed. For the new staff assigned to administer DLI, the challenges included quickly acquiring skills to manage this new licensed resource, understanding the collection and its use, and developing skills to aid patrons in working with these data resources. The challenges were a bit staggering. In addition to the paucity of experienced data librarians across member DLI institutions, many of the DLI contacts already bore multiple responsibilities in their libraries and had little time for yet another professional development venture on the job. Some came to the task with self-confessed statistical literacy deficits, and were intimidated by data and its technology. Few had 187
Ernie S. Boyko / Elizabeth Hamilton / Chuck Humphrey / Wendy Watkins
resources sufficient to launch a full-service data library immediately and were dependent on finding colleagues both in and outside of the library to help build a local service model. Indeed, one of the training challenges was to develop a curriculum flexible enough to provide for tremendous disparities in local environments. Furthermore, the pre-existing library data community was small, stretched across a continent, and had to operate with two official languages. These vast distances introduced further challenges. For one thing, training costs were a real barrier unless the program was built in such a way as to encourage those without expertise to attend training sessions. While the importance of building regional strengths was seen as part of the longterm solution to offering data services across the country, the identification of a common curriculum of essential skills appropriate to the different environments of small, medium and large libraries became an initial priority. This curriculum had to recognize the different starting points for DLI contacts within the training program. An initial curricular strategy was designed with these realities in mind. A basic level of data service skills (core competencies) was first articulated as part of this curricular strategy. This training would be considered the entry level for supporting DLI data and would apply to all participating institutions, regardless of institutional size. More advanced training would build upon this basic level. The three main components of the initial curriculum are documented in detail in Appendix A and focused on topics relating to: • Administration and management of the collection; • survey and database content, and • statistical literacy and practice. All training was conducted from a 'service' perspective, that is, from a point of view focusing on the clientele of DLI data. The purpose of this training was to prepare data services staff to assist their user community with DLI data. This was an integral factor in the design and implementation of the training program. (See Appendix B for an overview of the DLI Training Principles and Implementation process.) Following the drafting of the training principles and the curriculum, an initial team of core trainers was identified and recruited for the first wave of training. With only a few seasoned data librarians at the outset, additional trainers had to be recruited from the existing Canadian library community. The maxim for this team became “as one learns, one will teach.” This principle filtered down to the current training delivery model. Considerable work existed to ready the scene for national training of the type envisaged. The first task was to build the core team of trainers, which consisted of the 188
Lifting Ourselves by our Bootstraps: Developing a National Peer-to-Peer Training Program
few experienced data librarians along with regional contacts willing to become trainers. Because the initial wave of national training would be conducted in four regions of the country, a comprehensive manual was developed in both official languages. This served as both a training and future reference resource. This manual was distributed in a massive three-ring binder and included everything from technical notes to in-class and take-home exercises. The trainers, new and experienced alike, grew into a supportive community as they gathered in the spring of 1997 to prepare for the delivery of four regional workshops. This community-building approach worked. The new trainers became better acquainted with the veterans, setting up a safety net for those trying to learn and teach data skills at the same time. All were encouraged and, indeed, energized by the retreat-like experience in developing data competency. Following the “Training the Trainers” session, the team was ready to take the curriculum into the regions of the country, from coast to coast. Central locations within the regions were selected for training and, in the case of new trainers, a seasoned trainer was on site to infuse the process with confidence. The seasoned trainers did not take a lead role. To do so would have undermined the role of the new trainers. But the experienced data colleagues performed troubleshooting with the new trainers and clarified issues on data file verification processes, data parts, and elusive bits and bytes. Among the factors contributing to the success of DLI training, two equally important conditions applied: one was to develop trainers in the regions who became recognized by their peers as mentors; the second was to get participants to training venues. Within six months of the inception of the DLI Training Program, a core team of trainers delivered training in all four regions covering both official languages, and over 80 librarians experienced one of these three-day training sessions in basic data competencies. How were such numbers achieved? Travel stipends were built into the budget to cover transportation costs and, as importantly, library directors were contacted to ensure individuals assigned with the task of administering the DLI Project were given the time to attend. The focus on four regional workshops was critical to the long-term goal of the program of establishing a data community to support the emergence of a data culture in Canada. The On-going Training Program From the outset, it was recognized that a single data training experience would not suffice to build the type of data competencies required to sustain the DLI Project. The collection itself is a dynamic one. Furthermore, the technology that supports data use is in constant flux. As with all learning endeavours, there is typically a pe189
Ernie S. Boyko / Elizabeth Hamilton / Chuck Humphrey / Wendy Watkins
riod of confusion at the beginning. Confusion tends to be followed by clarity as basic concepts are grasped. From clarity, competence develops allowing a layering of detailed information on the fundamental concepts. Finally, confidence is achieved through practice and with the transmission of skills or information to other colleagues. The training program had to allow for this type of learning experience, as well as the knowledge that, as individual competencies were increasing, so too were local environments changing for these individuals. Following the regional training sessions in 1997, the DLI External Advisory Committee (EAC) discussed mechanisms for continuing the training. The extension of the training has allowed the curriculum to include topics appropriate to the maturation of the service, such as in-class instruction to students, and working with their colleagues locally to assist patrons with using Statistics Canada products across the information continuum. One of the most striking outcomes of the regional experiences was the development of a sense of community among the participants as they struggled to understand new concepts and worked through their homework together over a meal. Notable too was the continuation of contact between participants and trainers after the workshop. This sharing of expertise is in part a fulfilment of the mentoring that was intended through the choice of regional trainers. Several discussions have taken place on the substitution of alternate teaching methods to the workshops but, while web-based training can increase the knowledge base, the workshops keep the community vibrant, informed, and cohesive. The EAC gave priority in the DLI budget to continue annual training workshops through administrative support and stipends for travel for all DLI contacts to attend the workshops. Another observation following the initial training “boot camp” was the importance of the involvement of the DLI Section in Statistics Canada in the training. Between training sessions, they become the problem-brokers for DLI contacts on the front line of library services. DLI contacts have participated in a total of twenty training programs (five in each of the four regions) and in 2003 will meet nationally in conjunction with the International Association for Social Science Information Service and Technology (IASSIST) in Ottawa. They have not only been exposed to virtually all aspects of data, content, software and service, but have also developed a sense of community through their regional meetings. This community revolves around the training sessions, mentoring developed at the training sessions, and other support mechanisms such as a newsletter (the DLI Update), a listserv, and the development of a strong central DLI Section within Statistics Canada.
190
Lifting Ourselves by our Bootstraps: Developing a National Peer-to-Peer Training Program
Evaluation and Future Developments From the discussions on the DLI listserv and from the high turnout at each regional workshop, there is strong evidence that the delivery of data services has grown substantially and that we now have aware, committed, and skilful colleagues across the country positioned to assist users with data disseminated through DLI. Colleagues in the areas of the country with solid data services at the outset have perhaps moved more quickly to a point where training is now being offered by a new generation of data librarians, as well as the experienced data trainers. What are the success factors of DLI Training? While the above discussion focussed on some of the key principles, other factors contributing to this success can be identified. Some of these were through design, while others were by circumstance. Focus: A clearly defined strategy was held that involved a target audience, a common core curriculum, and a set of priorities relating to a regional focus, bilingual training, and a commitment to public service. Involvement: The training came from within the community. Statistical software providers did not teach SAS, STATA or SPSS. Rather, this instruction was provided by colleagues in the field who are sensitive to the starting points of our colleagues and who can explain the role of the software in the broader picture of data services. Similarly, discussions on Statistics Canada products have not come from divisions remote from end users. Rather, collection issues have been dealt with by those working on the reference desk who can succinctly answer the questions as to the purpose and use of data files associated with a product. Interestingly, the definition of the community has an elastic nature and is expanding to include as colleagues individuals from Statistics Canada author divisions who understand the DLI training program’s goals. Relevancy: The window of opportunity was limited, forcing the DLI Training Committee to act by expediency rather than with a focus on perfection. Launching such a large-scale training program so quickly after the need was identified meant that the direction of subsequent workshops has been toward keeping pace with change. It has given the workshops a vital focus, building upon basic skills with timely and critical knowledge for data librarians. Equality and Accessibility: The training is based on equitable access. Each region is served on an equitable basis and the training is designed for maximum accessibility by the provision of travel support. Each participant is treated as a colleague, regardless of her starting point in the curriculum or in the size of her home institution. Furthermore, those trained are given the tools to teach others, both colleagues and patrons alike. Renewal: The first wave of training was followed by a reassessment, at which point training became part of the DLI strategic plan with its own budget component. 191
Ernie S. Boyko / Elizabeth Hamilton / Chuck Humphrey / Wendy Watkins
Each region is open to the participation of DLI contacts from outside the region and, as importantly, in providing opportunities for trainers to continue to learn from other trainers. Following several years of gradual turnover in positions, a second “boot camp” to new DLI contacts was offered in 2001. Another “Train the Trainer” initiative has recently been approved by the EAC during which time the curriculum will be reviewed and goals adjusted as necessary. Commitment: A commitment was made by DLI to the library directors of member DLI institutions to provide training for their staff. In return, the expectation was made that the directors would support their DLI contacts in participating in this training. Consequently, participants come from institutions with an understanding that training is integral to DLI. This commitment to training has been the acceptance of responsibility at the individual and institutional level for the success of the program. After five years of DLI workshops, new challenges are emerging. Libraries are entities in constant change and there has been turnover in the DLI Contact community. New materials and new access channels are opening up and peer-to-peer training is moving down to mainstream reference services. We are making new discoveries about statistical literacy and data service delivery that will be reflected in changes in the content of the curriculum. And, regrettably, some of the trainers are now approaching stages where they are making life changes because of retirement or relocation. There are also new opportunities. With the core level competencies identified and basic training well underway through the workshops, other learning methods and technological solutions can be added to the training program and used within the DLI community. While the regional approach to training was adopted to build strengths in all areas of the country and allowed the training to address common interests of the different communities, there is a need to expand the world of talent and expertise within these regional data communities. The 2003 IASSIST meeting is being held in Ottawa and will be the venue for Canada’s largest DLI training event ever. All DLI contacts will be provided with travel support to attend national and international data workshops. Participants will be able to choose up to four sessions from a total of twelve, ranging in level of expertise from novice to cutting-edge. Since IASSIST is held in Canada once every four years, the plan is to organize a national training event each time this international body meets in our country. This will be done in conjunction with the annual, regional workshops and will ensure that DLI participants have an opportunity to meet those from outside their region and the country who share many of the same trials and triumphs that they face.
