# Government Data Opener X Civicus

:::info
* [Application](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1udGl4DzKJicxiiNW91gkTYgYclEPbXico74usuAEMzo/edit)
* [Budget](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/0B1kVXmTh44_qeEpTYUM4RVA1by1NdGw2Tmhhc2huWVJBVDhJ/edit#gid=846764084)
* [Agreement](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1kVXmTh44_qSnJtaE1wMWU1bW8ySEZ2UzdLWlZGREx4bEJJ/view?usp=sharing)
* [Milestones](https://hackmd.io/EqblFADRSayPOoONVHAkwg)
* contact：Shuchen Chang ([e-mail])
:::

| Timeline| Stakeholders | Expected Output | Expected Outcome |
| -------- | -------- | -------- | -------- |
| 2019/9 | Team | First Round of tagging and analysis of 3,000 FOI/open data requests and government replies | An overview of how the gov deals with FOI/open data requests |
| 2019/12 | Civic tech community members and ngos | User experience research and needs analysis | To review the analysis and investigate the supports needed for information requesters
| 2020/3 | Potential website users | An informational website | To provide information requesters with tips and techniques
| 2020/6 | National development council (in charge of national open data policy) | Interviews and meetings with civil servants | To have a robust monitoring system of how every central government agency deals with FOI/Open data requests |
| 2020/9 | Civic tech community members and ngos with data needs | Hackathons and/or meetings | To familiarize with the tools provided on our website |
| 2020/12 | Government and csos | Continuous lobbying, monitoring, and supporting csos | |
| 2021/3 | Government and csos | Continuous lobbying, monitoring, and supporting csos | |
| 2021/6 | Government and csos | Continuous lobbying, monitoring, and supporting csos | |
| 2021/9 | Team and Civicus | Report | |

# Brief Report 1: 2019/10/12 8AM (GMT+8)

### Expected output
First Round of tagging and analysis of 3,000 FOI/open data requests and government replies
* > [name=shuchen] 3244/3312 completed
* > tags spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13ROcyDRsw60iM__6RlFiSziUWK4pYc7wLem_W129EBw/edit#gid=1036480458

### Expected outcome
An overview of how the gov deals with FOI/open data requests
* > [name=shuchen] Discussion with National Development Council about the tagging system and promises from the government to adopt a simplified version of the tagging/monitoring system from 2020/1 (trial from 2020/1 to 2020/3, modification as needed afterwards)
* > simplified tagging system

2019/10/1 Meeting with information specialists from 40+ central and local governments about the adoption of the tagging system from 2020/1. Host: Director of National Development Council.

### Questions
* How to attract public attention? Like how to find people with data needs and bring them together? How exactly can the project help individuals/NGOs with data needs?

### Discussion
* analyze the tagging results according to topics
* visualize the results
* find meaningful patterns
* make data-based assuptions
* frame problems
* build relevent KPIs

# Brief Report 2: 2019/12/5

we've been doing all the tagging and checking, making sure we are doing the tags properly. we've also analyzed the tagging results according to topics of requests, government agencies, and types of replies (already open, ready to open, will not open, and no reply). https://reurl.cc/Ylnk7X

Here is a recent online media report of our project winning the 2019 Presidential Hackathon. Glad that the government and the media are interested in our work https://futurecity.cw.com.tw/article/1071?utm_source=fb_future&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fb_future-social-daily&fbclid=IwAR20T6tnbA1g2gJgzLh3cBmZ0VIsJGWCF7-hjgq4tp8jRFANoEIzq-YYvhU

ana: Can you pls write me an email reporting the progress you had, a screen shot (if you have) of the site and the media clipping? I would love to share it with Civicus

# Brief Report 3: 2020/1/6

We joined the 2nd Presidential Hackathon in July and was honored one of the five winning teams later on by President Tsai Ing-wen. For that reason, we had a chance to talk with the President herself about the problems we saw in how the government processed information requests and the solutions we would like to propose. 

