Executive Summary

The Internet and web technologies have changed the way information is used and discovered. The Internet is now the first place New Zealanders search to find information. Web 2.0 technologies and applications bring people and content together and allow the re-purposing of data and information in ways that were not previously possible.

Government has an opportunity to make its non-personal information more freely available using these technologies. It can release publicly available information as soon as possible; it can also open up its authoritative data for use in new ways. For example, people, businesses and civil society could use it to create new products and services. This provides new opportunities for individuals, communities, businesses and government itself to increase New Zealand's social, cultural and economic well being.

The Policy Framework for Government-held Information, released in 1997, is government's best practice statement for managing information held by Public Service departments. It anticipated a digital environment by encouraging Public Service departments to make government-held information "increasingly available on an electronic basis".

New Zealand government agencies across the wider State Services are starting to open up their non-personal digital information and data. Statistics New Zealand is leading the way with its making information more freely available initiative. Some Crown entities, for example, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, and Public Health Information Online make digital data available. The New Zealand Transport Agency provides real-time traffic data free of charge for development by third parties. Organisations such as TheyWorkForYou are remixing publicly available information in ways that New Zealanders indicate they want.

Internationally, governments are moving to open up their non-personal information. There is also increasing international demand for governments to provide data in readily usable or re-usable formats.

This paper summarises the current New Zealand government information environment and describes key international policies and initiatives. It then proposes a programme to work with suppliers and users of non-personal government information and data to promote and enable its re-use.

The outcome of this work would be:

• an approach for opening up New Zealand's public information and data, and
• a report on the impact of this approach on the Policy Framework for Government-Held Information