192
Lifting Ourselves by our Bootstraps: Developing a National Peer-to-Peer Training Program
Conclusions Data Liberation began as a pilot project and was not established as an on-going program until after it underwent an official independent program evaluation. The role and importance of training was clearly a key factor in the positive evaluation of the program. It is significant to note that this was underscored by each group of stakeholders approached by the evaluators—contacts, managers, academics and Statistics Canada personnel. Continued investment in training has become a given for Canada’s data community. As the community grows in expertise, more and more members are able to take part in the enterprise as trainers, thus ensuring that those leading the sessions are a renewable resource. The success of DLI in Canada has opened a new chapter in library service and sets the stage for creating a more numerate society. While we have yet to address fully the concerns raised by Dr. Bernard, we are well on the way. Concerning such issues, the public must have appropriate knowledge and not only hypothetical access to the data. Paradoxically, indeed, contemporary societies offer a wealth of information, but workers and citizens can be totally mystified, surrounded as they are by data whose flow and codes they do not master. The challenge that we faced evolved as technology and information practices changed. The solutions were found within the community itself. The initial talent pool was carefully extended to trainers and then on to the broader community. This produced new strengths that were compounded as the project evolved. A core set of competencies has been established through the use of peer-to-peer instruction. Clearly the next challenge is to expand this approach to broadening the community of data users. Post-2003 Updates Since 2003, the Data Liberation Education Committee has been formed and received a formal mandate. See: http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/educ-struct.pdf It has met twice in the interim. In addition, the External Advisory Committee commissioned a project to put all extant DLI training materials into an institutional repository. T-Space at the University of Toronto was chosen as the site. There are currently 217 presentations and workshops included in the repository. It can be accessed at http://tspacetest.library. utoronto.ca:8080/handle/1778/2085 193
Ernie S. Boyko / Elizabeth Hamilton / Chuck Humphrey / Wendy Watkins
Currently, a committee composed of a DLI contact and DLI staff are compiling a “First-aid Kit” which will be an update to the 1997 Training Manual and made available via both CD-ROM and the Web. It is expected to ‘go live’ within the next few months. Finally, because IASSIST will again meet in Canada in 2007, the DLI contacts will be invited to a National Training Day in Montreal in May. Plans are underway to hold joint, bilingual sessions as well as sessions in either French or English. The English session will concentrate on new contacts while the French session will concentrate on statistical software skills. For more information on the IASSIST conference, see http://www.iassistdata.org/conferences/ APPENDIX A DLI Data Services Curriculum Plan The following table summarizes a vision of the content and skills making up the DLI data services curriculum. This plan is structured by both management and data activities. Management activities focus on the design and operation of a data service while the data activities entail providing services, managing collections, working with data structures, dealing with data content, and analyzing and using data. It is expected that basic and advanced training will flow from this framework. Designing data services •
Data Services • •
Data Management
• • •
Data Structure
• •
Data Content Identification - Data Analysis Verification - Data Use
• •
• •
Identifying levels of service Service strategies Collection manage ment Collection policy Equipment profile Social science Data collection Methodology Social Science Research and Literature Quantitative reasoning Why data?
194
Operating data services • Data reference • Staff orientations • Data documentation management •
•
• • • • • • •
Ordering/retrieving and verifying File management Subsetting data Complex file management Collection specialization Archiving Subset Univariate IVISION/SPSS/SAS/GIS
Lifting Ourselves by our Bootstraps: Developing a National Peer-to-Peer Training Program
It is anticipated that training will proceed according to an evolution of service levels beginning at an entry level for those institutions new to data services. An example of such an evolutionary path applied to data analysis activities would be training in IVISION to use aggregate data on CD-ROM's, moving to the use of SPSS and SAS with public use microdata files, and then moving to applications of DLI data sources with GIS software. APPENDIX B DLI Training Principles and Implementation Process The following principles were designed as the guidelines for defining the overall training program sponsored by the Data Liberation Initiative project. These were developed by a National Training Committee consisting of data specialists and a librarian. 1. Training under this program is being conducted specifically for (1) DLI contacts at participating universities, (2) the staff who will provide services for DLI data at these institutions, and (3) Statistics Canada staff directly involved in the support of DLI. 2. Training will be provided to all of those eligible under the first principle through a variety of formats, including subsidized workshops that are delivered regionally. 3. The first training priority is to establish a basic level of data service skills for all participating institutions. This training shall be considered the entry level for supporting DLI data and more advanced training shall build upon this basic level. Priorities for the advanced levels will be determined by the needs of those supporting DLI and by the evolution of DLI. 4. All training will be conducted from a 'service' perspective, that is, from a point of view that focuses on the clientele of DLI data. The purpose of this training is to prepare data services staff to assist university clients with DLI data. 5. A global curriculum plan will guide the course content that is offered through this program. The DLI External Advisory Committee will be responsible for maintaining this plan and for periodically reviewing its content and direction. 6. Training will address concerns appropriate both to small and large institutions. 7. Whenever possible, trainers will be recruited from the existing Canadian data library community with the expectation that those who are trained may some day be called upon to train others. This perspective operates on the principle that as one learns, one will teach. 195
THE YRITYSSUOMI (ENTERPRISEFINLAND) PORTAL AS A ONE-STOP-SHOP FOR PUBLIC INFORMATION TO SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISES IN FINLAND Jaana Kaakkola Information Specialist Prime Minister’s Office P.O Box 23 FIN-00023 Government, Finland [email protected] Abstract The aim of this paper is to describe the present state and plans for future development of the YritysSuomi (EnterpriseFinland)1 portal, a public online service and portal for enterprises, entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs in Finland. The portal provides access to public services providing assistance in issues such as setting up a business, growth and development measures and international business activities. Introduction – Some Facts About Finland Since the year 2000, Finland has repeatedly been ranked in the top ten by several international competitiveness comparisons.2 Finland’s success is not based on natural resources, but rather on education, technology, well-functioning public institutions (e.g. practically no corruption), openness of the economy and its integration within international trade blocs. Modern elements of success are things like network readiness, research, innovation and creativity, equal opportunities for all individuals (free education for all, 66% of women between 15 to 64 years old are employed) and environmental sustainability. Some basic facts about Finland:3 Population: 5 256 000 (2005) Capital: Helsinki 1 2
3
http://www.yrityssuomi.fi/, http://www.enterprisefinland.fi/ for example WEF (World Economic Forum), IMD (International Institute for Management Development), GITEI (Global International Technology-Economy Index), EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit, ereadiness rankings) A Development Track Adds Finnish Business Services to World Lead, MTI Publications 19/2005, Ministry of Trade and Industry 2005 (only in Finnish); Finland as a Knowledge Economy, World Bank Institute 2006
197
Jaana Kaakkola
GDP per capita: $36 751 (2005) GDP by sector: services 62.9% industry 32.7% agriculture & forestry 4.3% (2004) Enterprises (excl. primary production): 231 600 (2004), of which Small and Medium Enterprises 99.7% (2003) Research & Development expenditure as share of GDP: 3.4% (2004) High-technology exports represent a 24% share of all manufacturing exports. The main industries are information and communications technologies (ICTs), engineering and metal products, pulp & paper, chemical products and shipbuilding. Most enterprises however are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). According to the European Union’s definition of SMEs (less than 50 employees) 224,100 of Finnish enterprises are SMEs, 93% of them employing less than 10 persons and nearly twothirds employing less than two persons. There are approximately 3 100 mediumsized enterprises (50-249 employees) and approximately 4, 000 large companies (more than 250 employees). Finns think well of education, and the younger generation in Finland are among the most highly educated in the world. The Science and engineering enrolment ratio among tertiary-level students is 39%. In OECD's PISA study of learning skills among 15-year-olds, Finland has reached top positions in all three assessments (2000, 2003 and 2006). Why a Portal for SMEs? There are approximately 3.1 million Internet users in Finland in the age group from 15 to 79 years. Looking at professional groups, 100% of the students use the Internet, and of clerical workers, entrepreneurs and leaders, 95% use the Internet regularly. When people were asked about their perceptions on public Internet services, most people thought that while the use of public online services is likely to reduce the amount of physical public service points, it makes it faster and easier to do business with public authorities, improves the enterprise’s competitiveness and saves the customers’ costs.4 The use of both the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) and the Internet has proliferated rapidly in SMEs, and 91% of enterprises use the web for interaction with the public sector, among other things. According to an autumn 2005 survey by Statistics Finland, 75% of Finns use the Internet on average 7.8 hours per 4
Taloustutkimus Oy, Internet Tracking – Internetin käyttö Suomessa (The Use of the Internet in Finland) – a survey ordered by the Ministry of the Interior
198
The YritysSuomi (EnterpriseFinland) Portal as a One-stop-shop for Public Information
week. Of enterprises with at least five employees 73% had a broadband connection in early 2005, and 65% had home pages. Large enterprises, however, have a broadband connection more often than small companies (94% with more than 100 employees versus 64% with less than 9 employees). In the autumn of 2006 there were 1.43 million broadband connections in Finland. The government has the policy objective of enhancing broadband capacity, but the government does not directly provide funds for the infrastructure in order to ensure the neutrality of the technology and the free functioning of the market. The Finnish government has, on the other hand, facilitated ICT usage and diffusion by investing in ICT equipment and providing public services on the Internet. Both the technological infrastructure and people’s attitudes and abilities are favourable for online services. It is worth mentioning, that 71% of people in working life use the Internet for banking business. As 99.7% of all the enterprises are small and medium sized, it is clear, that there is a great need for different kinds of business services that are tailored especially for small companies. The YritysSuomi Portal The YritysSuomi portal is available in Finnish and in Swedish (both official languages in Finland), and its English version EnterpriseFinland is a service aimed at immigrant entrepreneurs. The portal is produced and coordinated by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and managed by the SME Foundation (PKT-säätiö). TheYritysSuomi online service provides information on the obligations towards the public authorities that need to be taken into account when setting up an enterprise and acting as an employer. There are topics on how to establish a business, how/where to get public funding for an enterprise, and information about accounting, taxation and audit, employer obligations and the rules of the Finnish working life. There is also situational advice, for example when a change of generation or owner is due in a family business. In an average month, the portal’s Finnish section has some 75,000 visits. The English pages are visited between 8,000 and 18,500 times a month, and the Swedish speaking visits are around 5,000 a month. The most popular search words have been business plan, start-up money, form of enterprise, taxation, as well as terms for different forms of enterprises. Information providers for the portal at this moment are: • Employment and Economic Development Centres (TE-keskus), regional authorities, where the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Agriculture give service and advice on matters concerning their respective fields of expertise 199
Jaana Kaakkola
• The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (TEKES) • The Finnish National Fund for Research and Development (Sitra) • Finnish Industry Investment Ltd (Teollisuussijoitus, a government-owned investment company) • Finnvera plc, a state-owned financing company • Finpro, a consulting organisation for companies that need services for internationalisation • Finnish Tax Administration • Foundation for Finnish Inventions • National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland The YritysSuomi portal was established in 2002, and since 2003 it has been developed as part of both the Finnish government’s Information Society Programme and the Entrepreneurship Programme, two of the four policy programmes of the present government.5 The portal can be seen as part of a group of electronic public services aimed at different users: • Suomi.fi portal (Finland.fi), public information for citizens, including public sector forms and e-services for both citizens and companies • yritysSuomi.fi (enterpriseFinland.fi), public information for companies Future Development of the Portal Presently the portal gathers useful advisory and contact information for SMEs. A recent report outlines the future development of the portal as part of a complete range of business services. The aim is to provide these services in a more interactive and customer-oriented manner. These services would include • Internet service built on the enlarged and technically renewed YritysSuomi portal • New web tools for self analysis, for example for planning and updating of a business plan 5
The policy programmes cover the most important inter-sectoral subject matters in the Government Programme. Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen’s government launched four policy programmes that are each led and coordinated by a minister responsible for the programme. These are • Information Society Policy Programme (led by Prime Minister) • Employment Policy Programme (led by Minister of Labour) • Entrepreneurship Policy Programme (led by Minister of Trade and Industry) • Civil Participation Policy Programme (led by Minister of Justice)
200
The YritysSuomi (EnterpriseFinland) Portal as a One-stop-shop for Public Information
