Open Data : Looking beyond Open source

Open Source

Open Source is a buzzword anyone who uses computers beyond a casual extent would've heard about. Its the term we use to describe software whose source code is available. You can see how your software works. If required (and if permitted by the author), you can use the code as a part of something of your own. Open source primarily represents the hacker mindset of “No problem solved twice”, when someone makes his project code open source, he's telling you that,"There was a problem, this is how I've solved it, Like the solution, use it , dont like it improve it"

Open Source is useful because it supports the incremental nature of innovation. You take one step forward, someone takes another, together we all move forward. Open source is about getting as well as giving, it is community driven and its fruits arent motivated by profit but by the good that comes out of helping eachother.

Open source started off as something about sharing code but has gone way beyond. Today even cars  and datacentres  are being  designed collaboratively.

However

There is a very fundamental thing to realize when thinking about open source; that it is centered around the creator not the consumer. When talking about software, this creator is the developer while in the case of say a car, it is the engineer who designs the car. For most systems, there are far more people who enjoy its benefits than those involved in its creation or maintenance.

We interact with most of the things in our lives as Consumers rather than creators.

And in an increasingly digitized world, more and more of our previously physical interactions are entering the digital domain. As this happens, these interactions are becoming easier to store and monitor Each one of us is creating an electronic footprint that is getting larger and larger. What we're essentially doing is creating information about ourselves, data sets that are unique to us and are our own property. Well, if it is information you created and that too about you, then you should be able to completely control how it is used and be able do whatever you want with it. This sadly is not true in many of the web applications,mostly notably Facebook. This information about yourself that you create could be used in tailoring services or creating deals that are highly specific and customised to give you exactly what you need. Such kind of deal tailoring already takes place; anyone who's visited shopping sites will soon be bombarded with ad banners about the items he searched for. In this case the information was taken from you mostly without your permission, how about a time when you decide who gets such information.

Open Data

What we need then is a set of standards that define the data healthiness of a an online service. Just like labels on food products show us how much fat we're putting into ourselves, we need to know how our data is being used,who has access to it, how easily can it be moved/exported. The third point about ease of exporting data is according to me very crucial to growth of new online services. Just as developers build over an open source product and build something better with it, so also do users need the ability to try newer services and allow these service to access their data and create something better with it. This would prevent users being locked into a service because their data is stuck there. We could call this movement about putting you in control of your data , 'Open Data', a direct analogue to Open Source but with a more far reaching impact as it affects us as consumers, the role we play most of the time.

Current Scenario

Google has done a fantastic job with regards to Open Data by allowing Google+ users to export all their  data. This is in start contrast to the approach of Facebook which requires tricks for extracting the contacts of your own friends!

Hopefully many others will follow in Google's footsteps.

Bypass SonicWall

If your internet is censored using SonicWall,

just use https instead of http in the URL to access whichever site u want.

Drawback : Doesnt work on sites which dont support secure browsing.But Facebook and Google support it, so WTH.
You can overcome this too by using an https proxy like Kproxy

LokPal : From Cynicism to Optimism

Cynicism

Anyone who has been living in this country  for long enough to appreciate how its government and political bodies function will sympathize with me when I say that I’ve become a complete cynic, a hater, pessimist.
I deem any effort to change the pathetic status quo as nothing but failure in written in stone. Investing time and labour in such an effort would be like “accepting a post-dated cheque on a crumbling bank”; these words by the father of our nation who envisioned a united and prosperous India, a father who is all but forgotten today.
The democracy which our nation’s greatest and brightest men set up for us has been reduced to nothing but a sham and a complete farce. Adult franchise, the power to choose your leader has been reduced to a silly game of choosing between the lesser of the evils. Politicians and political parties make and break alliances and change sides quickly in desperate efforts to grab power while ideology takes a backseat.
Parliamentary debate today is anything but a debate, every parliamentary session is another chance for a publicity hungry political party to stage a walkout. Looks like our politicians prefer to walk the walk rather than talk the talk and debate! Or maybe if they’re too tired to walk they’ll just come and throw wads of cash in the air to show their integrity!
And there’s corruption, in every nook and cranny of the administrative setup, from the clerk to the cabinet minister, everyone has a price and some lucrative deals to offer. It’s been going on for so long that it’s accepted as part and parcel of life and very few shudder or even think twice before greasing someone’s palm.

And then you want me to be an optimist….

An optimist I may not be but I’m not one to sit idly and do nothing. I dream! I dream of a better India and also sometimes dream of ways of make that happen. How do we get ourselves out of this mess? Smart educated people don’t want to get into politics, it’s too dirty and full of crass, they’d  rather work 9 to 5 and live an easy life, your choice, fair; unfortunately like a self-fulfilling prophecy, the people who do join politics aren’t a far cry from the being the dirt of this country. How do we beat this vicious cycle?

REVOLUTION!

Wait the smart educated people won’t do this, it’s easier to just care about your job and your family as if nothing else exists and be oblivious to it all. It’s easier to be a cynic. And all the not so smart people are already in politics. Oh we’re stuck in this mess forever, are we?

VENDETTA

A concept completely borrowed from the movie V for Vendetta.
How about an anonymous group of assassins serving as a watchdog over our beloved politicians.
No judicial proceedings, no bickering, no bail, no hopping in and out of jail. . One scam, one mistake and that’s it, game over, the end, justice served fast and cold. Step out of the line once and that’s the last time you’ll do it. But what if someone falsely accuses someone, Oh! That’s a crime too and shall receive its punishment. And there’s only one punishment we offer, a one way ticket to meet your maker. Every move a politician makes is under the scanner, any wrong move can be your last. Imagine a world where politicians run around scared for their lives, with a sword hanging above their heads all the time.

Alas! Such a scenario may be a dream come true for anyone who come to hate India’s politicians but there are several factors that would keep it just that, a dream.
1. Who will guard the guards? If we can’t control or question who they kill, they might as well be called terrorists and not watchdogs 2.The government can’t function effectively if its people are always scared of losing their life. 3. Violence and bloodshed can never be a permanent solution to bring about peace!

So now what!

The solution and The beauty of democracy

Reality they say is stranger than fiction! In a true mixture of Gandhian philosophy and revolutionary courage, we present: The fast unto death. Instead of an anonymous group of assassins going around killing, we have here a very visible bunch of revolutionaries ready to lay down their lives for a good cause, all they’re saying is “Get to work dear ministers or I will starve myself!”  . Isn’t this approach wrong, aren’t there better means to voice an opinion and initiate change. Well if there were any that worked, we would’ve tried them. And the best part, democracy, it turns out isn’t such a bad deal after all! where else would people have the chance to openly challenge the government’s inaction as long they remain peaceful. If our politicians don’t work, Anna Hazare along with his supporters has shown us how to get them to work and sit up and pay attention.  All this for empowering the people through the Lokpal Bill. Not everyone with a grievance can start a fast unto death and this is exactly what the LokPal Bill addresses by allowing people to file complaints against corrupt activities and promising them a guaranteed redressal within a year.

BUT

But the cynic in me cries out again. Remember RTI? There’s no doubt that it has been helpful in unearthing many illicit activities and wrong practices going on in government institutions but sheer lack of infrastructure threatens to render this powerful tool ineffective as thousands of cases pile up and average time for disposal increases. What stops LokPal from going this way? Only time can tell