Lessons learnt from open data engagement pilot

In order to develop engagement methods that elicit a broader range of inputs into policy development, the Department of Internal Affairs and the Ministry for the Environment piloted an online discussion forum with supporting data during September and October 2010.

The Open Data Engagement Pilot tested an approach of supplying publicly available data online to knowledgeable specialists and the public, to supplement an online discussion forum for a government policy consultation. The expectation was that it would lead to a richer consultation process because it would enable the agency to tap into analysis and perspectives not usually represented in the policy consultation process. It was also anticipated that the resulting greater transparency would enable the public to use the available data to more fully scrutinise the issues and evidence base for proposed policy changes.

The pilot topic was Erosion Susceptibility Classification for Plantation Forestry, and was run in parallel with the Ministry for the Environment’s wider policy consultation on the proposed National Environmental Standard (NES) for plantation forestry. Erosion susceptibility was one of the more technical aspects of the NES, and therefore suited the pilot criteria for the target audience and supporting data. The pilot helped to provide expert input on the topic of erosion susceptibility at an earlier stage in the policy development process than would have occurred otherwise. Most of the technical experts from the small target audience engaged with the online pilot, and their input increased the quality of information from the consultation phase.

During the pilot there was insufficient evidence of the target audience’s engagement with the pilot’s data at the expected depth (ie: no evidence of data analysis informing comments in the discussion forum). Therefore, there was not enough evidence to suggest that having the data alongside the discussion forum made a positive impact on the consultation process. Participants discussed the data and information sources in the forum, but did not seem to perform any new analysis during the pilot. However, comments from the forum increased the Ministry for the Environment’s understanding of the issues relevant to developing an erosion susceptibility classification.

Despite the lack of evidence of participant engagement with the supporting data, there was strong support for this approach from the interviewed stakeholders and the involved Ministry for the Environment staff. It was considered this approach may be particularly useful when there are compressed timeframes for policy development, when there is limited knowledge about where the experts are, and limited knowledge of the availability of data and key information.

The team who worked on the project identified a number of lessons learned during the pilot process and these are summarised online in the document below.