• Usability testing and heuristic evaluation of the new desktop-publishing systems and their user interface • Renewed vocabulary for enterprise related terminology and a new process for collecting metadata • Broadened contents of the portal’s English version (now only 20% of the Finnish version is translated into English) • A national contact centre for acute problem solving and for finding relevant experts • A nationwide regional network of business services for mainly business start-ups and micro as well as small enterprises. These service points provide information service, evaluate the customer’s service needs and find providers for further services. – The YritysSuomi portal should be seen as a source of information for both entrepreneurs and these service points. The renewed portal with the new tools for analysis will be published in the spring 2007. These tools will provide the entrepreneur with a possibility of making three types of analyses: a business plan that can be created and updated electronically, a turnaround management analysis and a growth analysis. The entrepreneur can make these analysis independently using the net, at a service point together with an expert, or by phone with an expert. In the future, the Finnish business service system needs simplifying: the current system is complex and based on service products and organisations producing business services rather than on problem solving in a customer oriented manner. The public sector will evaluate the service need, act as a conveyor and provide actual service only by the market failure principle in order to avoid any market distortion, as we have much knowledge about intensive business services on the market. The English version of the portal, which is presently aimed at immigrant entrepreneurs, is planned to, in the future, serve also companies that are considering investing in Finland. As for the YritysSuomi portal, it will be enlarged by adding information providers, for example, by engaging players from the private sector in developing electronic business services. Several projects have already been started to ensure that the services provided by different players and offered in the YritysSuomi meet both customer needs and technical requirements. Some of the projects are based on publicprivate partnership. The technical and information architecture and the procedures required by online public services are also coordinated in these projects, taking into account several simultaneous development projects in electronic public services.6 6
http://www.yrityssuomi.fi/liston/portal/page.lsp?r=5428 and http://www.yrityssuomi.fi/liston/portal/page.lsp?r=5058
201
Jaana Kaakkola
A strategic objective is to have 70% of customer contacts done electronically by 2012. As it is essential, that the portal itself provides the information in a customer oriented and easy manner, it has been discussed whether the semantic web could be of help here. The semantic web would probably make it easier for information seekers to find associated services and information from the multitude of the contents, as the classification of information contents is based on ontologies that describe one concept’s relation to other concepts (e.g. a part of an entity). This work (of building ontologies) is being done already in the Suomi.fi (Finland.fi) portal, and these experiences can be of help in developing other public service portals. YritysSuomi.fi Portal and (Public) Libraries As large enterprises have a broadband connection more often than small companies, it is important, that the information that is on the web is known and available to all, regardless their “personal e-readiness”. Recognising this, the Information Society Programme7 organised a campaign “Finland on the Web” in the autumn of 2005 to increase citizens’ understanding of services and information available online. The target of the campaign was to promote general awareness of available e-services and their use and thus to improve citizens’ information society skills and motivation, and to amplify the amount of e-service users. The campaign involved over 1,500 library and public service point employees in the 280 participating municipalities, and a large network of partners from the public, private and third party sectors. Library employees were trained to conduct free tutorials on electronic services: participants learned how to use services provided by public authorities, such as YritysSuomi.fi, and other services like the electronic bank etc. The campaign was promoted broadly by the media – television, radio and newspapers. The Helsinki City Library organised the training of librarians. Training material was produced together with e-service providers, and the material was sent to all libraries, regardless their participation in the campaign. There were 10 instructors who gave 24 training sessions across the country, and 1,450 trainees attended these trainings. More than 10,000 visitors were personally tutored during the campaign week. Libraries in Finland are free for users, whether they come as individuals or as enterprise employees. Every municipality in Finland has a public library, and the Finnish library personnel are highly educated: they have been educated at the university level from the 1970’s. According to the Finnish library law, a library director must have a higher university degree and at least 35 study credits in librarianship. Furthermore, at least 2/3 of the other staff must have a certain minimum level of studies 7
http://www.infosoc.fi , http://www.vn.fi/toiminta/politiikkaohjelmat/tietoyhteiskuntaohjelma/en.jsp
202
The YritysSuomi (EnterpriseFinland) Portal as a One-stop-shop for Public Information
in librarianship. – This is one of the reasons, why it is possible to make good use of the public libraries in enhancing the use of public online services and educating people how to use them. Finns learn to use their libraries when they start going to kindergarten and sometimes earlier, and they are world-record library users: they lend more than 20 books, cd's and other items per inhabitant in a year. Every Finn visits a library more than once a month, statistically. According to the library statistics8, in 2005 there were 62,441, 388 physical library visits, 47, 079,380 web visits and 2,332,604 borrowers in Finnish public libraries.
8
http://tilastot.kirjastot.fi/default.aspx?langId=en
203
THE NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL LIBRARY – PROVIDING TOOLS FOR EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN AGRICULTURE Yvette Alonso Technical Information Specialist National Agricultural Library 10301 Baltimore Blvd Beltsville, Maryland 20705, United States [email protected] Abstract: The National Agricultural Library (NAL) plays a vital role in enhancing the development of research, education, and applied agriculture. The NAL has a mission to increase the availability and utilization of agricultural information for researchers, educators, policymakers, consumers of agricultural products, and the public. The presentation will address how NAL’s services and programs support the role of government as “Societies’ Information Toolkits”. It will provide information on specific collaborative projects with land-grant universities, government agencies and international libraries that support the education and development of agriculture. These toolkits include the NAL Thesaurus, AgNIC, Information Centers, DigiTOP, and the ProciNorte Initative. Full Text United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Library 2004 World Library and Information Congress: 70th IFLA General Conference & Council Government Information and Official Publications Societies’ Information Toolkits: the role of government information in education and development. Yvette Alonso Information Center Coordinator Public Services Division National Agricultural Library United States of America
First, this paper will provide information on the National Agricultural Library (NAL) since agriculture is a part of people’s daily lives. Second, this presentation 205
Yvette Alonso
will be given at IFLA in Buenos Aires and on behalf of NAL. And finally, the theme of this section of the conference is on government information and will present data that will be useful for those who work with agriculture-related information and/or to serve as a model for the development of similar services and programs at your libraries. The author joined the NAL in 2000, and currently works as the Food Safety Information Coordinator. Her focus in the library is using technology to develop products that best meet the information needs of the food safety community. This presentation will provide a brief overview of several of NAL’s services and programs which serve as information toolkits for the education and development of agricultural information. United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Library • Serves as a national library & departmental library for US Department of Agriculture • Established in 1865 by US Congress • Collects, organizes and disseminates agricultural information
Visit the NAL Web site at: http://www.nal.usda.gov
The National Agricultural Library was created as the departmental library for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1862 and became a national library in 1962. One of four national libraries of the United States, it is also the coordinator for a national network of State land-grant and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) field libraries. In its international role, the National Agricultural Library serves as the U.S. center for the international agricultural information system, coordinating and sharing resources and enhancing global access to agricultural data. The National Agricultural Library's collection of over 3.3 million items and its leadership role in information services and technology applications combine to make it the foremost agricultural library in the world. As the United State's primary source for agricultural information, the National Agricultural Library has a mission to increase the availability and utilization of agricultural information for researchers, educators, policymakers, consumers of agricultural products, and the public. The Library is one of the world's largest and most accessible agricultural research libraries and plays a vital role in supporting research, education, and applied agriculture. 206
The National Agricultural Library – Providing Tools for Education and Development
Its collection dates back to the 1500s with rare items such as letters written by President Abraham Lincoln, discontinued seed catalogs, monographs, and illustrations of fruit and vegetables drawn by artists before cameras were available for use by researchers. It also has a vast collection of books and journals, web sites and searchable online databases on specific topics of agriculture providing training and education materials, research abstracts and bibliographies. The library views its role in today’s society as an important aspect of preserving the agricultural history of the United States. Its mission is simple: to collect, organize and disseminate agricultural information to all people interested in the agricultural sciences. Today, it mainly uses the Internet to carry out this mission since it’s the easiest and most reliable method of reaching audiences all over the world. Although the NAL has many projects and services such as AGRICOLA, an online bibliographic database with more than a million records, this paper will only touch on a few specific projects. Each person is encouraged to visit the NAL web site at http://www.nal.usda.gov to explore the many resources available at NAL. Education and development is part of NAL’s mission as seen in the
“Toolkits” it provides society • • • • •
NAL Thesaurus (NALT) Agricultural Network Info. Center (AgNIC) DigiTOP Info. Centers Research Branch (IRSB) ProciNORTE Initiative
Visit the NAL Web site at: http:// www.nal.usda.gov
In serving its mission to meet the information needs of people interested in agriculture, NAL supports several projects that assist with the education and development of society’s knowledge of agriculture. Each of the “toolkits” which will be discussed supports a different area of society, whether it is students, teachers, consumers, researchers, the agricultural industry, or government workers. The “toolkits” include the NAL Thesaurus, the Agricultural Network Information Center, DigiTOP, its Information Centers Research Branch, and the ProciNorte Initiative.
207
Yvette Alonso NAL assists with the technical development of information through its
Agricultural Thesaurus • Comprehensive coverage of agriculture • More than 62,000 terms • Used as the controlled vocabulary of several USDA projects • Available for use by organizations as a web service
Visit the NALT Web site at: http://agclass.nal.usda.gov
The first “toolkit” is the NAL Agricultural Thesaurus web site which is an online tool for browsing agricultural and biological concepts and terminology. The thesaurus arranges terms in a structured format to help find terms of possible interest. 2004 Edition Statistics: Subject Categories Total Terms Preferred Terms Node Labels Lead-in Terms Scope Notes Definitions
– – – – – – –
17 62,478 40,521 95 21,862 477 1,586
NAL Agricultural Thesaurus (NALT) is intended for indexing materials and for aiding retrieval in agricultural information systems. The thesaurus was prepared by staff of the National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Maryland, to meet the needs of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), for an agricultural thesaurus. Funds for development were provided by USDA's Agricultural Research Service, National Program Staff. Throughout the development of the first edition, the thesaurus was reviewed by ARS Scientists and specialists in the field of agriculture. NALT is the controlled vocabulary of NAL's bibliographic database of citations to agricultural resources, AGRICOLA. The Food Safety Research Information Office (FSRIO) and Agricultural Network Information Center (AgNIC) use the NALT as the controlled vocabulary of their information systems. NALT is used for browsing at the ARS and AgNIC web sites. The NAL Agricultural Thesaurus is organized into 17 subject categories. The seventeen top subject categories are designated by “Subject Category.” The categories are derived from the NAL Agricultural Classification Prototype that was devel208
The National Agricultural Library – Providing Tools for Education and Development
oped for Agricultural Information Network (http://www.agnic.org). The subject scope of agriculture is broadly defined in Agricultural Thesaurus, and includes terminology in the supporting biological, physical and social sciences. Biological nomenclature comprises a majority of the terms in the thesaurus and the terms are located in the Taxonomic Classification of Organisms subject category. Political geography is mainly described at the country level. The core subject areas of interest to the ARS National Program Staff have received primary development. Other subject areas, which are accommodated in the overall structure, will be addressed in upcoming versions. The NAL Agricultural Thesaurus (NALT) is now available via a Web Services (SOAP) interface. This new interface provides your web applications direct access to all relationships and notes in the Thesaurus. Before Web Services, programmers had to download the entire thesaurus and write their own software to incorporate the database into their applications. Now with Web Services, updates to the thesaurus are immediately and seamlessly available. To obtain a copy of the Agricultural Thesaurus contact the Thesaurus Staff: [email protected] NAL promotes access to agricultural information with
AgNIC’s infrastructure • 43 partners specializing in specific subjects • Members include – US land-grant universities – Latin America’s SIDALC
• Portal provides easy method to create a web site for organization on a topic Visit the AgNIC portal at: http://www.agnic.org
The second “toolkit”, is the AgNIC (Agriculture Network Information Center) Alliance which began in 1995 with land-grant institutions and the National Agricultural Library committed to a partnership to provide access to quality information and resources over the Internet. This vision continues to sustain a collaborative alliance. This collaboration is between libraries and Cooperative Extension; between libraries and academic departments within colleges; between states who unite around a common agricultural theme or sub-discipline; between technologists and librarians who are committed to using technology to knit disparate information resources into a cohesive whole. The results of these partnerships are rich collections of essential in209
Yvette Alonso
formation and services offered to users around the globe. The collaboration and contributions of the partners allow the institutions to meet local, national, and international needs in a cost-effective manner. Agnic’s 43 partners meet in the spring each year at the National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Maryland. At that meeting, the partners discuss new developments; showcase projects; present ideas and issues; evaluate past performance; and plan for the future of the partnership.
