Government 2.0 - anyone buying the data-mash up??

To that sad small minority of anoraks interested in the reuse of government information as a means of providing better, more effective, accountable and and demand shaped public services, the Cabinet Office's paper 'Power of Information' makes a valuable contribution.

The BBC report gives a good outline of the main issues of the report co-authored by Tom Steinberg of Mysociety.org fame and Ed Mayo of the national consumer council. Good to see in the index that they were adeptly assisted by James Crabtree.

The principle of keeping up the pressure on public bodies to make available for public benefit the various datasets that are created and stored as part and parcel of their public service remit is a good thing. The continued and complacent presumption prevalent in public service life, that information created at taxpayer expense must be paid for over and over again is one to be fought and won.

If the report leads to the folding or decommission of one further '.gov.uk' website it will have served more than its purpose. For my money, the value added repackaging of public sector information can only be demand led from a bottom up approach. The main publishers are only looking for a big hit idea, or more reasonably for one big idea that works for somebody which can be endlessly imitated (or they'll go home sulking with their football, vide the gnailing and washing of teeth caused by the Dr Foster contract with Department of Health).

Something simple in design and execution that serves a need and actually empowers civic leaders or those with a commitment to improving their communities, enabling them to communicate with, connect and further assist those in their midst whom they don't even know should be the vision. And where, for example, users need help navigating central government functions, an overlaying level of support could be delivered through electronic fora.

As a tool in support of genuine and popular localism guaranteed by trustworthy individuals and information, maybe the more parochial the better, provided that the data-mash ups of public sector information (health/education/crime/benefits/amenities) can drill down to the postcode level as they have demonstrably done for upmystreet.com and uswitch .

Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend.