Yesterday at the folk fest I accosted Ald. Brian Pincott and chatted with him about his and Ald. Ceci's motion to make city data more accessible:

The motion goes before council Monday. Here's the full text:

NM2009-July 14

RE: ACCESS TO CITY DATA AND SERVICES                          

ALDERMEN CECI AND PINCOTT  

WHEREAS Calgary is a well-connected on line community with 92% of Calgarians being Internet users;

AND WHEREAS this community profile leads to high citizen expectations and demand for online service delivery;

AND WHEREAS 89% of Calgarians support The City’s efforts to enhance resources, information and services via the Internet;

AND WHEREAS in the 2009-2011 Council Priorities document, Council has made a commitment to increase on - line citizen services;

AND WHEREAS other Canadian municipalities have recently made commitments to provide greater public access to civic data for the benefit of citizens, business, suppliers, community and social organizations;

AND WHEREAS The City of Calgary has had success in implementing open source solutions for our technology infrastructure;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Administration prepare a report outlining an overall strategy and to present it to the SPC on Finance and Corporate Services no later than 2009 December and that the report include:  

• Identification of opportunities to make more of The City’s data open and accessible while respecting privacy and security concerns , and ensuring that data is available through use of open standards, interfaces and formats
  
• Development of an integrated information lifecycle management policy          
• Increased opportunities for on-line citizen participation  Increased City services on - line 
• A policy on the use,  procurement  and support of open source technologies going forward 
• Integration with Webwave and egovernment programs 
• An implementation schedule and any associated costs