Visit the AgNIC portal at: http://www.agnic.org
AgNIC has provided leadership at NAL in developing a recently-released portal to access agricultural information, using the NAL thesaurus for its taxonomy and organizing a successful and cost-effective collaboration environment for government agencies and academic institutions. For specifics on membership, governance, meeting notes and other types of information on AgNIC, please visit the AgNIC web site. Developing information products to educate society is a mission of NAL’s
Information Centers • Unique centers in 7 agricultural topics • Each serves society’s needs with – Web sites – Databases – Reference services – Resource lists (print & online) – Training Visit information center Web sites at: http:// www.nal.usda.gov/programs.htm
210
The National Agricultural Library – Providing Tools for Education and Development
The third “toolkit” in the form of the Information centers at NAL provides a very unique niche in our library environment. Each information center is created by a congressional mandate through the United States Congress and/or a growing demand for specific information on an agricultural topic. NAL currently has seven information centers specializing in Animal Welfare, Alternative Farming, Technology Transfer, Food and Nutrition, Food Safety, Rural Information, and Water Quality. Each information center is staffed with a coordinator, and one or more information specialists. The largest information center is the Food and Nutrition Information Center which receives a majority of its financial support from the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. It is followed by the Animal Welfare Information Center that is supported by funds allocated by the US Congress. The information centers work very closely with USDA and its researchers, other federal and state agencies, academic institutions, professional groups, and others. Each information center currently provides a reference service and has a web site that provides relevant information to its users. However, based on the information needs of its audience, each center develops specific products to educate its target audience. For example: • Water Quality (www.nal.usda.gov/wqic) has developed a searchable database of water-related resource; • Rural Information (www.nal.usda.gov/ric) has a Frequently Asked Questions section that is very popular with its users; • Food and Nutrition (www.nal.usda.gov/fnic) has databases on nutrition education materials for professionals and recently released online training modules; • Food Safety (www.nal.usda.gov/foodsafety) has a research projects database for the research community and an online discussion group for information sharing among food safety trainers; • Technology Transfer (www.nal.usda.gov/ttic) has recently assisted with the patent of the super slurper; • Animal Welfare (www.nal.usda.gov/awic) provides training to professionals on proper animal care techniques; and • Alternative Farming (www.nal.usda.gov/afsic) is digitizing journal articles on organic research conducted in the early 1900s that is not available in digital format.
211
Yvette Alonso
NAL also has several other programs that provide similar services in the areas of invasive species (www.invasivespecies.org) and aquaculture information which can be found through the Alternative Farming Information Center Web site. NAL supports the development of agricultural information in Mexico with the
ProciNorte initiative • Agreement between NAL & UAAAN – Mexican depository of USDA pubs at UAAAN – Providing document delivery in exchange for translation services – Annual meeting to be held at NAL in October 2004
Visit the NAL Web site at: http://www.nal.usda.gov
The fourth “toolkit” is the ProciNorte Initiative. As a national library, NAL has a long-standing history in working with other countries to develop their agricultural information networks. In 2002, NAL began a Memorandum of Understanding with the Universidad Autonoma Agraria “Antonio Narro” (UAAAN) located in Saltillo, Mexico as part of the Inter-American Institute for the Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) Agricultural Library and Information Services Initiative. The initiative also includes Canada’s Agricultural Library (CAL), and serves to foster the cooperative interactions of mutual interest to support the agricultural sector of the region by improving access to relevant information, improve access to Mexican agricultural information in the United States and Canada, strengthen the network of Mexican agricultural libraries, provide information support services to the other ProciNorte taskforces and support hemispheric integration of agricultural libraries. Some examples of accomplishments include • Strengthening the role of UAAAN as a depository library for NAL and CAL in Mexico by providing surplus materials and USDA publications to UAAAN, • Providing Spanish translations for NAL document delivery services to allow for better access to journal articles • Web site linkages on each organizations web site, • An internship program at Canada’s Agricultural Library focused on research and information management, and 212
The National Agricultural Library – Providing Tools for Education and Development
• Annual meetings held in Mexico, Canada and in the United States at NAL in October 2004. NAL meet the education needs of USDA employees 24/7 via
DigiTOP • USDA’s Digital Desktop Library – Launched in January 2003 – Access to journals, newspapers, etc. – Subject guides available on web site
Visit the DigiTOP Web site at: http://www.nal.usda.gov/digitop
The fifth “toolkit” is DigiTop, the Digital Desktop Library for USDA which brings published information about agriculture and its related sciences onto the computer desktops of USDA employees. During this one-year pilot the National Agricultural Library has combined funding from USDA agencies to acquire USDA-wide licenses to the vital information of agriculture. DigiTop provides 24-hour-a-day access to key databases, journals, newspapers, statistics, and other important digital information resources. While DigiTop is currently weighted towards products that focus on scientific research, you will also find many resources that should be useful to the work of USDA agencies that are not research based. For example, check out the Leadership Library to locate information on key institutional leaders, EIU Country Reports for political and economic analysis and forecasts on numerous foreign countries, and the More Resources page for directories, dictionaries, and more. DigiTop is available to all USDA employees, patrons of USDA at locations that are open to the public, for example NAL, and, in most cases, contractors, cooperators, and volunteers performing work on behalf of USDA. FY2003 is considered a pilot year for the DigiTop project. Information resources for 2003 were funded through voluntary USDA agency and area contributions. The primary contributor was the Agricultural Research Service (including NAL). NAL is working to identify a more permanent funding mechanism.
213
Yvette Alonso
For more information • NAL Web site – http://www.nal.usda.gov
• Yvette Alonso – [email protected]
CONCLUSION The National Agricultural Library (NAL) is moving forward trying to meet the information needs of individuals across the globe. Its mission is to become a National Digital Library for Agriculture. The “toolkits” touched upon will hopefully give you some insight into the type of programs and services at the NAL that support the education and development of agriculture worldwide.
214
THE CHALLENGE OF CREATING AND SUSTAINING A SOCIALLY INCLUSIVE E-CITIZENRY: THE PROACTIVE ADVOCACY ROLE OF THE NATIONAL LIBRARY BOARD, SINGAPORE Rajen Munoo, National Library Board, Singapore Rakunathan Narayanan, Meridian Junior College, Singapore Abstract In a recently released Infocomm Technology Roadmap entitled iN2015, Singapore hopes to provide its citizens a milieu where people live, work and play digitally. The government has embraced infocomm technologies for economic sustainability and global competitiveness. Singapore has been rewarded with a second ranking in the world’s e-government leadership survey in 2003. The dilemma faced by Singapore is that with almost no natural resources, she relies heavily on its citizens as its human resource and the need to renew and re-skill as an imperative for survival. Key points from the roadmap will be shared with participants in the form of an illustrated history of Singapore’s e-government development. The presenter will put into context the Singapore’s e-government framework and agenda for creating an ecitizen, highlighting the growing digital divide, the large graying population and the blue-collar workers. Participants will learn how the government is addressing this by setting in motion to a series of innovative public education programmes and incentives with key partners such as the public and private sectors. The National Library Board, Singapore (NLB) has been proactive in using its critical mass of over 31 million visitors and its network of 40 borderless libraries to offer a range of programs. The paper will provide vignettes of how the NLB worked in collaboration with the Infocomm (Information Commerce) Development Agency (iDA) to promote e-government applications and foster e-citizenry to further the NLB’s mission of fostering learning and expanding the learning capacity of the nation. The information and IT literacy programs which successfully reached out to the heart-landers and demystified infocomm applications for social inclusion will be elaborated upon. Libraries will be celebrated as possible partners for government agencies to offer egovernment services leveraging on infrastructure and resources. The paper will introduce the Singapore government e-citizen website www.ecitizen.gov.sg and share creative and innovative ideas for participants to take back as possible learning applications for their respective organizations 215
Rajen Munoo / Rakunathan Narayanan
1
Introduction 1.1
Retrospective on e-government in Singapore
A range of definitions surfaced from a literature review of the word e-government as interpreted by different agencies and institutions. This large number of definitions clearly indicates the interest in the topic where different initiatives, models and frameworks have been adopted. The common denominator in all of these definitions seems to be that these are initiatives by the government to leverage the Internet to make accessible and available information and services through a one-stop portal to its citizens. UNPAN’s (United Nation’s Online Network in Public Administration and Finance) definition is worth noting as it encompasses some key elements which librarians and information workers will relate to. UNPAN identified five guiding principles of e-government initiatives. These are: 1. Building services around citizen’s choices 2. Making government and its services more accessible 3. Social inclusion 4. Providing information responsibly 5. Using IT and human resources effectively and efficiently [1] Internationally, Singapore is seen as a country that embraces information technology (IT), making the country well known for its efficiency and economic success and it is no surprise that Singapore had started its e-government initiatives in the early 80s. A chronological time-line clearly illustrates the systematic development of an egovernment service and justifies why Singapore was rewarded with a second ranking in the world’s e-government leadership survey in 2003. Lim [2] succinctly presented the Singapore government’s push to accelerate, integrate and transform public services in four main waves of progress: • Early 80s: The National Computerization Plan The focus of this was to computerize the civil service and the return on investment would be manpower savings, operational efficiency improvement, and better information support for decision-making, pioneer services for the public.