Presidential Hackathon Award Ceremony. 2019/7/27

A discussion with the President Tsai and digital minister Audrey Tang.  2019/7/27

English media coverage
* https://presidential-hackathon.taiwan.gov.tw/en/NewDraft0903.aspx
* https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=2,6,10,15,18&post=159539

Chinese media coverage
* https://www.ithome.com.tw/news/132086
* https://futurecity.cw.com.tw/article/1071?utm_source=fb_future&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fb_future-social-daily&fbclid=IwAR0gJRItgw4AOeJ2vJyhnJSNw602zqAYWnbPgy7LfyJfYFWsSThYjWIp21Q

We then continued to discuss a tagging tool we devised with National Development Council for the government to keep track of how information requests are dealt with.
It also limits the reasons to specific ones if any request shall be denied at all. The tool will be installed to the government data request platform (https://data.gov.tw/suggests) soon in January 2020. 

The tagging tool devised to keep track of information requests.
Discussing the use of the tracking system with Central Government Open Data Consultative Committee. 2019/09/09
Discussing the use of the tracking system with government agencies and local governments. 2019/10/01

Next, we will want to construct a informational website and provide information requesters with tips and techniques to increase success rates. Any comments and suggestions are welcome. 

Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99%E7%94%B3%E8%AB%8B%E5%B0%8F%E5%B9%AB%E6%89%8B-2125769830846436/

The online folder that keeps everything about the project
https://beta.hackfoldr.org/opengovdata/https%253A%252F%252Fg0v.hackpad.tw%252FD4izW8U2QfP

# Brief Report 4: 2020/5/4

### 1. Tracking system of how agencies deal with data requests in place and in use from 10 January, 2020

After all the tagging and analysis of the past data requests and replies, the results show that 60 percent of the requests have been denied without good reasons and another 10 percent simply get no reply at all.

The idea of the tracking stystem is to track and limit the options open for the agencies while dealing with data requests. For instance, when they decide the datasets should not be open, they have to provide reasons based on law. The system also accepts only two conditions when agencies have the datasets and choose to keep them from the public. One is legal restrictions and the other is the unacceptable quality of the datasets (for instance, lack of accuracy or far from being complete). The agencies have to choose the options that fits them the most for the case to be closed.

If agencies need more time to make that decision, they can say so and three months later, the system will send reminders automatically and they need to make their decision by then for the case to be closed.


The tracking system

Discussing the use of the tracking system with National Development Council on February 7, 2020

### 2. Establishing a website (https://dataopener.tw) that provides data requesters with tips and techniques


We also managed to build a website that explains the entire process of requesting government datasets to be open, including who is elligible to make a request, where and how to make that request, and what to expect after submitting it.
https://dataopener.tw/fnq

### FAQ

The website also gives step-by-step instructions as to how to fill a request form and most of all it also helps users emphasize the necessacity and value for a specific datasets to be open by stating how the openness of a dataset relates to the Freedom of Information Act, the national open data action plan, or the administrative goals. It also reminds the users to quote datasets that have been made open in other areas or in other countries. The idea is to help make a strong case so the agencies are willing to open the datasets.

https://dataopener.tw/application

### Relating a request to the Freedom of Information Act

### Relating a request to national open data action plan

### Relating a request to administrative goals

### Relating a request to other datasets that are already open

### 3. Publish new articles explaining the tracking system and why it matters

2020/1/16
Digintal Minister Audrey Tang got stuck？ Who is impeding the development of open government? In CommonWealth Magazine. Taipei: CommonWealth Magazine.
https://www.cw.com.tw/article/article.action?id=5098652

2020/3/5 The Reporter.
How to improve your FOIA rights? Taipei: Reporter. (Chinese article)
https://www.twreporter.org/a/opinion-how-to-improve-taiwan-government-information-transparency

# Brief Report 5: 2020/7/1~12/30

### Output 1. Emails from the Audit Office of Taipei City Government and National Development Council regarding the data requests left unreplied revealed in our articles, "[How to improve your FOIA rights?](https://www.twreporter.org/a/opinion-how-to-improve-taiwan-government-information-transparency)"

Action: Provided tatistics and the data requests in need of reply

Outcome: the Taipei city office and National Development Council revisited the data requests in question.

