After assessing gaps in what it offered online, in 2009 Utah introduced a groundbreaking new portal. Like others before it, the new portal introduced many new concepts and services into the pattern for how Utah does business online. Following the lead from Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, Utah was the first state government to create a state data portal with the goal of enhancing access to state-provided data. The data portal provides an aggregation point for users to access the data they are looking for.
There are links directly to XML, XLS, RSS, and other types of portable data as well as to sites that provide query capabilities to offer user-defined data sets and information. The intent of providing data on Data.utah.gov is to make it easier for users both in and out of government to purpose the data in productive ways that benefit the Utah economy as well as government itself. Many in Utah government support the effort to become a knowledge-driven, real-time enterprise. To reach this potential, Utah must be able to connect to its citizens and businesses, not only through social media channels but also semantically, through dynamic, real-time, data-driven connections. If government provides reliable, real-time data, third parties in government and in the private sector can provide new added value in all kinds of ways. The state created a Twitter account as a way to provide updates about the site and new data as it became available. After introducing the new site, the state began receiving calls from around the country about how to go about setting up a similar service, and the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO) set up a working group to identify potential best practices and standards that it could share with its members. Initially, this group wanted to focus on concepts such as governance structures while Utah kept insisting on the need to keep things simple and “just do whatever you can.” Government tends to quickly rise to the level of bureaucracy when implementing projects that are viewed as enterprise in nature or as having a significant impact.
The new portal is an initial step toward what Tim O’Reilly calls “government as a platform” by providing data in formats that developers can use to create their own applications and mashups. It provides an organized view into government-collected data and is expected to grow over time. The data is categorized into six areas:
- State datafiles
These are raw datafiles in formats such as KML and CSV.
- State data sources
These are generally queryable sources of large amounts of data where the user can specify the data being searched for through widgets or queries.
- Local data sources
As local governments within the state continue to provide more data online, the state will provide an aggregation point to help find these sources.
- Data visualizations
These are examples of how state data can be visualized with maps, charts and graphs, and so forth.
- Geographic data sources
The state decided to create a separate category for geographic data because of the volume and uniqueness of the data available.
- External data sources
Many organizations, including the federal government, accumulate data from the state and then make it available online. Because the state wanted Data.utah.gov to be a one-stop center for locating Utah data, these sources are also included because of their relevance.
Sharing data is an important component in the state’s efforts to become more open. With increased emphasis and training, more government agencies are expected to provide data in KML, RSS, and other interoperable formats versus strictly downloadable formats such as CSV (see Figure 34-8).
Most government entities that engage in Web 2.0-related activities quickly encounter the issues of security and privacy. In Utah, this is no different. Security personnel want to ensure that private data remains that way. One commonly held perspective is that systems outside the state’s control may have a tendency to be less secure because the state may not be able to verify what security measures that system or service may have in place. Utah conducts annual online security training which is required for all 23,000 state employees. This training also reinforces proper etiquette and security practices for online activities. The state has also implemented a technical architecture wiki where it shares information on technology standards and practices. Creating standards that address security and privacy concerns has helped Utah ensure that momentum is maintained in its digital government initiatives. Utah’s technical standards specifically authorize the use of a set of Internet-based collaboration tools that include services such as Twitter, YouTube, and SlideShare. The state recently approved social media guidelines to help employees avoid issues as they use these solutions (see Figure 34-9).