Public (and private) sector organizations will remain walled gardens unless the way they communicate internally and externally changes radically – open interfaces are the way to go.

Open Government advocates are calling for broader use of open interfaces (APIs) and the use of open formats in government. The more radical voices are even saying that only the use of open source software and platforms can guarantee truly open government. The truth is, that it matters less which platforms and software is being used on servers, clients and in the cloud, but rather how systems communicate with each other. As long as department A can send department B a file that it can access without problems or restrictions, or as long as  company C has access to department D’s data in a machine-readable format, interoperability and platform-independence is maintained provided that this is true over time (i.e. data is still readable many years from now). Transparency, Participation and Collaboration are the cornerstones of Open Government ever since the infamous Obama Memo blew wind into the sails of the movement. These cornerstones require – from a technical perspective – that information, the fuel and currency of our modern society, can be exchanged and accessed whenever, wherever and by who- or whatever. As long as interfaces to platforms, databases, content repositories, or content management systems are open and standard-compliant, nobody needs to worry about compatibility, and as long as the data these give access to is contained within open formats that are properly documented and recognized as international standards, nobody needs to worry about access. Open interfaces, and open formats, are the way to open government. As a side-effect, they level the IT playing field and foster open competition, which in turn means that users/customers can in turn chose whichever open or proprietary software they need for their organization knowing that the solution that fits their needs best will support open standards. I say organization because private sector entities are facing the exact same dilemmas. Unfortunately, the world is still a long way from that goal. Because open source software is by nature better in this respect, its implementation is often demanded, but if commercial suppliers would follow suit in terms of interoperability and standards, it would not have to be that way.

Open formats:  www.document-interoperability.com

What is your take on open interfaces, interoperability, compatibility and e-government? We are looking forward to your comments.

Related posts:

1. The new face of Enterprise Content Management
2. What Open Government Can Do For You
3. Open platforms – will the monopolies crumble?