216
The Challenge of Creating and Sustaining a Socially Inclusive E-Citizenry
• Mid-80s: The National IT Plan Collaboration and data sharing amongst government agencies was the next focus resulting in the creation of data hubs: land, people, and establishment. The bottom line here was “one-stop non-stop” and intra-agency’s IT readiness. • Early 90s: IT2000 The government’s vision was to Make Singapore an Intelligent Island, leveraging IT to improve the quality of life, economic competitiveness, and human capital realization. The strategic thrust in this phase was to position Singapore as a global IT hub. • Late 90s: Infocomm 21 The government begins creating an infocomm-savvy citizenry. The IT industry matures and the Asian economic boom earlier helped to create a synergy in the infocomm technology (ICT) industry. Singapore becomes a vibrant and dynamic Infocomm capital. • Early 21st Century: Singapore Infocomm Foresight 2015 The iDA has recently released it 21st century Infocomm blueprint called iN2015 (pronounced in-2015) where the future trend will be the confluence of “info-nanobio” technology sectors and applications [3]. iN2015 is a consultative and inclusive master plan that seeks both public and private sector input on positioning the ICT industry in Singapore. This will be elaborated upon later in the paper. 2
e-Citizen Equation = economy + employment 2.1
The Singapore Agenda
Singapore had no choice about wanting to adopt an e-government strategy. The island city-state is a relatively new country gaining independence in 1965. With almost no natural resources, the only resource fueling the country is its human resource of just over 4 million. It is within this context that Singapore needs to adapt to remain competitive in a global economy. Singapore embraced and harnessed ICT to position itself as one of the more successful developing countries. As Singapore transits between the information and knowledge-based society, new competencies and vocation demand IT skills and keeping up with the changes cannot be solely a matter of personal choice. Especially in Singapore, where the human resource is the 217
Rajen Munoo / Rakunathan Narayanan
only resource, the need to renew and re-skill is imperative for survival. The role of the government therefore became indispensable in creating and sustaining a socially inclusive e-citizenry. 2.2
A Graying Population
Data mining the Census 2000 statistics revealed some worrying trends. By the year 2030 it was estimated that about 19 per cent of Singapore's population, or 800,000 Singaporeans will be aged 65 years and above. Given this change, workers will have to be retrained and jobs redesigned and there will be strains on healthcare. The taxation system will have to be adjusted. The government’s readiness to address this has already begun. Incentives are being given to younger couples to have more children. 2.3
The Unskilled and Unemployed
The unskilled workforce is facing a tremendous obstacle to remain employed in a knowledge-based economy. Even though the unemployment rate of 4.5 per cent is predicted to decrease, there will still be structural unemployment. This refers to that group of people who remain unemployed no matter how much the economy grows, especially older workers with skills that are no longer relevant and who find it hard to retrain. Then there is frictional unemployment: with 4 per cent of the workforce now in part-time work. More will be unemployed at any one time as many will be hopping between jobs. All of this translates into some 7 to 8 per cent of the workforce not in full-time employment: 70,000 jobless, and another 80,000 with parttime work. [4] 2.4
The Digital Divide
Politicians have acknowledged and voiced concerns that the digital divide has not narrowed much, and that the outlay for connectivity is still high despite the liberalization of the infocomm industry. Clark claimed that if the gap between the IT haves and have-nots are not addressed, countries would not be able to embrace new telecommunications and apply them for social cohesion. “If issues of access and appropriate support are not addressed, these [disadvantaged] groups will tend to be marginalized even more and the digital divide will widen. On a wider scale national, state, territory and local governments are exploring a range of strategies for bridging the digital divide, including greater use of libraries and schools, and the creation of community centres.” [5]. Singapore’s then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, alerted the nation of the growing digital divide and called on agencies to turn the digital divide into digital dividends to create a more e-inclusive society [6]. 218
The Challenge of Creating and Sustaining a Socially Inclusive E-Citizenry
3
Thermometers of Surveys and Lifelines of Lifelong Learning 3.1
Infocomm Literacy Survey
The 2000 Infocomm Literacy Survey conducted by the Infocomm Development Authority (iDA) indicated some improvements. However, blue-collar workers tend to be non-infocomm literate as a consequence of their vocation and 45% of the working population was still not infocomm literate. Lastly, the majority of the nonworking population was non-infocomm literate as well. This was a reality check for the government and it thus resulted in the establishment of an infocomm framework. Creating an e-citizenry and making more government e-services available became an apparent part of this framework. This was significant as it will be seen later in this paper how the National Library Board, Singapore (NLB) took a proactive role in participating in the Level 1 framework of Infocomm literacy training.
Infocomm Training Framework Pyramid [7] It was also in 2000 that the government announced the e-Government Action Plan, where the public sector was to serve as the catalyst for creating an e-based society in the digital economy by creating electronic services that were integrated and cus219
Rajen Munoo / Rakunathan Narayanan
tomer-centric. The e-citizen Centre launched in April 1999 was one such example. By June 2000, 130 public services were available on-line. 3.2
Sustaining the e-Citizen with Lifelong Learning
Early e-government was often characterized as supplying only static, nontransactional information or at most, transactions with businesses. The latter are known as Government-to-Business (G2B) transactions and were the first type attempted by the government, usually involving procurement. Later advancements saw the creation of government-to-government (G2G) and government-to-citizen (G2C) transactions where the latter form the critical mass and success of egovernment services. This was a form of e-inclusiveness for Singaporeans where they live, work, and.play digitally. The benefits of ICT training were on the highest agenda of the government where Singaporeans were able to renew, re-skill and retrain. The government, while setting the directives at national level, assigns appropriate ministries to spearhead and set in motion programs that are placed at organizational levels to reach out to the targeted groups. These involve different ministries, statutory boards, the private sector and even ethnic grassroots groups. Agencies such as the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the Workforce Development Agency (WDA), the Infocomm Development Authority (iDA) and the NLB have been instrumental in championing some of these programs. Noteworthy initiatives include: • Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund: makes monies available for employees to attend training courses to upgrade their skills. • Singapore Learning Festival: an annual event in collaboration with the MOM and WDA that is thematic in nature where the focus is on finding a job, becoming self-employed, and picking up a skill. • E-Celebrations: a program organized by IDA to promote an e-lifestyle. • National IT Literacy Program: ICT training and upgrading program for Singaporeans. The NLB as a statutory organization has also been proactively promoting and supporting these programs and this will be elaborated upon in the next section.
220
The Challenge of Creating and Sustaining a Socially Inclusive E-Citizenry
4
Celebrating the e-Citizen 4.1
Proactive Role of the NLB
On a parallel track to the government’s national ICT revolution, the NLB had been one of the beneficiaries of a government grant in 1995 helping to achieve the goals set in the Library 2000 Report. This report outlined programmes and projects to overhaul the public library system in Singapore. Thus in 1995, the NLB was set up to achieve the Library 2000 plan of which the major focus was in using IT to support library services and collection development. The mandate for the NLB to take a proactive role in creating and e-citizenry and be part of the e-government continuum lies in its mission statement, which is “to expand the learning capacity of the nation so as to enhance national competitiveness and promote a gracious society.” It also strives to deliver a world-class library system that is convenient, accessible and useful to the people of Singapore. NLB’s tag line of “knowledge, imagination, possibility”, helps to foster creativity and innovation. With more and more Singaporeans being “born digital”, the library had to respond too [8]. The NLB has invested vast amounts of monies in IT infrastructure and has constantly re-engineered its services to establish best practice models. Acknowledging this was a case study conducted by Harvard University on the transformation of public libraries in Singapore where libraries are seen as celebrating learning and a place that promotes a vibrant and pulsating lifestyle [9]. The NLB through pervasive computing provided opportunities for Singaporeans to enjoy an e-lifestyle by becoming users of an e-library and services, which have increasingly supported a DIY (Do It Yourself) approach and self-service transaction kiosks. For the financial year ending in 2004, the NLB had a critical mass reach where its network of 73 libraries welcomed annually about 31 million visitors of whom 1.1 million were active members. Its annual loans translated to 27 million. Enquiries translated to 2.3 million and online retrievals jumped to 4.7 million from almost zero a decade ago [10]. These achievements of key performance indicators was not enough as NLB realizes that there is always more that can be done: to reach out to the unserved. With most of the community libraries located in the heartlands, NLB was one of the strategic partners in making the government’s e-services available through its numerous multimedia stations and via its digital library: www.elibraryhub.com. 5
Empowering the e-Citizen through Library Programs
In addition to the regular programming events for library users in the different libraries, NLB works closely with the different agencies to partner and host e-citizen 221
Rajen Munoo / Rakunathan Narayanan
programmes. In addition to using libraries as tax filing centres, some of the other noteworthy programmes include: 5.1
National IT Literacy Program (NITLP)
The objectives of the NITLP Program was to equip workers, homemakers and senior citizens/retirees with basic infocomm literacy skills, so as to enhance their employability in the digital environment, improve their quality of life and in turn bridge the digital divide in Singapore. The program also helped participants to integrate IT and its application in their daily lifestyles. [10]. This was a collaborative project with the then, National Computer Board (now Infocomm Development Authority or iDA) who needed a permanent venue to offer basic Internet training to Singaporeans. NLB, on the other hand wanted people to be more than IT savvy and wanted to step up training on basic information literacy for its customers to become more information savvy. The One Learning Place (OLP) pilot project was initiated. The Toa Payoh Community Library was picked as a site where an area of 430sqm was set aside with 136 PCs connected to broadband. The challenge was to train 100,000 people in 2 years (May 1999 to April 2001). The objectives of this project were to: • promote an awareness and usage of Internet and electronic resources to the public; • bridge the digital divide by providing hands-on training at an affordable cost, and • groom Internet and information savvy human resources [11]. Courses were delivered in English and Mandarin. The cost of courses was SGD$20 as compared to more than SGD$100 charged by commercial schools. There were a total of 86,847 people trained from May 1999 to May 2001 (87%) of the target). The shortfall was due largely to limited capacity. When the pilot project ended in May 2001, OLP was set up in 3 other libraries representing the east, north and the west of Singapore. iDA developed an Infocomm Training Framework for different target groups and different levels of competencies. The NLB information literacy team proposed through tenders a curriculum for training selected modules under the Infocomm Literacy level. The curriculum was accepted and the team then developed the courseware, and trained a team of trainers to deliver the program. The team even taught some of these modules. Titles developed included: Searching for Information, Emailing, Netiquette, and Internet Relay Chat. NLB was able to embed information literacy in the curriculum. The courseware was customized for different target groups, such as the senior citizens and homemakers. The Great Singapore Surf was the final phase of the NITLP program, which was held in 2003. This program helped train participants to become infocomm savvy and 222
The Challenge of Creating and Sustaining a Socially Inclusive E-Citizenry
introduced them to online services and transactions including the use of digital library applications. NLB participated by conducting some of the courses with trainers from the One Learning Place. 5.2
e-Citizen Helper Service
This is a service that was available all of NLB libraries, where a cyber guide was available during specified times to provide assistance to users wanting to access government e-services from the portal. At a recent walk-about a minister remarked, “We want to give citizens access to the government and are constantly renewing the portals to cater to specific interests…to encourage Singaporeans to use the government e-services, Retired Senior Volunteers Program (RSVP) members will be stationed at the 83 e-service centres island wide to help explain to members of the public how to use the portals” [12]. Of the 83 centres referenced, 73 are libraries. This clearly illustrates that libraries are well positioned to act as delivery mechanisms for government e-services. 5.3
Information Literacy Programs (ILP)
To enhance the learning capacity of the nation, NLB believes that Singaporeans need to be more than IT or infocomm savvy; they need to be information savvy in the knowledge-based society. For this they need to be information literate where they would identify, manage, and use information in a meaningful way from both print and electronic resources. As part of the information literacy master plan, the NLB Academy, offers learning roadmaps for different groups of library users. NLBA offers four programs for targeted at different groups of library users. These are: • Be InfoSmart: A User Education and Orientation program for the general public and students where they learn about library services, policies, and facilities. • Thematic Information Literacy Programs: The general public learns how to use the Internet to locate information resources on “hot” topics such as business, travel, crafts and hobbies, health and wellness. • Basic Information Literacy Program: Targets mainly students who learn how to use the Internet as a research tool more effectively. Evaluation and citation of web resources is also covered in this program. • InfoPaths: Pathways to Information: Corporate clients attend this program where they learn how to get the competitive edge by moving beyond being IT savvy to become info savvy so as to manage information in the knowledge-based economy. 223
Rajen Munoo / Rakunathan Narayanan
6
Crystal ball Gazing 6.1
iN2015
Singapore has been recognized as the most successful economy in exploiting infocomm developments. Using the Networked Readiness Index 2004–2005, which measures the ability of individuals and the government to tap into the potential of ICT as well as the government usage of ICT, Singapore has come in first. Today, 74% of all households in Singapore own one or more personal computers and 65% have Internet access. Of those with Internet access, 2 out of 3 are broadband. Island broadband coverage and mobile penetration stand at 99% and 92% respectively [13]. In March 2005, the iDA made public the fifth Infocomm Technology Roadmap (ITR5), a 10-year plan to address the key challenges of economic growth, population trends and national security. Technologies – essentially nano and biotechnologies – would automate, analyze, synthesize and present personalized information in a proactive manner. People-centric technologies, context-aware sensors and intelligent agents would herald the Sentient Era, transforming the way we live, learn, work and play. [14]. The strategy is that the new technologies will transform key economic sectors for greater efficiency and competitiveness. “iDA hopes to engage the people, private and public sectors in this national co-creation endeavor, to ensure that iN2015 reflects real possibilities and a vision that is shared by all.” [15]. NLB, has proven itself as a partner in learning and from the above, it can be clearly seen that library and information services is a key facet for not only the different sectors, but also for all Singaporeans as e-citizens because the “i” in iN2015 will still be information first. 6.2
www.ecitizen.gov.sg: What’s In It?
