A bstra ct.B a sereg istries a retrusted a uthentic inform a tionsources controlled by a na p p ointed p ublica dm inistra tionor orga niza tiona p p ointed by thegovernm ent. M a inta ining a ba se reg istry com es w ith extra m a intena nce costs to crea te the da ta set a ndkeep itup to da te.Inth isp a p er,w estudy thep oss ibility to enta ngle them a intena nceof ba sereg istries a t thecoreof ex isting a dm inistra tivep rocesses a nd to reduce the cost of m a inta ining a new da ta source.W e dem onstra te a m ethod to m a na geLoca lCouncilD ecisions a s Linked D a ta ,w hich crea tes a new ba se reg istry for m a nda tes.W e found tha t no extra eff ort w a s needed inthe p rocess by loca la dm inistra tions.W eshow tha t a nend to end a p p roa ch for Loca l CouncilD ecisions a s Linked D a ta isfea s ible.Furtherm ore,using th isp roof of concep t,w e esta blished a m om entum to rollout these idea s for the reg ionof F la nders inB elg ium . K eyw ords:LinkedD a ta ,D igita lPublishing,Loca lA ff a irs,PublicA dm inistra tion 1 Introduct ion
Loca l councils a re em p ow ered by la w , to m a ke decisions onm a tters of imp orta nceto loca lcom m unities.D ecisions a rem a deinform a lly constituted council m eetings.InF la nders,loca l governm ents p rovide the decisions,or m inutes,from thesem eetings to theF lem ish A gency for D om esticG overna nce (A D G )a s unstructured da ta .T heseC ouncilD ecisions conta ina uthentic a nd timely fa cts one.g.,res igna tionof a loca lcounselor,theinsta lla tionof a new oneor theinsta lla tionof a new tra ffi c s itua tiona nd theirroa d s igns.Loca l governm ents a re the a uthor ita tive source for inform a tion,a lso a va ila ble in a uthor ita tive reg istries,such a s the reg istry of loca lcounselors or the R oa d S ignD a ta ba se (R SD ).Inorder to keep these reg istries up to da te,loca l governm ents a reobliged to up da tetheinf orm a t iononloca lcounselors or roa d s igns m a nua lly into a sep a ra tea p p lica t ionp rovided theF lem ish G overnm ent, yet thequa lity of theresulting reg ister issubop t ima l.
T he Europ ea nC om m iss iondefi nes a ba se reg istry (B R ) a s a trusted
a uthentic source of inf orm a t ionunder the control of a na p p ointed p ublic
a dm inistra t ionor orga niza t iona p p ointed by thegovernm ent.M a inta ining a
ba sereg istry com es w ith sup p ort a nd a ligned p rocesses a t thelevelof theda ta
p roviders,inth isca se,the loca l governm ent.T he R S D ,w hich conta ins a ll
roa d s igns,theircha ra cter istics a nd roa d p os itions,a likethereg istry of loca l
counselors,did not live up to the exp ecta t ions [
Inth isp a p er,w e study a p p lying Linked D a ta technologies to ha rvest the
da ta f rom the loca lcouncil,a s close a s p oss ible to the core p rocesses,a nd
p ublish ita s linked da ta .T heresulting da ta set ca np rovideinf orm a t ionto the
B a seR eg istries.A subset of th isinf orm a t ionca na lso be re used inline w ith
the D ecree onthe re use of p ublic sector inf orm a t ion.Im a gine a sm a rt city
w here p ublic decisio nm a king is ea sy f or a ll to f ollow using a ny digita l
cha nnel.
2 R ela ted w ork
O p enR a a dsInf orm a tie p ublishes inf orm a t ion f rom 5 loca l councils in the
Netherla nds a s O p enD a ta ,a s w ella s theO P a rlp roject f or loca lcouncils in
G erm a ny.Ea ch of thesep rojects usetheirow nstyleof J S O N A P I.T heda ta
f rom the m unicipa lities iscollected through A P Is a nd by scra p ing w ebs ites
a nd tra nsf orm ed to Linked O p enD a ta .A ccording to the D utch p roject's
eva lua t ion[
F ina lly, in F la nders, the interop era bility p rogra m of the F lem ish
G overnm ent,“O p enS ta nda rds f or Linked O rga niza t ions” a lso ref erred to a s
“O S LO ² ”, f ocuses on the sem a ntic level a nd extends the IS A C O R E
Voca bula ries to f a cilita tetheintegra t ionof theF lem ish ba sereg istries w ith on
ea nother a nd their imp lem enta t ioninbusiness p rocesses of both thep ublic a n
d p riva tesector [
Inthe defi nitionof the Europ ea nCom m iss ionof a ba se reg istry,trusted
m ea ns tha t,inth isca se,theloca lgovernm ent ism a na ging theLoca lCouncil
D ecisions conform a nt to best p ra ctices in a ll Europ ea n Interop era bility
Fra m ew ork dom a ins [
W einterview ed loca lgovernm ents onhow they reg ister a nd p ublish Loca l CouncilD ecisions.W ethenorga nized threew orkshop s w hich form ula ted the inp ut for theProof of Concep t:tw o w orkshop s w ereorga nized for crea ting a p relimina ry dom a in m odel, a nd one w orkshop w a s orga nized to crea te w irefra m es onhow Loca lCouncilD ecisions w ould be crea ted a nd sea rched through ina nidea lscena r io.T hedom a inconcep ts w ereform a lized into tw o Linked D a ta voca bula ries:onefor them eta da ta a nd onefor descr ibing p ublic m a nda tes, form a lized in http s://lblod.g ithub.io/voca bula ry.T he p roof of concep t cons ists of thesecom p onents:a neditor for loca ldecisions,a nH T M L p a gep ublishing serviceresp ons iblefor U R I dereferencing,a cra w ler for loca l decisions a ndtw o reuseexa m p les ontop of theha rvestedda ta .
