Crowd Sourcing Information Systems for Pune

Background


This is an invitation to all CIO's in Pune- an invitation to create shared Information Systems.

As all you CIO's know, Cloud Computing[1] has radically altered the models to deploy software, platforms and infrastructure across user communities. It has brought shared computing power, massive scalability, elasticity of use, pay-as-you-go and self-service scenarios for users.

Web 2.0[2] has opened the potential to tap the collective knowledge of the entire value chain. This has transformed business models to include the long-tail (or many very small niches of customers)  thus radically altering the economics of providing services or deploying “products”.  It significantly altered the ability to exchange information across silos with open models and API’s that facilitate the rapid development and deployment of consumer value through mashups.

Both of these present an opportunity to reach out value to consumers of information through diverse media and applications in a cascade of consumption by different cloud based mashups. This presents opportunity for the information starved governance sector, to offer the potential for disruptive growth and consumption of information for good-governance.

The Office of the CIO of Pune, set with the mission to enable shared information systems and facilitate connection and collaboration, sees this as the logical platform to address the goal of enabling connections and collaboration for good governance. 

Pune's CIO's can then tap this opportunity to search and discover information and Information Systems that till now may have been hidden or unavailable. The infrastructure companies, the platform companies, the software companies as well as the telecom companies can tap into this significant opportunity to deliver value to Pune.

Value Proposition and Strategic Intent

In order to facilitate search, discovery as well as integration of various information services and products that may be of value to making Pune an Information City, the ciopune.in will serve as the single point of integration for various cloud based initiatives, particularly Web 2.0 based initiatives, to create various Shared Information Systems for Pune[3]
ciopune.in aims to provide a high visibility platform 

• for government agencies, NGO’s and businesses to host or share their Pune databases and maps and promote open governance
• for Pune based government agencies, NGO’s and businesses to discover value offerings and generate rapidly developable mashups
• for citizens interested in Pune to discover apps from third-parties that they could use for free or subscribe to receive information
• to infrastructure and platform service providers to submit their value offerings for easy search and discovery
• for software providers to host their applications or provide easy search and discovery of their cloud based offerings

At the core of ciopune.in is the intent to spur innovative information use through make Pune related data, maps and apps becoming more accessible and usable.  This kind of access fostering innovation is also expected to facilitate creativity and ingenuity. Increasing the ability of the public to discover, understand, and use the vast stores of Pune related data, maps and apps not only increase good governance but also unlock Pune’s economic and social value.

Design Principles

A vibrant democracy depends on straightforward access to high quality data, visual representations and tools. ciopune.in will develop an ecosystem to provide developers, researchers, businesses, government agencies and the general public with a means to generate and access data, maps and diverse apps about Pune in a framework that allows easy discovery and access.

The key design principles for ciopune.in include:

1.  Focus on Access: ciopune.in will be designed to increase access to resources that enable information generation, representation and sharing.  The goal is to strengthen democratic institutions and the Pune economy through a transparent, collaborative and participatory platform while fostering development of innovative applications (e.g. visualizations, mash-ups) and analysis by third parties.
2. Open Platform: ciopune.in will use a modular architecture with application programming interfaces (API) to facilitate shared services for agencies and enable the development of third party tools. The architecture, APIs, and services will evolve based on public and agency input.
3. Focus on Discovery: Resources will be classified by type (data, maps, apps, infrastructure service links, platform service links, software service links), users (agencies or individuals who have submitted the resources) and sector (demographics, health, education, energy, mobility, waste, food, consumables etc.).
4. Focus on Consumer Participation: The platform will allow the consumers of resources to rate, comment and recommend features to resources they can consume on the platform.
5. Program Responsibility and Easy Submission: The participating vendors, agencies and individuals will be responsible for ensuring resource quality, providing context and meaning for the resource, protecting privacy and assuring information security associated with the resource. Registered users from different user categories will be able to submit and manae their portfolio of resources.

