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For the last\u00a0five years I worked for the City of Houston, and among the many projects I worked on was the launching of\u00a0Houston’s open data and open innovation hackathon initiatives. I worked with really awesome people and had transformative leaders in\u00a0Mayor\u00a0Annise\u00a0Parker,\u00a0Council Member Ed Gonzalez<\/a>,\u00a0and CFO\u00a0Kelly\u00a0Dowe. We took an experimental approach, and not everything worked perfectly, but we were able to empower people to make a difference by extending access to data.<\/p>\nI now live in Chengdu, having moved here with my wife in December, and I love the city already. The food is delicious (???????), the people are great, and I love the community<\/a>. Since I’ve been here, I have made it my mission to learn about open data and civic innovation in China.<\/p>\n Moving here I wondered if I would be able to continue my work on open data. Would the government be interested? Would it be okay? Some people told me that I shouldn’t even mention\u00a0open data\u00a0or\u00a0civic engagement\u00a0once we got here.\u00a0Luckily, there were just as many others who said otherwise, and since arriving I’ve learned that open data and civic engagement are\u00a0alive and growing.<\/p>\n When data is made available in a centralized location in a readily usable format, businesses, citizens, and researchers can use that data to create value-added services, applications, and analyses. Developments in GPS location services are just one example of the success of governments opening data to create services and value.<\/p>\n Naturally, open data and civic engagement initiatives are new to China and come with Chinese characteristics, but that’s no different than the newness of open data in Houston with its\u00a0Texas characteristics.\u00a0As in the West, the idea of connecting citizens and government in order to improve public services is very real\u00a0in China.\u00a0I’m optimistic about the prospects for open data because I\u2019ve talked to many people here that recognize the social benefits and I see progress coming from civic technologists\u00a0and\u00a0the government.<\/p>\n Maybe I am optimistic because I see many of the same opportunities that I saw in the US, albeit on a larger scale. I also see the challenges, and they are likewise familiar. Below are some things I’ve seen written about why “China and open data can never\u00a0get along with one another.” If you know the story of open data in the West, you’ll recognize some themes:<\/p>\n All these comments resonate with my experience in Houston. I’ve heard them for years from my peers in government and civic tech circles in the US as well. The West may be ahead in terms of open data and civic tech,\u00a0but maybe not that far ahead. On all sides there is a lot of work to be done.<\/p>\n For starters, as\u00a0Andy Liu\u00a0commented in the talk\u00a0Exploring Open Data in China,\u00a0maybe China already has open data, but it goes by a different name.\u00a0Perhaps there IS open data in China, it’s just scattered and hard to find.<\/p>\n The Sichuan Province Fact Book is a good example. It has enormous amounts of useful commercial information, but it is not in a machine-readable format. As a book it’s not particularly accessible, but it’s not hidden. There is similar statistical information published online (in places like wenku.baidu.com<\/a>) but most of it is in Chinese, making it difficult for Westerners to access.<\/p>\n China’s\u00a0Smart City Open Data Platform\u00a0is also very interesting. The government recently rolled out their\u00a0Love City\u00a0Platform\u00a0in a handful of municipalities, including Qingdao, and are planning implementation in ~30 more cities. That’s a BIG initiative, and if it can be done successfully across jurisdictions would be a significant achievement.<\/p>\n These activities are supported by conversations I’ve had with Chinese government delegations in the US who were looking to understand open data and its ties to innovation. I’m pretty bullish on Chinese open data, similar to the Open Knowledge Foundation\u2019s Feng Gao<\/a>\u00a0who has is a leader advocating for and tracking open data<\/a> in China.\u00a0Like Gao, I see iterative progress that can be built upon, and I see the same powerful arguments that convinced my government colleagues in the US also having traction in China. Open data promotes economic productivity and innovation, and goes far\u00a0beyond transparency.<\/p>\n Open data alone is not enough however. There must be civic and business interest in the data, and there must be\u00a0mutual\u00a0value for the government\/non-profit and external parties. In China there is certainly external interest. As reported by\u00a0Rebecca Chao\u00a0in\u00a0The Hunt for Open Data in China, open data and civic tech was initially led by the community. Community members, businesses and developers are requesting the data they need. When they don\u2019t get it, they’re finding innovative ways to obtain the data, like Cui Anyong scraping JPEG’s to get water quality data (kudos).