Open Data Strategy 2024 - 2028

The Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) is committed to making its data available free to the community to support open, accountable and transparent government. Open Data is an important part of proactive disclosure of government-held information, and is consistent with Queensland public sector agencies’ obligations under the Right to Information Act 2009.

This Open Data Strategy sets out a four year plan of how OIC will support the Queensland Government’s Open Data initiative by publishing datasets held by OIC. It also explains how OIC will embed a culture of ‘share first’ and ‘needing to share’ its data through the whole-of-Government open data portal for the benefit of the Queensland community and private enterprise.

Strategic overview

Short and long-term goal:

The short term goal is to identify appropriate datasets that can easily be made available to the general public. The long term goal is to identify opportunities to expand on the datasets listed in Appendix 1. The Open Data Strategy will be reviewed annually to ensure it is meeting this purpose.

Datasets

OIC holds limited data due to the nature of its functions and size. In addition to data of a corporate nature, OIC holds data collected or produced in relation to performance monitoring activities, training and support activities, and external review and privacy complaint functions. A large proportion of review and complaint data is not suitable for release due to legal requirements.

Principles for data release are:

• OIC will consider all data unless it is restricted for reasons of privacy, public safety, security classification, commercial confidentiality or compliance with the law and does not represent an undue operational risk.
• Data will be available for open use, by being freely available through the data.qld.gov.au website, and links from the OIC website, and provided in formats that will promote its reuse.
• OIC will endeavour to release data that is relevant and timely, and stored in a machine readable format suitable for public consumption.
• Data will be released under a Creative Commons with attribution licence, unless otherwise stated on datasets.
• OIC supports a data suitability checklist that will assist agencies to make clear decisions on which datasets will be released and what work is required to make them ready for publication.

Data characteristics

We prioritise for early release, but not limit consideration to, datasets that will provide value to the public, such as those that have one or more of the following characteristics:

• increase the openness and transparency of government and its processes
• capture the public interest or promote public debate
• be used and analysed by researchers or non-government organisations
• allow new products or services to be developed by users of the data
• report on customer feedback and experience
• provide geospatial or contact data.

Data Governance and Standards

So users of our data can do so effectively, OIC will ensure the data it releases will:

• be made available in open formats such as CSV and XML
• follow metadata standards
• have clear usage licences
• be published and available as soon as possible after collection
• not compromise privacy legislation, public safety, security or commercial confidentiality
• advise of data quality and length of time data will continue to be produced.

Risks to achieving the strategy

• OIC’s existing business systems may not lend themselves to open data formats
• Cultural change required to embed open data into work practices.

Future Program

OIC’s focus on data release will be driven by user need and opportunities to improve data quality by:

• raising awareness with clients and stakeholders
• continuing to support transparent decision making processes to ensure as much data are being released as possible and open data standards and formats are embedded in existing work practices
• encouraging data users to provide feedback about usefulness, gaps and general satisfaction
• reviewing data-related processes and systems and addressing issues relating to timeliness, reliability, relevance and accuracy.

Staff Awareness

Open data concepts and practices will be communicated to existing staff via induction, the Intranet and other appropriate internal communication channels.

Feedback

OIC values feedback and interaction with clients and stakeholders. All feedback, requests for data or general enquiries will be managed in accordance with the OIC Client Service Charter.

Contact us:

Administration:

Telephone: (07) 3234 7373 (AEST)
Email: administration@oic.qld.gov.au

Postal address:
Office of the Information Commissioner
PO Box 10143
Adelaide Street
Brisbane
Queensland 4000

Office location:
Level 11
53 Albert Street Brisbane
Queensland 4000

Appendix 1