The email from the Audit Office of Taipei City Government inquiring about the data requests sent to the Taipei City Government that are long left unreplied

### Output 2. Gave a talk about Government Data Opener at a training event hosted by Data 4 social good to government officiers on 2020/7/22. The talk has been turned into an online course that can be repeatedly reviewed by government officials.

Outcome: Familiarize the government officials of civil rights of access to information and expect them to respond to data requests openly and with reasons in cases of rejections.

[Government Data Opener intro: video1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR2A_R2WZJNFvfSuwUXBvOTtsl5CUniAFploz_DJkjC_4NoybTfs2ezWmQI&v=qeV5zL8Nh7M&feature=youtu.be)

[Government Data Opener intro: video2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwI86kz_--E)

[Government Data Opener intro: ppt](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1W6SKxpytrUq-qBr0yAe_bomVp117CKqQBmD50F0lqDU/edit?fbclid=IwAR3mlHogA5lXv5JY31JM7DsgF7sL8i1LUnceRO9uCYv4UPTYj04xZLv2Wwc#slide=id.g8dbd245b7c_0_292)

Event photo

Government officials from 23 departments attended the training

[more event photos](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOcsQRa4PSCwAwnsVmYJHCO5qbQ4h00f4EBfa42XGT0OBVHg6NyboWW6zh1aj8Byw?key=SkEyM29hQ09MSGNQUk4xOFBNVE1MTzMyMkRLRnJ3)

### Output 3. Yearly statistics

Below we analyzed how agencies deal with data requests during the year of 2020 by using the tracking system we devised with the National Development Council.

(For an introduction of the tracking system, please see one of our last reports here: https://hackmd.io/EqblFADRSayPOoONVHAkwg?view#202054)

We will then compare the results with the statistics before 2020 and to see how the government deals with data requests in general and if the tracking system allows more data to be openly used by the public.

### Analysis 1: to see if data requests are being responded to
Year 2020

Before Year 2020

### Analysis 2: to see how data requests are accepted or refused

Year 2020

Before Year 2020

### Analysis 3: to see why the agencies refuse to open data

Year 2020

Before Year 2020

### Summary:
1. More data requests are not responded to in 2020 (36.5% to 13%).
2. Slightly more data requests are accepted and expected to be made public in 2020 (11.6% to 9.6%).
3. In terms of the reasons why agencies refused to open data, more agencies indicate it is forbidden by law (27.9％ to 14.2%) or the data quality is not good enough (15.3% to 7.7%) while fewer agencies claim more time is required before making their decisions (8.1% to 23%).

# Brief Report 6: 2021/1/1~6/30

## Output 1: parliament lobbying for improvement I

This year we brought the issue of agencies refusing respond or open government data to the attention of one opposition parliament member and then drafted a proposal that the government should use part of the 2021 budget and manage to improve the government data request platform with a focus on our findings last year ([see here](https://hackmd.io/EqblFADRSayPOoONVHAkwg?both#Summary)).

The proposal was passed in Jan. 29 2021 in the form of a resolution attached to the 2021 government budget. A month after the resolution was passed, the National Development Council in charge of open data policies drew up a plan of action specifying the measures to be taken including prioritising the themes of datasets in partnerships with civil society organizations, conducting educational trainings for public servants with a focus on the good quality of open data, and drafting rules and regulations before the end of the year that will incorporate suggestions and findings of the project Data Opener. It is hoped that this will help improve the current situation of some government agencies not responding data requests from the citizens or not make government data openly accessible without justifications.

#### The attached resolution passed that required the goverment to review the government data request platform based on our findings last year.

## Output 2: parliament lobbying for improvement II

As a continuation of parliament lobbying, we discussed the issue of agencies refusing to respond or open government data as well as the need of an open data law in Taiwan with the same opposition parliament member who in turn in the question time asked the minister of National Development Council that something had be done to improve the situation.

However, during the debate, the minister did not seem to be in aggrement with the idea of a new law to make the work of the government more transparent to the public.

#### Parliamentary Question. Chen Jiau-Hua, New Power Party parliament member (left) and Kung Ming-hsin, Minister of National Devleopment Council (right) (2021/3/15)

#### Data provided for the use during the question time



## Output 3: Six-month statistics

2021 analysis

Below we analyzed how agencies deal with data requests during the first six months of 2021 by using the tracking system we designed with the National Development Council.

