Open Data in Bremen

The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen has been a pioneer in proactively supplying official information for a long time. The Bremen Freedom of Information Act (BremIFG), which passed in 2006, makes it obligatory to proactively publish a number of administration documents and to register them in a central information index. The latter was created in 2008. In 2010, the BremIFG was evaluated by ifib and subsequently, in 2011, renewed.

This renewal took place only a short time before the discussion about Open Government Data, in terms of access to raw administrative data in open formats and with free license terms, became politically relevant. In 2011, Bremens Senator of Finance received an invitation by the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) to join a task force in order to establish an open government data platform of the federation and the states. The Senator of Finance, the state commissioner for data protection and freedom of information, and ifib cooperated to make recommendations about open government data on the basis of former experiences in Bremen.

The Senator of Finance has committed to provide access to official documents and raw data in ways that were yet to be more closely defined. The Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen has confirmed these plans and put them into more concrete terms, responding to a major interpellation by Bremens local parliament in June 2012.

In order to achieve these aims, ifib was asked to conduct several sub studies:

1. In a competence study in autumn 2012, the basic requirements of Open Government Data were identified. Further, based on experiences made during the preparation of an Apps4Bremen competition, the technical possibilities and challenges for the feasibility of Open Government Data were explored. In particular, we identified a need of coordination with other disclosure obligations
2. This necessity was defined more closely in 2012: Specifically, the general disclosure requirements according to the Bremen Freedom of Information Act (BremIFG) need to be aligned with the specific obligations of individual authoritative bodies according to the Bremen Environmental Information Act, the State Statistics Act, the Bremen Geodata Access Act, and the National Consumer Information Act. On the basis of a detailed synopsis, recommendations for a better coordination were developed.
3. In another study, we investigated how the existing disclosure obligations were met by different authorities. On the basis of deficits that were identified, an improved editorial concept for the authorities was developed that would also facilitate the provision of raw data. For the recommendations relating to content and organisation, some suggestions were made for legal regulations, either through an adjustment of the existing BremIFG or through a renewal.

An important result of this last study was that due to the massive maintenance effort required it is virtually impossible for administration to proactively provide public access to all legal raw data. Especially considering the current budgetary situation, the data can only be provided selectively and bit by bit. If the aim is to improve transparency, the data should be selected according to what they can contribute to that improvement. Hence, Open Government Datas demand side, which has mostly been neglected in the past, is being examined as part of a currently running subproject. A two-stage online consultation will help to find out who would demand and use which raw data in order to improve transparency with regard to what and whom. This consultation will be run by the ifib until the end of 2013.