<\/p>\n I believe open data is also generating goodwill. Bu Shujian learned that available Chinese government data was not necessarily inaccurate or fake. As Chao reported, she was interested in comparing air quality reporting by the Chinese and US Governments, and was skeptical of the data from the Chinese. Interestingly, she found the differences were due to different calculations and the Chinese Government’s use of more data points from across the city (which could mean their reporting was more accurate).<\/p>\n Finally, momentum continues to build in China as individuals passionate for open data innovation are seeing progress and also connecting and sharing ideas. The launch of the Open Data China<\/a> network during International Open Data Day<\/a> is a perfect example of this.<\/p>\n I believe in the missions of the Code for America and\u00a0Open Houston\u00a0projects that I worked on while in the US. We engaged government with citizens and businesses to improve services, budgeting, and quality of life. People and organizations were empowered to work together to build tools that could enable better lives. I believe open data and civic engagement are also of great value here in China – and many people are clearly embracing these opportunities already.<\/p>\n I think there are many potential benefits for Chengdu. We can use open data to tell the exciting story of our city and to promote economic activity and investment. It makes business sense to locate a new business in a city with a wealth of information available about it. Open data supports the growth of local entrepreneurs and creates opportunities for new tech companies.<\/p>\n Moreover, open data can be used by creative individuals and organizations that can create applications that enhance quality of life. As one of China\u2019s largest cities with a booming technology community, I know we have lots of software developers and designers who would love to spend some time on \u201ccivic hacking\u201d to build apps that improve the city.<\/p>\n Great progress is being made in China, and I\u00a0hope to work with others here to bring open data to Chengdu.\u00a0In the meantime, I’m learning a new language \u2026 and it’s not one for computer programming! ??!<\/p>\n This story was originally posted to the\u00a0Code for America blog. The content has been modified to provide additional context and further definition of open data and civic technology for Chengdu Living<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\nIntroduction to Open Data<\/h2>\n
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For the uninitiated, “open data” and “civic innovation” describe a type of public initiative, often government or non-profit led, to collect useful datasets and distribute them online in machine-readable formats. The goal of these projects is to fuel entrepreneurs and researchers by increasing data accessibility, and improve public institutions by increasing transparency and civic participation.<\/p>\nChinese Characteristics<\/h2>\n
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What’s Happening in China<\/b><\/h2>\n
China’s Data Portals<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"China](\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/china-map.jpg\")
The Chinese National Government, along with Provincial and Municipal governments are launching data portals. Two national sites I found are the\u00a0National Bureau of Statistics\u00a0and\u00a0Public Information Online. They’re not easy for a Westerner to navigate, but it’s a start. There are also city data portals. Beijing Data,\u00a0Data Shanghai, and\u00a0Hong Kong\u2019s Open Gov\u00a0Project\u00a0are the standouts I found. Again, not perfect, but a good start.<\/p>\nCommunity Interest Leads to Data<\/b><\/h2>\n
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China Hackathons<\/h2>\n
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What\u2019s more, there are hackathons in China too! The Chinese programing community recognizes the potential value of coordinated communal effort, and people are rallying together over weekends on projects just like in the West. Derived from a combination of the words “hack” and “marathon”, “hackathons” are events where software developers, designers, and business people come together to create technological solutions to solve a specific problem or advance a specific cause.\u00a0The Hackathon movement has been expanding in the US in recent years and I was excited to hear that it catching on in China as well. At one of my first dinners in China, a friend in Beijing told me about the\u00a0Cleanweb Hackathon\u00a0they hosted just months earlier.<\/p>\nOpen Data in Chengdu<\/h2>\n