Operational Overview


ciopune.in website will incorporates three perspectives to present a catalog of existing resources:

1. Resource Catalog: This will include a catalog of data, maps, apps, information systems, infrastructure service links, platform service links and software service links available on ciopune.in.
2. Sector Catalog: This will include a a catalog of resources available for the demographic, health, education, energy, water, waste, food, consumables, landuse and environment sectors to begin with.
3. Agency Catalog: This will include a catalog of resources that were submitted by different agencies: the PMC, PCMC, PCB, DCB, KCB, Pune Collectorate, Pune Divisional Commissionerate, Pune RTO, PMPML, MSECDL, Irrigation Dept., Forest Dept., Census of India, NGO’s etc..

Each catalog will allow users to submit suggestions on including new members to its category: for example new resources, new sectors or new agencies.

Each resource page will feature a rating and comment submission mechanism.

The site will also feature a mechanism for user accounts and submission of resources through the accounts. It will provide a means to verify official users. It may incorporate a way to access to paid resources in future versions.

Conceptual Architecture



ciopune.in is expected to have the following modules:

1. User registration and management: This will enable users to create accounts to be able to upload resources (data, maps, apps, links relating to Pune) on to the ciopune.in site.
2.  Resource Upload and Resource Management Capability: This will enable users to upload, permit access to all, select users or no-one, modify meta-data and delete resources through their account.
3. Resource rating mechanisms: This will enable registered users to comment, rate and recommend resources for specific tasks.
4. Search and catalog engines: This will enable present the resources as different catalogs as well as enable the search and discovery of various resources using simple and advanced criteria.

Partnerships and Costs


Government agencies and NGO's will be the key partners responsible for populating ciopune.in with high value, authoritative data. 

Technology Companies and vendors will be key partners to help develop, maintain the platform as well as be responsible for populating ciopune.in with apps, information systems, infrastructure service links, platform service links and software service links.

Each of the Partners functional roles related to ciopune.in will include:

1.  Ensure the identification and evaluation of resources for inclusion in ciopune.in.  Such a process must include:  a) screening for security, privacy, accessibility, confidentiality, and other risks and sensitivities; b) adherence to the agency’s Information Quality Guidelines; c) appropriate certification and accreditation (C&A); and d) signoff by the program office responsible for the resource. 
2. Submitting and cataloging resources included on ciopune.in, being mindful of the significance of exposing data, maps and apps through ciopune.in in terms of the authoritative and high quality nature of resources being included in a CIO Initiative.
3.  Ensuring that authoritative resource are made available in formats that are platform independent and machine readable. 

This is an opportunity for Pune IT companies to present their data, apps, maps and other services for Pune and generate significant synergies. Please email your suggestions, comments, proposals and value propositions to cio.pune@gmail.com.

Endnotes

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[1] The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued a draft working definition of cloud computing which defines the term as “a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction”. For the full text of the NIST definition of cloud computing, including its five essential characteristics (on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service), three service models (Software as a Service — SaaS, Platform as a Service — PaaS and Infrastructure as a Service — IaaS), and four deployment models (Private, Community, Public and Hybrid Cloud), please refer to: http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SNS/cloud-computing/index.html.

[2] Web 2.0 is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design,[1] and collaboration. O’Reilly who is credited with the concept looks at Web 2.0 where the "Web as Platform", where software applications are built upon the Web as opposed to upon the desktop believes the activities of users generating content (in the form of ideas, text, videos, or pictures) could be "harnessed" to create value. Web 2.0 sites have an "architecture of participation" that encourages users to add value to the application as they use it.

[3] Similar initiatives with focus on data and apps have been launched by the Obama administration at http://data.gov and http://apps.gov. Tim Burners Lee has advocated similar approaches for the UK  http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/10/berners-lee-downing-street-web-open and Gordon Brown has also announced a similar initiative of the Digital government.