PART 3 - Analysis of Toronto's Open Government Progress Report

(Above: Screen capture of Open Government in OpenSpaces report cover)

“They know the words, but they don’t know the music.” - Jimmy Hoffa, 1992 Hoffa, Twentieth Century Fox

This is Part 3 of a series that examines the newly released Toronto City Clerk Open Government progress report. Please keep in mind that the premise for this analysis is that while the City of Toronto does know the principles of Open Government, they do not truly understand its spirit.

This post will look solely at the "Open Government in OpenSpaces" forum.

"OPEN GOVERNMENT IN OPENSPACES" FORUM
Although I was not aware of this event (perhaps it was invite-only), I feel this is definitely a step in the right direction. To have senior staff involved in what appears to have been an insightful conversation with outside stakeholder is what Open Government is all about.

Mind you, there are a few elements that concern me and further demonstrate my point that the City does not fully understand the spirit of Open Government. For example, Toronto's City Manager was asked "what does it mean to be an Open Government?" and no where did he use the terms collaboration or engagement (page 6). He focused mostly on accountability and "understanding what the city does." While these are very much part of Open Government, they are not the spirit.

Below is my suggestions on how to change Toronto's City Manager definition of Open Government:

• ORIGINAL: Open Government is the mechanism through which the public understands what the City is doing, and about having accountability. This means that the City has to behave in a way, in which the public has a right to access all that the City does, with only a few exceptions, as the public has a right to understand why the City does what it does.

• EDITED: Open Government is the mechanism through which the public is able to work alongside the government. It is the City and the public sharing the responsibilities and being accountable to each other when improving the services delivered to residents.This means that the City has to change its culture in such a way that fosters a collaborative relationship between the government and the public.

To be fair, the City Manager did redeem himself when asked about the city's assets for being open and highlighting some of the bigger challenges (page 7). He talked about the city having to understand the needs of the public and transforming a static organization into a dynamic one. He also mentions the use of enabling technologies, which is definitely the spirit of Government as it unleashes the stifled passion of the public service.

He also mentions that Open Government is more than Open Data, and it is wonderful to see the City Manager discern between the two since many jurisdictions believe these are one and the same. In that same paragraph, he talks about the delivery of services which is once again extraordinarily pertinent in the Open Government conversation.

One part did surprise me. The City Manager seemed to focus on age, for some reason. He mentioned that Toronto has an age and demographic challenge when implementing Open Government. I am assuming he suggests that Open Government is a "young people's thing." As we all know, this is not the case. If it were, then Toronto's City Manager would be disqualifying both himself and Toronto's City Clerk as qualified champions of Open Government. Although, I will admit that perhaps the remark was made out of context.

The next question asked was about government being responsive, to which the City Manager replied that "Civic Society will make us more accountable and ensure we provide better services." Agreed, but Civil Society (I prefer "Civil" rather than "Civic") should not be viewed solely as a watchdog entity. We want to be involved in the process and we can help government be more responsive. If we are relegated to simply being an audience member, then the spirit of Open Government will truly be missing.

There were a number of challenges and opportunities that came from table discussions and I will let you review those yourself (page 9-11).

The last few pages wrap up the document and outlines next steps, one of which being the creation of an Open Government progress report, and thank you for following through :-). Perhaps more importantly, Toronto's City Clerk asked the audience (and by association, Civil Society) to:

• Continue to challenge and engage us
• Make us the focus of your research
• Partner with us in game-changing ideas.

I can only hope that my analysis of Toronto's Open Government progress report will be viewed in the same light.

BONUS
In Part 2 I analyzed the Open Government staff survey as it is published on Toronto's Open Data Portal and noted that the survey only included three questions. However, the Ryerson "Open Government in OpenSpaces" report hyperlinks to infographics that show many more more questions.

I cannot t help but wonder: Why the discrepancy?