(For an introduction of the tracking system, please see our last report here: https://hackmd.io/EqblFADRSayPOoONVHAkwg?view#202054)

We will then compare the results with the statistics of 2020 and to see how the government deals with data requests in general and if the tracking system allows more data to be openly used by the public.

#### Analysis 1: to see if data requests are being responded to

Result: It is proved that the rate of reply to data requests made by the citizens improves significantly, (85.6% in 2021 and 62.1% in 2020).

Year 2021 (1/1-30/6)

Year 2020

-----
#### Analysis 2: to see how data requests are accepted or refused

Result: However, among the replies, slightly fewer data requests are accepted and about to be made public during the first six months this year than the entirety of last year (8.6% in 2021 and 11.6% in 2020).

Year 2021 (1/1-30/6)

Year 2020

-----

#### Analysis 3: to see why the agencies refuse to open data

Result: If we look more closely at the reasons why agencies refused to open data, there are a couple of tendencies that need to be considered.

First, significantly fewer agencies say opening certain data is forbidden by law this year (14.9% in 2021 and 27.9% in 2021). This can be seen as a positive result
as most of the time when the government decides not to open data, they adopt Article 18 of the Taiwanese The Freedom of Government Information Law where the law dictates the situations when the government information should be restricted from making available to the public, for example, if other laws, regulations, or orders forbid it, or if it is a draft for internal use or other preparatory works, or, in certain cases, opening data may invade personal privacy, professional secrets, or authors' ventilating right.

However, it also has to be noted that more requests have been categorised as "under discussion" this year. This can be good and bad at the same time in the sense that the government agencies choose to discuss with a panel of experts whether or not certain data should be made open instead of rejecting the requests right from the beginning. But it can also mean that the agencies might not be willing to open certain data right away and take a relatively cautious approach. It will take some time to see how these dicussions turn out.

Second, a rise can be observed in the percentage of the catagory "uncollected and will remain so" (47.8% this year and 40.5% last year). It is somewhat concerning as the government does not seem to be willing to cater to the needs of the people when the requests involve datasets that are not already created. It is often the case that the government has the raw data but has not yet put it together and compiled it into datasets.

For instance, one data request asking to open a dataset of current land value nationalwide and the government agency in charge wrongly replies the dataset is uncollected as individual land values can be supplied when they are specified. Things like this should be reconsidered and reasons behind the decision reviewed and changed.

Year 2021 (1/1-30/6)

Year 2020

## Summary
Overall, for the last six months we brought the issue of how agencies respond to open data requests to the attention of parliament members and the government. We see some improvements in terms of responsiveness and yet progress still need to be made in the open culture of governance and a more open-minded and collaborative attitude towards data requests.

# Final Report (due on 2021/9/15)

The goal of our project, Government Data Opener is to urge our government to be more responsive to citizen's data requests, improve administrative transparency and advocate civic participation in public policy making. We believe we have helped in these matters by developing a system that can monitor how the government deals with requests, lobbying parliament, and sharing useful tips and techniques for requesting data.

## Project output I: A monitoring system being put to use
In 2019, we first devised a prototype tagging system and analyzed government replies to 3,312 data requests made by citizens on the data request platform (https://data.gov.tw/) since 2015. We found 13% of the total data requests are left unresponded and only 9.6% of the data requests are accepted and about to be made open.

We then modified the tagging system and worked with National Development Council that was in charge of national open data policies and eventually had it installed on the data platform and put to use since January 2020. The tagging system is useful in keeping track of how information requests are dealt with. It also limits the reasons to acceptable and legal ones if any request shall be denied at all.

Our analysis showed that more data requests in 2020 were left unresponded (36.5% compared to 13% before 2020) and yet the rate of no response returned to the previous level in 2021 (13.4%). We think the covid-19 outburst in 2020 might be the reason behind the high rate of no response in 2020 as the government had been busy with covid-19 mitigation efforts even though Taiwan saw a relatively low impact from covid last year.

