The influence of the PSI directive on open government data: An overview of recent developments☆

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are becoming central to the remaking of social work with children and families in England and Wales. Factors helping to steer this development include ‘joined up thinking’, the ‘e-government agenda’, and marketization. Examples of ‘e-practice’ discussed include: the envisaged databases for children, featured in the Children Act 2004; the utilization by local authorities of the ‘Risk of Offending Generic Solution’ (RYOGENS); the pending introduction of the Integrated Children’s System (ICS). The article seeks to promote debate and contributions from social work and social policy academics, users and providers of social services.

Social work’s ‘electronic turn’: notes on the deployment of information and communication technologies in social work with children and families

With the proliferation of mobile network, mobile devices, and Web of things, many industries, including government departments, private firms, and research communities, offer more transparency through releasing data. The resultant effort offers a new paradigm—open data—still at infancy stage. Despite the rising research initiatives explaining its benefits and challenges and demonstrating policy conception and project details, no systematic survey of extant literature on open data has been performed. Hence, there is need for studies that examine open data on a holistic canvas, assess the current status of research, and propose future directions. Here, we conduct a review of extant literature to ascertain the current state of research on open data, and present an extensive exploration for 11 types of analyses: contexts, perspectives, level of analysis, research methods, the drivers, benefits, barriers, theory/model development, the most productive journals, authors, and institutions. Additionally, w...

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State-of-the-art in open data research: Insights from existing literature and a research agenda

The strategic importance of information policy for the contemporary neoliberal state: The case of Open Government Data in the United Kingdom

The actions of the medical profession and the British government have encouraged general practitioners to embrace computing at the same time that hospital doctors were alienated. However, clinical computing for a general practice is technically much easier than for a whole hospital or health district. This review focuses on technical issues (patient record architecture, terminology, interoperability standards, security, and developments in computer technology) which prevent what works for general practice working well in hospitals. These issues, which are all related to scalability, present a major challenge to those responsible for delivering the new vision of integrated 21st century information technology support for the NHS.1

#### Summary points

General practice computerisation has been a success, but what works in a GP surgery does not readily scale up to work in a hospital

Computer based patient records have a more diverse range of uses in hospitals than in general practice, and simple unidimensional classification schemes such as the original Read codes cannot cope

In hospitals many different computer systems need to be linked together, requiring common interoperability standards

Protection of privacy is a much greater problem in hospitals

The number of potential users in hospitals makes substantial demands on hardware and networks

This article has had a long gestation. Much of the evidence comes from my experience over nearly 30 years, first as leader of the computer evaluation unit at the Charing Cross Hospital, London (1974-80), then as a general practice system supplier (1980-90), and as a supplier of clinical information systems for hospital doctors (1990-9). An initial version of the article was written in 1993 and extended for the NHS Executive's integrated clinical workstation project 1995. A later version was presented at the AMIA Symposium, Washington, DC, November 2001 (proceedings, pp 42–46).

Computer based patient records have long been seen …

https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/325/7372/1090.1.full.pdf

Why general practitioners use computers and hospital doctors do not—Part 2: scalability

Editorial: privacy and data sharing: the way forward for public services?

Gowers Review of Intellectual Property bears fruit

30 years on – The review of the Council of Europe Data Protection Convention 108

In three years since Ed Mayo's and Tom Steinberg's 'Power of Information Review', much attention has been focused on UK national information policy (NIP) as to how to render it fit for purpose in a Gov 2.0 environment. Since 2007, the importance of collecting, creating and sharing information in different formats has been a feature of policy. Despite these austere times, the intractable problem of funding public sector information provision, particularly from the trading funds, such as Ordnance Survey, has been under review. Problems continue, however, in translating the desire for reform into reality. At a time when a new coalition government is establishing policy, the fragility of these cross-government agendas can be seen. What is needed now is a clear understanding of how NIP feeds into broader ambitions of the knowledge economy, and how spatial information, data sharing and its exploitation can be used to promote better policies, facilitate social reform and build smarter government in the process.

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Stephen Saxby

Papers

Editorial: privacy and data sharing: the way forward for public services?

Gowers Review of Intellectual Property bears fruit

30 years on – The review of the Council of Europe Data Protection Convention 108

Three years in the life of UK national information policy – the politics and process of policy development

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