An Open Data research mainly focused on the potential effects of local, open raw PSI (Public SectorInformation) on local institutions and businesses, because opening PSI at local level can give economics and transparency benefits more quickly and with less investments The whole research is entirely available online at http://stop.zona-m.net

1. Open Data, Open Society
a research by Marco Fioretti for
the Laboratory of Economics and Management of
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net)
Laboratory of Economics and Management,Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
http://www.lem.sssup.it
September 2010, Paris
Open World Forum
Some rights reserved

2. Scope and focus of the project
Project financed through the DIME network (Dynamics of Institutions
and Markets in Europe, www.dime-eu.org) as part of DIME Work
Package 6.8, coordinated by Professor Giulio Bottazzi
Main focus: potential effects of local, open raw PSI (Public Sector
Information) on local institutions and businesses
Reasons for this choice
Small project (~4 man-months)
Local effects of local open PSI relatively less studied
Opening PSI at local level can give economics and
transparency benefits more quickly and with less
investments
Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net)
Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
http://www.lem.sssup.it
September 2010, Paris
Open World Forum
Some rights reserved
2

3. Deliverables and timetable of the project
Report on real nature of open raw PSI, its effects on local economy and
transparency, risks to take into account, guidelines for local Public
Administrations deciding if/how to open their PSI: finished, will be
online very soon!
Online Survey among all regional and cities administrations of EU-15
to find out which categories of PSI they have opened, in which formats
and under which licenses: will start in october 2010, be online for a a
few months
Final report analysing the results of the survey
More details at http://stop.zona-m.net/node/175
Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net)
Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
http://www.lem.sssup.it
September 2010, Paris
Open World Forum
Some rights reserved
3

4. Main conclusions in the first report
Effects of open PSI on (local) economy:
Selling access to PSI often not worth the effort
Opening PSI instead is confirmed to be very promising, even if
not quantifiable using traditional “business-case” based
approaches
and can create local jobs even outside hi-tech sectors, besides
bring many benefits to all citizens that use the services made
possible by opening the PSI
Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net)
Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
http://www.lem.sssup.it
September 2010, Paris
Open World Forum
Some rights reserved
4

5. Main conclusions in the first report (2)
Effects of open PSI on transparency in government, active democracy:
There is potential for delusion here
Unlike in economy, where opening PSI is enough to get benefits for
everybody, because it only takes ONE entrepreneur to start a business
using those data
Opening PSI achieves transparency only if coupled to:
(relatively easy to achieve)
Effective laws
(much harder to achieve)
MANY citizens interested in
personally using open PSI to make decisions (e.g. when
voting) and able to do it effectively!
Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net)
Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
http://www.lem.sssup.it
September 2010, Paris
Open World Forum
Some rights reserved
5

6. What next? The survey, of course!
Very simple structure: basically will only ask, for several
categories of PSI (geographic, budgets, real estate, local
transportation...):
City or region
Do you already publish online these raw data?
In which format?
Under which license? (All rights reserved, Creative
Commons, Open Database license...)
Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net)
Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
http://www.lem.sssup.it
September 2010, Paris
Open World Forum
Some rights reserved
6

7. Conclusion
Please help to spread the invitation to
participate in the survey as much as
possible across EU!
To know how, or to know more about the project, please write to
Marco Fioretti, marco@digifreedom.net
Marco Fioretti (http://mfioretti.com, marco@digifreedom.net)
Laboratory of Economics and Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
http://www.lem.sssup.it
September 2010, Paris
Open World Forum
Some rights reserved
7