Tracking Typhoon Haiyan: Open Government Data in Disaster Response and Recovery

Tracking Typhoon Haiyan:Open Government Data in Disaster

Response and Recovery

Rachel E. KhanCollege of Mass Communication

University of the Philippines, Diliman

This paper presents a Case Study on Philippine Open

Government Data (OGD), with a focus on disaster management

in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.

Background of the Study

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said, "We’re

supposed to give government data to the public and it is

our duty to disclose it” (Speech at the Open Data PH

forum, Malacanang, 25 February 2014).

Background of the Study

The General Appropriations Act of 2012, Section 93 requires

government agencies to strive for transparency and enforce

accountability via a so-called Transparency Seal, a symbol on

government agency website that indicate that it contains public

information deemed vital by the law.

Background of the Study

The National Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Council

(NDRRMC), formerly known as the National Disaster

Coordinating Council (NDCC), is a working group of various

government, non-government, civil sector and private sector

organizations of the Government of the Republic of the

Philippines established by Republic Act 10121 of 2009. It is

administered by the Office of Civil Defense under the

Department of National Defense. The Council is responsible for

ensuring the protection and welfare of the people during

disasters or emergencies.

Statement of the ProblemIs there value and salience in the open government data

(OGD) with regards disaster risk reduction and

management, specifically with regard to Typhoon Haiyan?

The study asks the following questions:

1. What is the official policy on transparency in disaster

management?

2. What are the existing data available on Typhoon Haiyan?

3. Do these data meet the international standards for

OGD?

4. Do these data meet the needs of the general public for

information?

Theoretical FrameworkFenster (2015) argues that transparency as an element of good

governance cannot be solely built on traditional public

administration theory, because it is dependent on a set of

identifiable variables that revolve around the production of

information.

Common assumptions on transparency:

• Government is a producer or repository of information and can

be made to share that information;

• Government information constitutes a message that can be

isolated and disclosed;

• There is a public that awaits this information and is ready and

willing to act based on this information.

Thus the researcher attempted to combine and adopt new public

management theory along with theories currently outside the

public administration discourse.

Theoretical Framework

The proposed model combines Fung, Graham and Weil’s

Transparency Action Cycle (2007); Claude and Shannon's

Communication Model (1949) as well as the Grunig and Hunt

(1984) two-way symmetrical model of Public Relations.

Methodology:The paper uses both qualitative and

quantitative approaches.

Primarily, the study employed the following:

a. A content analysis of Haiyan-related

government websites and portals wherein

data was measured using Open Data

principles set by the international Sunlight

Foundation (2010);

b. A purposive survey of non-government

organizations’ use of OGD;

c. In-depth interviews with government

officials involved in OGD.

MethodologyOpen Data principles set by the international Sunlight

Foundation (2010) were used a measurement tools in the

content analysis:

• Completeness - Datasets released by the government

should reflect the entirety of what is recorded about a

particular subject.

• Primacy - Datasets released by the government should be

original data generated by the agency.

•Timeliness - Data should be up-to-date as possible and

released in a timely fashion, i.e. priority is given to data that

is time sensitive.

• Machine Readability - data is readable and “processable”,

e.g. a document stored on PDF should have Optical

Character Recognition (OCR).

Findings

FaiTH – Foreign Aid Transparency Hub

Findings

NDRRMC

(National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council)

.pdf file dated Dec. 31, 2013

Findings

Department of

Social Welfare

and

Development

Scroll down data set,

cannot be copied,

actual size

Did not match the

summary data of the

FAiTH website

Summary of Findings1. The government portals failed the Sunshine Foundation

criteria in terms of timeliness (data not updated) and

machine readability.

2. There is lack of clarity and transparency in the

prioritization of projects funded out of the NDRRMC.

3. The use of funds and assistance from international donors

and the private sector are not captured in transparency

portals.

4. Reports of the various disaster channels are incongruent.

Conclusion/Recommendations

1. Online hubs like FAiTH are a good step forward, as these

reflect the national government’s recognition of

transparency as a key consideration in rehabilitation efforts.

2. There is a need for greater coordination among

government agencies that are involved in disaster

management. The incongruent data is symptomatic of a

problem in the organizational structure of the NDRRMC.

3. True transparency, especially one that deals with up to

billions of pesos in international aid, should contain almost

real-time tracking of progress from the moment of receipt,

up to allocation to projects or programs, and the resulting

and penultimate tangible benefit that it has turned to.