JANUARY 6, 2005 WORKSHOP ON FEDERAL ORGANIZATIONS (95S)
Governance and Finance Work Group (95T)
Many thanks to Jim Frech, NAPA, for his assistance in compiling these notes! (SQE)
The Governance and Finance Workgroup was asked to address five major questions: (SPK)
1. Are there additional functions to add to the list developed in last month's meeting? (SPL)
- We should restate the emphasis on "statistical literacy" to express the concept as "developing tools for data-driven decision-making and public policy (SPN)
- NICS ought to eventually be a place where we advocate for better, data driving decisions (SPO)
- NICS can clearly play a "marketplace function" in providing data and information to researchers; this function will be enhanced and further catalysed by resolution of critical intellectual property and privacy/confidentiality issues (SPP)
- NICS needs a research function which can cover issues such as privacy, intellectual property, integration, digital libraries, etc (SPQ)
- There is a need for a "technical assistance" function to teach communities how to better use data on their geographies. Perhaps NICS could use a model like the HMIS Homeless Information program, where it uses a "stable" of consultants to provide these services to local communities. This function may very well be exactly the function envisioned for the Community Statistical Systems Network in its next phase of development. (SPR)
- Donna Scholz suggested that NICS should manage a "subchannel" on community statistics on the GOS portal. Is there a desire to do this? Good link to ongoing Federal statistical efforts. (SQC)
2. What ongoing efforts at the Federal level should NICS be linked to? (SPS)
- NICS should be linked to the Federal Enterprise Architecture model efforts to develop a Data Reference Model (SPT)
- NICS should be linked to research efforts on privacy, intellectual property, integration, fusion, digital libraries, etc, already ongoing at NSF (SPU)
- NICS should be linked to the Cyberinfrastructure program at NSF (SPV)
- We need a way to include potential critics of our efforts, such as the Center for Democracy and Technology or the Electronic Frontier Foundation and other privacy advocates. NICS should host several day-long forums on the topics of intellectual property and privacy/confidentiality issues to clarify our position on the issues, as well as bring in a broader group of stakeholders. (SPW)
3. What formal and informal models and groups in the federal government should NICS emulate as it constitutes itself as an enterprise? (SPX)
- NICS needs to change its organizational strategy as it moves into the "prototyping" phase and gets the use cases up and running. Need an organizational approach that is flexible, but also has centralized management to monitor use cases and integrate learning. (SPY)
- Look at three types of organizations discussion as suggested in GAO report (SPZ)
- Whatever organization form is selected should be flexible enough to accomodate multiple types and flows of funding, such as grants, license revenues, royalties, subscriptions, memberships, etc. (SQ0)
4. NICS will be financed through a mix of public, private and non-profit funding sources. What types of inkind, sponsorship and other forms of federal support should NICS be able to attract? (SQ1)
- NICS can look to potential sources of revenues through: (SQ2)
- NICS needs a strategy for sustainability, perhaps the right model to think about is a "trading exchange" where information and data can be exchanged through a neutral venue. (SQD)
5. How might NICS deal federal-level issues that could impede data sharing, such as regulations on data sharing and privacy? (SPM)
- NICS can provide a very useful function by aggregating Federal data to solve confidentiality problems while allowing for small area analysis. We will need this functionality despite barriers of FRPA and HIPAA (SQ8)
- NICS needs to sponsor some forums (mentioned above) on IP and privacy to educate the community and understand the barriers (legislative, etc), as well as address a research effort on IP and privacy (SQ9)
- NICS should spin off a task force on metadat issues and link it to the Data Reference Model work (see above) (SQA)
- NICS should spin off a task force on research issues..."if we are to lead, then we need to know what is happening down the line". Need to keep an eye on emerging research issues (see above) (SQB)
Notes will be posted on Monday, January, 10. (94I)