Apart from that, we saw more data requests were accepted and bound to be made public in 2020 (11.6% compare to 9.6% before 2020). However the rate of acceptance dropped again to an even lower rate of 8.6%. The government agencies refused to open data partly because they thought it was forbidden by law and partly because they indicated that they hoped to further discuss the issues with experts.

We then brought the issue to the attention of one opposition parliament member and drafted a proposal that the government should use part of the 2021 budget and manage to improve the government data request platform with a focus on our findings.

In response, the National Development Council drew up a plan of action specifying the measures to be taken including prioritising the themes of datasets in partnerships with civil society organizations, conducting educational trainings for public servants with a focus on the good quality of open data, and drafting rules and regulations before the end of year 2021 which will mandate all agencies to respond promptly and with reasons to citizens' data requests by following the reply system our project proposed.

Overall, we see some improvements in terms of responsiveness and yet progress needs to be made in the open culture of governance and a more open-minded and collaborative attitude towards data requests.

## Project output II: Sharing tips and techniques

We also created an informational website which not only displays how each public sector responds to data requests but also provides tips and examples for people who wish for request data from the government.
https://dataopener.tw/

The website explains the process of requesting government data, including who is eligible to make the request, where and how to do that, and what to expect after submitting the request.
https://dataopener.tw/fnq

But most of all, the website gives step-by-step instructions as to how to fill a request form and help users emphasize the value for specific data to be open by relating to the Freedom of Information Act, the national open data action plan, and the administrative goals of each public sector. Users can also quote datasets that are open in other areas or other countries as a reference to make a strong case.

We wrote articles and published online about our project and the website; we also optimised the website in hackathons oraganized by tech communities as well as by the government and invited more citizens and csos to use the guiding tool.

## Project outcome in a nutshell
* The tracking system that we designed to help keep track of whether and how the government replies to data requests has been officially installed in the government data request platform. It will be easy to see which government agencies fail to respond or reject without proper reasons. The tracking result can be downloaded anytime by anyone and in open format.
* After many meetings and discussions with the National Development Council in charge of national open data policy, along with efforts made by other civil groups, the Council agreed to prioritise certain datasets to be made open with civil society organizations, give yearly educational trainings for public servants on open data, and draft rules and regulations that mandates all agencies to respond promptly and with reasons to citizens' data requests by following the reply system our project proposed. We are hoping all these will help cultivate an open culture that increase the likelihood of government information being released as open data.

# Reflection (due on 2021/10/31)

In Taiwan, we tend to think we live under open and democratic rule. Despite the fact that Taiwan retained top spot in “Global Open Data Index” two times in a row in 2015 and 2016, our government is not very responsive to public requests of open government data. This was made explicit by the fact that before we started this project, the government refused 90% of the citizen's data requests. And at the bottom of this, we believe, lies the public servants' fear of blame and mistakes for whatever can be shown and said from the data once open. Hence the main purpose of this project is to rectify the situation by making how government tackles data requests open and transparent.

The design of our project, Government Data Opener, originated from the CIVICUS Monitor which provides the information on the state of civil society and civic freedoms in 196 countries. Instead we created a monitoring system that displays how nearly 60 government agencies in Taiwan handle citizens' open data requests.

Thanks to the CIVICUS Solidarity Fund for financial and tactical support. We, as a team of six individuals, were able to analyze nearly 3,000 data requests, interviewed civil groups, hosted workshops, and eventually designed the monitoring system. We then co-worked with the government and asked if they could install the system onto the data request platform to ensure all agencies have to at least reply to the received requests in due time and give specific reasons from a range of options in the system if they have to refuse to open at all.

The monitoring system has been officially installed in the government data request platform and put to use for one year and a half now. We see some improvements in terms of responsiveness and yet there is still progress that needs to be made, the rate of no response is still high in 2021 (13.4%) and only 8.6% of this year's data requests were accepted and made open. But we do not see this as a setback. Openness is arguably an organizational culture that takes time to develop. In our past experience of communicating and co-creating with our government, we believe the project has hit some important milestone that civic participation is possible and a key component of open governance initiatives such as open data.