W eintroducea v irtua lloca lgovernm ent ca lledV la V irG em for w hich w eca n p ublish loca l decisions.T he editor a t lblod.g ithub.io/editor is a p roof of concep t of such a neditor,w hich reuses ex isting ba sereg istries.You ca nchoose to fi ll out a certa intem p la te for decisions tha t oftenoccur,such a s the res igna tionof a loca lcounselor or theinsta lla tionof a new one.W henfi lling out the necessa ry fi elds, the editor w ill help you: for exa m p le, it w ill a utocom p letep eop letha t a recurrently inoffi ce.You w illthenstillbea bleto edittheoffi cialdocum ent,w hich conta ins m oreinform a tionsuch a s links to lega lba ckground,context a nd m otiva tion,a nd m eta da ta .W henyou click the p ublish button,thedecisionisp ublished a s a p la inH T M L fi leona fi lehost. T heU R Is a recrea teda s ha sh U R Is from thedocum ent's U R L.
A ha rvester isthenset up using T heD a ta T a nk,a nop e nsourcep roject to (re)p ublish da ta over H T T P.B y co nfiguring a rich snipp ets ha rvester,H T M L fi les a rep a rsed a nd som elinks a refollow ed to discover thenext to bep a rsed docum ent.T heextra cted tr iples a rerep ublished for both thera w da ta a s a n overview of them a nda tes.T h isda ta isthesta rt of tw o reusedem os a t http :// vla v irgem .pieter .pm :the fi rst f or genera ting a na utom a tic list of m a nda tes, a nd thesecond isa list of loca ldecisions.
A lthough Loca lC ouncilD ecisions conta inh igh qua lity inf orm a t ioninthef orm of no nstructured da ta ,the inf orm a t ioninthe a uthor ita tive source f or loca l m a nda tes toda y does not.Inorder to reduce the w orkloa d to sha re th is inf orm a t ion(e.g.,a new ly a p p ointed counselor)w ith other governm ents or the p riva te sector,the loca ldecisionca nbe p ublished a s a Linked O p enD a ta docum ent a t thesource.
T hep roof of concep t show s tha t (I)a nend to end a p p roa ch,ba sed onthe develop ed Linked D a ta m ethod, isf ea s iblea nd tha t itca nm a kethedecision m a king p rocess m oreeffi cient:less m a nua lw ork,governm ents m a y seek ea sier inregula t ion,the Linked D a ta a llow s ea sy to do a n imp a ct a na lys isw hen leg isla t ionisa m ended.(II)W enoticea qua lity ga ininediting dueto correct lega lref erences (evenref erencing to decisions of theirm unicipa lity)a nd the useof qua lita tivef a ctua lda ta (e.g.a ddresses linked to theC entra lR ef erence A ddress D a ta ba se, a reg iona l ba se reg istry) (III) F ina lly, there a re a lso effi ciency ga ins inthe p ublica t ionof the decisions tha t a re a utom a tica lly p ublished onthe w ebs ite of the loca lgovernm ent,inthe codex a nd w ithout a dditiona leff orts su ita blef or reuseby th ird p a rties (O p enD a ta ).T heins ights crea ted a p olitica lba s isto build a ba sereg istry f or Loca lC ouncilD ecisions in linew ith thebest p ra ctices of th isstudy.T h isp roject,f unded by theF lem ish A gency f or D om estic G overna ncea nd F la nders Inf orm a t ionA gency (F la nders R a dica lly D igita lP rogra m m e), isa step stoneinthetra ns itionof theF lem ish G overnm ent tow a rds a ninf orm a t iondrivena dm inistra t ionw ith s imp lified p rocesses a nd better p ublic services.