E-Government: Crowdsourcing

We have seen quite a few industries where the crowdsourcing model was used. But as I put forward earlier, one of the most promising domains for crowdsourcing is the public domain. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to read this interesting report that was released by the UK Cabinet Office this month. It contains 15 recommendations to the UK government (but applicable to many governments) to implement the following strategy:

“Governments should:

• welcome and engage with users and operators of user-generated sites in pursuit of common social and economic objectives;

• supply innovators that are re-using government-held information with the information they need, when they need it, in a way that maximises the long-term benefits for all citizens; and

• protect the public interest by preparing citizens for a world of plentiful information, and helps excluded groups take advantage.”

The report is based on the high value of all kinds of information that governments provide. In the UK the total market for this “public sector information” stands at £590 million per year (€875 million). The authors of the report (Tom Steinberg and Ed Mayo) see crowdsourcing (in my words) as a huge opportunity to leverage the value of this information.

When enough people can collect, re-use and distribute public sector information,people organise around it in new ways, creating new enterprises and newcommunities. In each case, these are designed to offer new ways of solving old problems. In the past, only large companies, government or universities were able tore-use and recombine information. Now, the ability to mix and ‘mash’ data is far morewidely available.

This report argues that government could now grasp the opportunities that are emerging in terms of the creation, consumption and re-use of information.

A wide range of user communities have emerged whose goals align closely with thoseof different parts of government. In education, for example, these range from smallself-help groups of a few dozen students with Asperger’s Syndrome to over 8 million posts on TheStudentRoom, about issues such as homework and universityapplications. Parenting websites like Netmums operate as an online community, with275,000 users providing advice to prospective and current parents. In the consumerfield, MoneySavingExpert now has 2.5 million unique users per month with manysharing information on the latest money-saving tips and tricks.

The changing value of public sector information matters to government because there are substantial potential economic and social benefits to citizens from exploiting it. Engaging with user-generated sites and data mashers can help government deliver better services, and help citizens to help themselves.

via: worldbank