There are about 1600 government services available online. A quick site tour of the e-citizen website (www.ecitizen.gov.sg) contextualizes it as a one-stop portal to help people locate and perform transactions online with government agencies. “The portal is positioned as the first-stop for government services on the web and organized with the needs of the citizens and customers in mind. The end goal is to build a leading e-Government delivering the benefits of more conveniences to all individuals who live, work, and play in Singapore” [16]. This is a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Finance and the iDA (International Development Agency) A which was launched in 1999 as part of the nation’s e-Government Action Plan. The information architecture on the website is clustered around seven thematic towns covering the main government ministries. 224
The Challenge of Creating and Sustaining a Socially Inclusive E-Citizenry
Many of the previously over-the-counter processes conducted at government offices have been made available on the website to facilitate e-commerce. Personalization is available where users can obtain a SingPass to access a multitude of services, including library transactions. 7
Conclusion
In keeping with the government’s efforts in making more e-services available, the need to create an e-citizenry is crucial. This will create a critical mass but the challenge is converting them to become e-citizens. This paper documented the chronological developments and efforts of the Singapore government’s adoption of an ICT framework to be economically competitive. The government has also endorsed lifelong learning as a strategy to create an e-inclusive e-citizenry. Various programs have been set in place and key stakeholders have been participating and helping sustain the government’s initiatives. The presenter has also made clear how the NLB has played a role in this continuum. Learning points for others will be to get involved in such programs in their respective countries and get representation. This will give the library visibility. The library needs government and private sector support. Open your doors to all and value is added to your services by optimizing on the critical mass that use your libraries, your infrastructure and your resources. Win mindshare first for social inclusion, and then win market share. Embrace the “born digital” generation. References [1]
National Library Board, Information Services. (2002). Topical Brief: e-Government Strategies and Practices. National Library Board, Singapore. Retrieved 20, May 2005 from http://www.consal.org.sg/webupload/resource/ brief/attachments/%7B2342FAF8-F4CC-455F-8028B2752AFA952C%7D.doc
[2]
Lim, Siong Guan. (2001). E-Government 2001: Accelerating, integrating, transforming public services. Retrieved 20, May 2005 from http://www.egov. gov.sg/NR/rdonlyres/E8AF8006-2130-4C4B-83CDC5922F69BF34/1564/eGovBrochure2001AcceleratingTransformingIntegrati n.pdf
[3]
Tan, Geok Leng. (2005). Infocomm Technology Roadmap: Singapore Infocomm Foresight 2015. Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. Retrieved 20, May 2005 from http://www.ida.gov.sg/idaweb/techdev/ infopage.jsp?infopagecategory=12:techdev&versionid=2&infopageid=I3342 225
Rajen Munoo / Rakunathan Narayanan
[4]
Chua, Mui Hoong, Rebecca Lee and Peh Shing Huei. (2004). S'poreans to new PM : It's still the economy. The Straits Times. 7th August.
[5]
Clark, E. (2001). Report shows facts of national digital divide. The Canberra Times. 2nd April.
[6]
Legard, David. (2001). Singapore increases drive for national IT literacy: Singapore says “e-inclusion” fundamental to country’s success. IDGNet New Zealand. Retrieved 7, June 2004 from http://www.computerworld.co.nz/ webhome.nsf/0/ECB761180C48493CCC256A78002DC695?opendocument
[7]
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. (2002). Infocomm Training Framework Pyramid. Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. Retrieved 20, May 2005 from http://www.ida.gov.sg/idaweb/training/infopage. jsp?infopagecategory=factsheet:training&versionid=1&infopageid=I1169
[8]
National Library Board, Singapore. (2003). What do you see? Annual Report 2003/2004. Singapore: National Library Board. Retrieved 20, May 2005 from http://www.nlb.gov.sg/annualreport/fy03/01amission.html
[9]
Neo Boon Siong, Hallowell, R, Knoop, C. (2001). Transforming Singapore’s public libraries. Harvard Business School: Harvard Case Studies. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.
[10] National Library Board. (2005). L2010: Our vision for the future. Pamphlet. Singapore: National Library Board. [11] Ngian, Lek Choh. (2002). Information literacy for the masses: The NLB experience. Paper presented at the 68th IFLA General Conferences and Council, Promoting Computer Literacy @ your Library Session, Glasgow. [12] National Library Board. (2005). Minister Raymond Lim visits Sengkang Community Library. Triple N. 1 April 2005. Retrieved 20, May 2005 from http://10.14.2.231:90/nlbintranet/TripleN/N3/news/News_0504_01.html [13] Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. (2005). Singapore Gains Top Spot in WEF’s Global Information Technology Report. Retrieved 20, May 2005 from http://www.ida.gov.sg/idaweb/media/infopage.jsp?infopagecategory =awards.mr:media&versionid=1&infopageid=I3343
226
The Challenge of Creating and Sustaining a Socially Inclusive E-Citizenry
[14] Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. (2005). IDA Shares Vision of Infocomm Landscape with Inauguration of 10 Year Infocomm Technology Roadmap. Retrieved 20, May 2005 from http://www.ida.gov.sg/idaweb/media/ infopage.jsp?infopagecategory=technology.mr:media&versionid= 6&infopageid=I3337 [15] Chan, Yeng Kit. (2005). Opening Remarks at the iN2015 Media Briefing. Retrieved 20, May 2005 from http://www.ida.gov.sg/idaweb/media/ infopage.jsp?infopagecategory=general.speeches:media&versionid= 3&infopageid=I3412 [16] Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. (2004). eCitizen: Your gateway to all government services: About Us. Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. Retrieved 20, May 2005 from http://www.ecitizen. gov.sg/about_us.html
227
GIS AND DATA SHARING IN LIBRARIES: CONSIDERATIONS FOR DIGITAL LIBRARIES Nan Hyland Digital Collections Librarian/Social Sciences Bibliographer Albert R. Mann Library, Corenell University [email protected] 1. Introduction The Cornell University Geospatial Information Repository (CUGIR) is a Web-based repository providing searching, browsing and download access to geospatial data and metadata for New York State. Subjects such as landforms and topography, soils, hydrology, environmental hazards, agricultural activities, and wildlife and natural resource management are appropriate for inclusion in CUGIR. Most data in CUGIR come from government sources. Cornell University’s Mann Library has provided support for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) since 1994. Demand for government GIS data increased exponentially and it was often difficult for users and librarians to obtain the data. CUGIR was created to fill that need. Since its start in the fall of 1998 at Mann, more than 100,000 geographic datasets have been downloaded. The CUGIR team continues to work with government agencies to provide data to researchers, planners and other government agencies. 2. What is GIS? Geographic Information Systems (GIS) consist of hardware, software, and data that can be combined to create a relational database to be used for the retrieval and analysis of any information with a spatial component. Although GIS is sometimes thought of simply as a map-making tool, it is the capacity of a GIS to store and link to information behind a point on a map that makes it so powerful. Many emergency response systems, for example, employ a GIS. When a call is made to the emergency system, a dispatcher, simply by knowing the number from which the call was placed, knows the location of the caller, the fastest travel route to get there, whether any hazardous materials are within a two-block radius of the location, and which emergency workers are closest to the scene. Data can be used from many different sources and organizations in these systems. A GIS can also assist in the analysis and understanding of demographic, environmental and agricultural issues. Many government agencies make planning and 229
Nan Hyland
environmental decisions based upon analyses that include the use of geographic information systems. One might, for example, relate information about the water runoff from agricultural areas near wetlands boundaries in order to tell which areas need stricter pesticide regulations. Governing bodies often encourage citizens to get involved through participation in town hearings and meetings with GIS analysts. These analysts create maps using GIS based upon the variables unique to the particular planning decision. Maps provide a powerful way for users to understand complex sets of data quickly. Data are created by taking measurements on the ground with a global positioning system survey, by remote sensing using aerial photography or satellite images, and by digitizing existing maps. Once digital base-maps are created, they can then be linked with any numeric or attribute data that has a spatial component. These digital base maps are costly and time-consuming to produce. Not surprisingly countries with more highly developed infrastructures have more highly developed GIS infrastructures and have, therefore, produced more data. However, core datasets, such as digital elevation models, hydrography, and topographic data, exist for nearly the entire world. Without data, a GIS is of no use at all. Data are becoming more widely available but can still be difficult for end-users to locate. Because of the nature of GIS data, governments have not distributed the data as widely as other paper and text government documents. New distribution models have had to evolve. The United States Federal Geographic Spatial Data Committee (FGDC) has advocated for better distribution of GIS data within the United States and internationally with its National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). It is a series of data-sharing nodes linked together with a common metadata standard and search interface.1 The NSDI now consists of over 250 national and international digital nodes. By setting data and metadata standards in the NSDI, the FGDC has made significant contributions towards the globalization of GIS data sharing. Since libraries are already committed to preserving, organizing and providing access to information, they are ideal places for such nodes to reside. 3. GIS in Libraries If a library is considering adding GIS support to its services, the first consideration should be the level of staff commitment it can make. There are three general possible modes of GIS services: “bare-bones” GIS services, a physical GIS collection, and the digital library (or clearinghouse node). The following recommendations are based upon Mann Library’s eight years of GIS service and support. 1
National Research Council (1994). Promoting the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Through Partnerships. Washington, D. C., National Academy Press.
