By Alex Stobart
The World Wide Web was conceived around 1989. That makes it just 22 years old.
In that time it has transformed the way we share information, but despite the recent explosion of social networking via the web, communications between organisations and individuals still tend to be in just one direction.
It takes six clicks to buy a train ticket, but six months of phones and letters to obtain a refund.
You can obtain your prescription at Boots, they’ll text you a reminder but you can’t tell the GP surgery whether you feel any better over the web. Two surgeries in Ayrshire tried last April 2010 and this paper covered the story then; as far as we know the trial has been quietly shelved.
Economies that wish to grow over this extremely challenging next decade will need to enable individuals to make the web work for them. It’s not enough to have Community Health Index CHI numbers, Citizen Account numbers and Post Codes if all they do is stay on the organisation side.
There they will remain - of no real value to the citizen.
Personalisation, GLOW, multi-agency working, integrated care, early intervention, preventative spend, self-service, self-management of long term conditions – all these terms rely on individuals (patients, citizens, parents, children) being enabled to participate via the web. All these terms could enable applications (apps) if we were more open. They would enable businesses to develop products and services for the emerging eco-system.
Without the individual being able to participate, they remain fine words, and that is all.
In considering Scotland's digital future, we need to look to the power of data. This is rapidly becoming a focus of Governments, and businesses large and small, as they realise that gathering relevant data and making the best use of it can give them a competitive edge.
Data is powerful when held, and used by the individual; it’s also powerful when it can inform transactions in e.g. Health; Job searches; Local Government; Transport. In every walk of life, making use of personal data services can improve our ability to achieve outcomes with suppliers, governments or family. Open data means that the layers of over-lapping data can be used, exchanged between us and provide benefit to more participants.
But it's also an area where government can and should focus its efforts. A key aspect of digital participation is everyone having access to the information they need to make personal and business choices; and also for holding the government to account.
To quote a recent blog post by Chris Taggart:
"In a world of Big Data, when power comes from the ability to combine data together, unless you have power to use, reuse and redistribute, you are on the powerless side – whether you a citizen, a small company, an NGO, or a government department."Open data is also about addressing our urgent need to do more with less: open data done right brings efficiencies in getting the right information to people who need it. The biggest users of government data are the government itself and the partner organisations it works with: sharing it more effectively could make a real difference to our public services. Governments are passing data back to citizens; they are encouraging companies to pass data back to consumers. By enabling citizens to create their own personal data stores, government is increasing digital participation. By encouraging open data exchange, companies, the public sector, individuals the third sector and academia can all carry out their business more effectively. The excellent new Forrester Research report Personal Identity Management by Fatemeh Khatibloo, which was released last month is a must read for those who want to understand the complex dynamics at play in this space. It provides an accessible framework that will help businesses prepare for the transformational empowerment of individuals that is already underway. (Download the report.) So governments across the globe are laying the foundations for a knowledge economy, where a sound data infrastructure is as important as roads, electricity or water. If government can provide just enough standardisation so that we can swap information effectively and build up layers of knowledge on top of a sound base, then personal data stores and open data will help advance Scotland’s Digital Future. - Come to Gov Camp Scotland on November 7th 2011 and hear for yourself.
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