230
GIS and Data Sharing in Libraries: Considerations for Digital Libraries
The first requires only the time commitment of a public services librarian who can help patrons navigate various data nodes and has a familiarity with free GIS software resources, such as ESRI’s ArcExplorer that is available at http://www.esri.com. Any public services librarian with an interest and aptitude should be able to provide a minimum-level GIS service after about twenty hours of work in either a hands-on workshop or through a self-paced tutorial, as well as through learning the types of data available at such sites as: The GIS Data Depot http://www.gisdatadepot.com/ US based data http://www.cast.uark.edu/local/hunt/index.html http://www.fgdc.gov/nsdi/nsdi.html http://www.spatial.maine.edu/~onsrud/GSDI.htm http://www.gisdevelopment.net/tutorials/ http://www.csc.noaa.gov/products/sccoasts/html/gistut.htm At this minimum level, it is not possible to guide patrons through the entire process of creating a fully-integrated GIS. Rather, the library would serve simply as an intermediary helping the user to find the data and providing only the most basic of support for web-based mapping systems. Supporting a physical GIS collection requires more monetary and staff resources. In addition to the hardware and software costs, considerable staff time needs to be allotted to cataloging data on physical media, and providing public service support and software training, as well as the purchasing of the data disks themselves. A number of articles have appeared in the library literature with information on creating GIS services at this level. I encourage those who are interested in starting a physical GIS data collection to read Dean Jue’s “Implementing GIS in the Public Library Arena”2 and Jurg Buhler’s “Digital Maps in Map Collections.”3 At Mann Library, most of our GIS efforts focus on the third type of library GIS service: a remotely accessible digital collection, or a geolibrary. Providing access to GIS data in a digital library requires staff participation from across the library’s functional departments. CUGIR has been an NSDI node since 1998. At Mann, librarians from technical services, collection development, information technology and public services all participate in this endeavor. The technical services librarian supports metadata services within CUGIR. There are a number of metadata used in a GIS service. At present, data are described with FGDC metadata standards. In the summer of 2002, the FGDC standard will merge with the International Organisation 2
3
Jue, D. K. (1996). Implementing GIS in the Public Library Arena. 1995 Clinic on Library applications of Data Processing, Urbana, IL, University of Illinois. Buhler, J. (1999). “Digital Maps in Map Collections – Presenting New Electronic Media.” LIBER Quarterly, the journal of the European research libraries 9(2): 228-234.
231
Nan Hyland
for Standardisation (ISO). CUGIR is in the process of converting our current FGDC metadata to ISO. Our metadata are also converted into xml, sgml, html, DublinCore and MARC to allow for the broadest possible access to the data.4 In addition another type of metadata has emerged called “service metadata.” They describe the capabilities of experimental web-mapping servers that will be able to share data seamlessly. Our information technology team member supports the server on which CUGIR is housed, is designing a new relational database for better access, and provides all programming needed for the web and Z39.50 interface. Collection development assists in refining the preservation and collection policies. Finally, the public services librarian is responsible for end-user support and is the primary contact and negotiator with data partners. 4. Data Partners and Negotiation We started CUGIR in partnerships with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and the Soil Information Systems Laboratory (SISL). Most of the data available at CUGIR are either directly from or derived from government sources. Other local government data have also been added in partnership with local planning offices. We have found these partnerships to be very rewarding, however, there are a number of issues that ought to be negotiated from the beginning in forging partnerships with government agencies. What’s in it for you; what’s in it for them? As with any negotiation, it helps to spell out the benefits each party would receive from the partnership. In a sense, CUGIR functions as a remote intranet for the offices. The GIS data are very large and can consist of hundreds of different files. Some employees within the agencies reported that they previously had to keep data on their hard drives or contact a colleague in another building who happened to have the data on CD. Since the data became available on CUGIR, access to their own data is simpler and faster. Furthermore, most government offices who produce GIS data spend a significant amount of time creating and enhancing the data. They are ill equipped or simply do not have the time to respond to public requests to provide the data on CD. Allowing the library to provide access eliminates the need for end-user support related to access. The nature of GIS data makes it difficult and sometimes impossible to use without adequate metadata. Many GIS professionals find metadata creation to be an on4
Chandler, A. and E. Westbrooks (2002). "Distributing Non-MARC Metadata: The CUGIR Metadata Sharing Project." Library Collections, Acquisitions & Technical Services Forthcoming.
232
GIS and Data Sharing in Libraries: Considerations for Digital Libraries
erous task. It not only helps tremendously for the general public who might want to use the data, but may also be the only documentation a worker leaves. Job turnover can translate into a fair amount of duplicated work if metadata are incomplete. Catalogers, on the other hand, are quite adept at describing work and data and take quite easily to the FGDC and other metadata standards. Unlike a traditional catalog record, metadata cannot be created without the input of the data creator. Staff at CUGIR work closely with our data partners and provide training and advice on the creation of metadata. We are also the final metadata editors and ensure compliance with current metadata standards. Our partnerships with government agencies help keep us aware of trends within the GIS community so we are better able to serve our patrons. Preservation, Versions and Updates Another issue to consider in negotiations for data is preservation. There was great hope at the advent of digital and online information that preservation worries would be relieved. Once an item is digitized, it is easy to reproduce, and, therefore, there would be less worry about losing a document. Indeed many preservation efforts in the past decade have involved converting documents or other items in analog format into digital. The lifespan of digital documents, however, is far shorter than any counterparts, in part because of media degradation. There is almost a direct inverse correlation between how long it takes to produce a document and the life expectancy of the medium on which is it stored.5 A clear plan should be made to handle older and outdated versions of the data and needs to be negotiated with the data partners. Many data are constantly being updated and corrected, which has implications for preservation. When data are updated, it is important to ascertain whether they are an update or a new version. If the data are simply an update, it may only be a correction of previous mistakes. In this case, it may make the most sense simply to destroy the earlier data. Indeed, data producers often want any previous data in a series to be destroyed immediately. One may argue, however, that if a project is underway or completed, it may be important to get the imperfect data as they are the data of record for a particular time period. In some cases data are updated because the agency has decided to employ a new projection, coordinate system or datum. These are key geographical concepts employed in GIS. Put simplistically, they are different mathematical models that allow the three dimensions of the earth to appear in two dimensions on screen or on paper. For further explanation see “Datums And Projections: A Brief Guide” at http:// 5
Conway, P. (1996). “Preservation in the Digital World.” Commission on Preservation & Access, Council on Library and Information Resources: 24pp.
233
Nan Hyland
biology.usgs.gov/geotech/documents/datum.html.6 If an end-user is overlaying data from different sources, the three models must match. If, for example, a soil coverage is overlayed with a hydrography coverage and they are in different datums, the soil in the stream bed may appear to be thirty meters from the stream itself. Once an organization decides to change one of the three models and updates accordingly or has made corrections, they may want previous data destroyed. This may be for legal liability reasons, but we have also discovered that it is often the case that the organizations do not want the end-user to confuse older and current data. If two datasets exist in the digital library with the same name, this can easily happen. Although information about the dates and versions is listed in the metadata, they distrust that users will read it, perhaps justifiably so. In our case, we are creating an archival area. The user will not be able to download the data without being notified of the data’s currency. Because we can create an archive, some organizations are willing to allow us to continue access to older data. It is possible to transfer the older data from one medium to another without making them accessible online. This strategy can work well but needs to be done carefully. If, for example, I were to copy some of the outdated CUGIR data onto CDs, I would not only need to document very carefully what the data are and include all pertinent metadata, but I would also need to record how the data was transferred onto the CD, such as the hardware and software used in the process of copying the data. It would also be necessary to have a detailed plan on when to refresh the data again. Simply putting the CDs in a box and then forgetting about them will mean that the data will eventually be lost. If it is understood by the institution that the data are to be refreshed again in a specified number of years with explicit details recorded, the data are less likely to be lost. Keeping data accessible and online makes data less likely to be forgotten. Data Access and Ownership In addition to issues of preservation, several key questions should be spelled out with data partners regarding access and ownership: 1. Who owns the data and what does it cost? Once the data is available at the geolibrary, does the clearinghouse own the data or does the government agency? This should be determined even if the data is free to the library. Unforeseen events can make question of ownership crucial to continued access.
6
Brown, K. (1999). “Datums And Projections: A Brief Guide.” USGS Center for Biological Informatics. 2002.
234
GIS and Data Sharing in Libraries: Considerations for Digital Libraries
2. How may the data be used? As a general policy all data at CUGIR may be used in any application and may be used in a commercial product. This is spelled out in the metadata and does not have to be applied to an entire clearinghouse. If data is made available with use restrictions, we have no technological limitations to doing so, and we can make such decisions on a case-by-case basis. 3. Who may download the data? Many geospatial clearinghouses have mechanisms in place to restrict who may access some or all of their data. At CUGIR, there are no purposeful restrictions on downloaded data. Some government agencies decided not to add their data to CUGIR because of this. This should be made clear at the beginning of the negotiation. At CUGIR we deliberately wanted all data to be accessible without restrictions. We were, therefore, not able to add some specific geospatial data to CUGIR, but it did allow us to provide a fast and easy-to-use interface. It seemed to us that CUGIR was providing access to data that had no significant risk and wide distribution of the data was for the public good. In February of 2002, the New York State Office of Public Security requested that CUGIR shut down completely until a review of the data was conducted assessing any risk to national security. Any reference to bridges or airports could be considered a threat. CUGIR conducted a risk assessment of the data available and kept the clearinghouse open despite the request.7 We did inform our data partners of our decision and one partner did request that we remove their data until they could conduct their own risk assessment and we complied with this request. Risk Assessment We did comply with part of the request issued to us in February and reviewed all data available at CUGIR. Two members of the Mann Library staff conducted a risk assessment of all CUGIR data. They formulated two main criteria for the assessment: risk level and availability. For risk level, they looked at each dataset thinking of any possible use criminals and terrorists could possibly do with the information. The second criterion dealt with the availability of the same data from other sources. It was determined that distribution was an important factor because even if one might consider the location of an airport to be a significant security risk, if that information is available in thousands of other places, it cannot be classified as a secu7
Knezo, G. J. (2002). “Possible Impacts of Major Counter Terrorism Security Actions on Research, Development and Higher Education.” Congressional Research Service.
235
Nan Hyland
rity risk in a practical way. In the rankings, data were given rankings of 1 through 5, with a 1 being the lowest level of risk and 5 indicating the highest.8 The analysis showed that our only data that posed any kind of risk are widely distributed in other formats. The method for our analysis was based on preservation risk assessments that Mann Library has conducted on numeric data that we provide in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture.9 Our review was shared with the agency that had removed all of their data. At the time of this writing, nearly all data are restored to CUGIR, with the exception of three series. Such risk assessments are recommended for geolibrary data before a problem arises. Every data will have unique characteristics that should be evaluated individually. Another risk factor involved with geospatial data concerns civil-legal liability. With the amount of information and high degree of detail, mistakes are nearly inevitable on the part of the data producers. Many agencies are loath to provide public access for fear that an error may result in a lawsuit. All data within CUGIR have a liability disclaimer stating among other things, that “the burden for determining fitness for use lies entirely with the user.” Providing such disclaimers should be standard practice in any digital library. 5. Conclusion The nature of GIS data requires some flexibility to be built into the digital library. Carefully planned partnerships with data producers and working to accommodate their requests make the process run as smoothly as possible. Libraries are ideally suited for providing long-term, user-friendly access to the data. Partnering with government organizations provides benefits both for the library and for the organization. With careful planning, we at Mann Library hope to continue to provide a quality service at CUGIR for years to come.
8
9
Martindale, J. (2002). National Security and Access to GIS Data via the Internet: Cornell University Geospatial Information Repository (CUGIR). ESRI Education User Conference, San Diego, CA, Forthcoming. Lawrence, G., W. Kehoe, et al. (1999). Risk Management of Digital Information: A File Format Investigation: A Report Prepared for the Council of Library and Information Resources. Ithaca, NY, Cornell University: 1-19.
236
INDEX Business and Legal Information Centres Russia 122
A ability to transact related services online 137 access and navigation 136 access to forms 137 access to full-text documents 137 access to government information 10, 11, 12, 29, 30, 31, 36, 37, 40, 41, 45, 96, 125, 131, 147, 148, 155, 184 Access to Public Records and Information Bill Nigeria 14 Access to Public Records and Official Information Act 11, 13 accessibility of government information 85, 89, 90, 91, 92 African 33 African Charter on Human and People’s Rights 24, 30, 37, 41, 45, 46 AgNIC (Agriculture Network Information Center) Alliance – United States 207 Agricultural Network Information Center – United States 205 Apartheid 40 Associazione Italiana Biblioteche (AIB) 172 Authentic Content – definition 163
C Canada Portal Site 134 Canadian Depository Services Program (DSP) 184 Canadian Government access to published government information 184 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) 125 Center of Business Literature and Information of the Russian State Youth Library 112 Centers of Business Information 111 Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) 150 Centres of Public Access (CPA) 121 chat rooms with government ministers 128 citizens’ interaction with policy makers 138 Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) 12 Code of Federal Regulations – United States 162 Commission of the European Communities quality criteria 180 competence in network use 132 computer literacy 68, 133 computerization of land records India 157 Conception of using Information Technologies in the Activity of Federal Bodies up to 2010 108
B Banjul Charter on Human Rights 33 Bhopal Union Carbide Chemical Disaster of 1984 40 Building Knowledge Through Partnerships – United States NBII motto 165 237
Index
E
Congressional Record – United States 162 Consultant Plus (http://www.consultant.ru) Russia 110 Cornell University Geospatial Information Repository (CUGIR) 227 corruption 13, 23, 26, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 85, 90, 96, 156, 157, 195
E-Celebrations Singapore 218 e-citizen 215, 218, 219 e-citizen website (www.ecitizen.gov.sg) Singapore 222 economic and human development 85, 86 e-government 5, 10, 72, 90, 91, 98, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 144, 145, 175, 176, 213, 214, 215, 218, 219 e-Government Action Plan, Singapore 217 E-Government Index 91 electronic protocol regulations Italy 176 Electronic Russia 2002–2010 108 electronic signature Italy 176 Enhanced precision searching 168 EULEGIS (European User Views to Legislative Information in Structured Form) 79
D Data Liberation Initiative Canada 184 data librarians 186, 187, 189 Data Librarians 6, 183 democracy and economic development 29, 31, 34, 36, 45 digital base maps 228 digital dissemination of government information 67 digital government information services U.S. 159 digital library Farsi language 102 DigiTOP toolkit – United States National Agricultural Library 205 DigiTop, the Digital Desktop Library for USDA 211 Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) India 152 Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES) India 152 Documentazione di Fonte Pubblica in rete 172 domain ontologies 67, 81
F FAGCI (Russia) 116 Farsi language Optical Character Recognition 102 fear of records 23 Federal Depository Library Program – United States 160 Federal Ministry of Information Nigeria 13 Federal Register – United States 162 Federal Republic of Nigeria 17, 18, 20 238
Index
graphical user interface 137 Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize Day 33
Five-Year Strategic Information Technology Plan for Jamaica 126 foreign direct investment 85, 86, 97 free market of commercial systems for legal information 109 Freedom House 30, 44, 46, 47 Freedom of Information Act 11, 12, 16, 17, 22, 26, 69 Nigeria 23 Freedom of Information Advocates Network 33, 46 Future Digital System – United States Government Printing Office 164
H heavy demand for information See Library professionals as active participants Highly Indebted Poor Countries 34 I ICT 29, 30, 45, 55, 60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 90, 103, 104, 109, 131, 139, 156, 157, 158, 196, 197, 215, 218, 219, 222, 223 incentives and information targeting 96 Infocomm Literacy Survey 2000 217 Infocomm Technology Roadmap Singapore 213 Information Access Index 91 information and digital literacies 132 Information and governance 58 Information Centers Research Branch – United States National Agricultural Library 205 information commons 75 information consolidation 158 Information illiteracy 60, 62, 63 information literacy 68, 131, 133, 220, 221 Information, Information and Communications Technologies and Protection of Information 109 intellectual access 68 International Association for Social Science Information Service and Technology (IASSIST) Canada 188
G Garant (http://www.garant.ru) Russia 110 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Cornell 227 geolibrary 229 GIS data preservation 231 Global Campaign for Free Expression 15 Global E-government Readiness Report 2005 130 global positioning system survey 228 government agencies in India 148 government information and inward FDI 89 Government Information Online 80 Government-to-Business (G2B) Singapore 218 GPO’s Digital Conversion Services 162 Gram Panchayat (i.e. Village Assembly) INdia 156 239
Index
Kenya Government National Development Plan 1997–2001 52, 53 Kenya Government Printer 52 Kenya Library Association (KLA) 63 Kenya Literature Bureau 51 Kenya National Archives 52, 53, 54 Kenya National Bibliography 53 Kenya National Library Services (KNLS) 52 Kenya Ordinance Survey 51, 52 Kenyan Government publications 50
International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) 70 international competitiveness comparisons Finland 195 International Right to Know Day 33 interoperability 83, 166 Interregional Association of Business Libraries 111 Interregional Association of Public of Legal Information Russia 121 investment in training Canada 191 investment promotion agencies (IPAs) 96 Iran CHIZAR collection 104 MPO Central Library 103 Italian Government Information on the Net 172 Italian Internet Resources catalogue 177 Italian Library Association (AIB) 172 Italian National Bibliography 174
L legacy collections 161 Librarians See Library professionals as active participants librarians and documentalists 25 Libraries 6, 10, 65, 67, 69, 76, 114, 116, 125, 131, 134, 138, 140, 143, 154, 173, 174, 177, 181, 183, 190, 200, 227, 228, 234 Caribbean region 131 Russia 110 Singapore 219 library and public service point employees See Library professionals as active participants Library professionals as active participants 26, 134, 185, 213 Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund Singapore 218 Low Human Developed Countries 35
J Jamaica Tax Administration site http://www.jamaicataxonline.gov.jm/ online business and payments 129 Jan Sunwai India 155 Jomo Kenyatta Foundation, 51
M
K
Management and Planning Organization (MPO) 99 Iran 100
Kenya Books and Newspapers Act 52, 53 240
Index
marketing of exchange and financial information 114 Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) India 156 Measuring DFP’s impact 181 Media Rights Agenda (MRA) 11, 12 MetaRank 168 Millennium Development Goals 35, 85, 98 Ministry of Culture of Russia library modernization policy 115 Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) India 151 Ministry of Trade and Industry Finland 197 MPO Central Library 103 N NAL Agricultural Thesaurus (NALT) U.S. 206 NAL Thesaurus toolkit –. United States National Agricultural Library 205 NALIS (National Library and Information System Authority of Trinidad and Tobago) 138 National Agricultural Library (NAL) U.S. 203 National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) – United States 160 National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) www.nbii. gov – United States 165 National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Nigeria 13 241
National Collection of United States Government Publications 162 National Conferences on Grey Literature Italy 173 National Information Access Laws status December 2005 43 National Information Policy 60 National IT Literacy Program Singapore 218 National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS) 125, 145 National Library and Information System of Trinidad and Tobago 134, 139 National Library Board, Singapore (NLB) 213 National Library of Jamaica 125, 131, 135, 139, 145 National Library, Calcutta 154 National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) India 151 network society 67, 76, 78, 79, 80 Networked Readiness Index 2004– 2005 222 New Partnership for Africa’s Development 86 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) 230 Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) 14 Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) 11, 12 Nigerian National Human Rights Commission 15 no-fee public access 163 non-governmental organizations 11, 14, 103 North-South Institute 86, 97
Index
Right to Information Act 2005 India 155 rural business centers Russia 114 Russia Centers of Business Information 111 Federal Agency of Government Communication and Information (FAGCI) 109 information resources 107 Russian Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster of 1989 40 Russian libraries 110, 112 Russian National Library 116 Russian State Library 107, 114, 116, 121, 123
O Object Role Modeling (ORM) 81 Official Content – definition 163 Official Gazette Italy 176 online transactions 138 ontologies 200 Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting 83 Open Society Justice Initiative 42, 46, 47 Ota Platform of Action on Media Law Reform in Nigeria 15 P Parivartan India 156 participative democracy 30, 31, 41 political literacy 10, 67, 68, 70, 71, 73, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80 portals or gateway websites 5, 10, 125, 135 preservation risk assessments 234 ProciNorte Initiative – United States 205 proper content development 158 public access points 125, 126, 131, 132 Public Centers of Legal Information 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120 Public Centers of Legal Information (PCPI) 117, 118 Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) digital signatures 163
S Saint-Petersburg Technical University 112 Science.gov vision 167 Science.gov Alliance U.S. 168 Science.gov, – United States 160 Scout Portal Toolkit Italy 178 September 11, 2001 bombing of the Trade Centre and the Pentagon 40 Singapore Learning Festival 218 Small and Medium Enterprises Finland 196 small enterprises in Russia 115 State Public Scientific Technical Library of Russia 111 Statistics Canada (STC) 184 Structural Adjustment Programs 34 Synopsis of the Italian Legal Information on the Web 180
R reference interview 76 Registrar General of India (RGI) 152 remotely accessible digital collection GIS at Cornell 229 242
Index
T TAKFA (Iran’s Applied Development of Information and Communication Technology Plan) 103 Topic Maps 81, 83 training and skill development Italy 172 training program Canada 193 Training the Trainers Canada 187 translation of services and documents 101 transparency 12, 13, 26, 31, 34, 37, 38, 42, 47, 58, 59, 93, 94, 96, 127, 156, 157, 180 T-Space at the University of Toronto training repository 191 Tula Regional Universal Scientific Library 113
UNESCO’s ‘Information for All’ Program 119 United States Code 162 United States Federal Geographic Spatial Data Committee (FGDC) 228 United States Government Printing Office 160 Universal Declaration of Human Rights 11, 24, 32 University of Nairobi 52 V value of government information 58, 92 Version control 163 Version control – definition 163 village ICT centers 55 W World Press Freedom Day 33 Y
U
YritysSuomi portal Finland 197
UNESCO 15, 32, 33, 47, 52, 55, 65, 103, 108, 119, 120, 121, 122
243
