Globalisation, Information Policy and Strategy
          Michael Blakemore, Brno, 24 November 2004
 Michael.blakemore@I-dra.org, michael.blakemore@durham.ac.uk
                              

                              
                            SDIs
Strategies to build a central resource of spatial
(geospatial, geographical) information, using the arguments:
  Mapping information is the base for most applications in
  government
  Many agencies produce information in different formats,
  scales, systems

SDIs take many forms
  Centralisation of the information (standards)
  Virtual information resource (metadata, interoperability)
  Legislation (USA) versus cooperation (UK)
  
SDI strategies assume linear benefits: more data, better
resolution, leads to benefits to society
                              
                          Rhetorics
Technology as a predictable machine, not a social process
  My mobile phone is `my' technology
  It `behaves' uniquely
  It can be used ethically and unethically
  The makers of my phone cannot predict all the uses

Neo-futurist scenarios of informational nirvana
  But there are real needs driven by the uncertain
  processes of globalisation
  Terrorism
  Mobility and unknown territories
  Surveillance and safety
                              
Microscale identification of risk -- dilution of the common
cause (Insurance)

Beliefs in overcoming past problems
  Sharing, Integration, Interoperable, Global agreements,
  Better access, High quality
  "unquestioned paradigms of change"
                              
                              


              What about past infrastructures?
`Theatrum Orbis Terrarum' Ortelius [1570s]
The universal cartographic data base [Rentmeester 1968]
World Data Bank II in the late 1970s [Anderson 1978]
European CORINE environmental database built in the 1970s
[Rhind & Wiggins 1976]
 Global environmental databases [Bickmore, 1985]
Tensions about whether global data should be built by the
public or private sectors [IBM, 1997]

Current initiatives therefore are best viewed as refinements
of a long timeline of attempts to build regional and global
data resources.

                      Complex contexts
Statistics or Geography?
`Clouds' of SDIs at multiple scales
Risks of monocultures
Risks of information expropriation -- poor to rich

Lessons of failure: "Virtually every SDI vision or strategy
ever published has initially grossly underestimated the
resources and time scales for implementation". (Roger
Longhorn)

Ownership of the SDI by government or by business?
  What SDIs exist in business? Experian, CACI ...
  Geodemographics and Credit Referencing. Petroleum
  Industry.
                              
             The value in financial flexibility
Avoids strategic meltdowns such as US Federal Mapping
  "Nearly 70 percent of all flood maps are more than 10
  years old, according to FEMA"
  "a motivation behind The National Map vision is the need
  to update an ageing paper map series that is, on average,
  23 years old"
US large scale mapping is not the preserve of the USGS, but
of States, Counties and Cities etc.
  These generally have well-developed charging and access
  policies. Commodification is well-established.
  
When comparing `apples with apples' the US situation is one
of disparate and disconnected large scale information.

                        Coordination
US review by GAO 2004
  "The government's existing strategic plan for the NSDI is
  out of date and does not include specific measures for
  identifying and reducing redundancies. Federal agencies
  have not always fully complied with OMB direction to
  coordinate their investments".
  
The UK situation is not a lot better
  Unfortunate launch of a NGDB -- Database, not concept or
  structure
  NGDF ... slow and bureaucratic. Suffers all the usual
  issues of Departmentalism
    TIPS, TIA ... USA terrorism information infrastructures
                              
                      Other experiences
May 2002 www.silicon.com . The White House has increased
pressure on government groups to share information across
department boundaries in an attempt to combat terrorism in
the aftermath of the 11 September attacks. But government
policy advisors say inter-department rivalry has hindered
the required IT implementation.

Henry Gibson, bank secrecy act compliance officer with the
US Postal Service, said: "Departments are very territorial,
internally, and with other law enforcement agencies. "If you
have data that can help catch the bad guys you don't want to
share it with other law enforcers for fear they will grab
the low hanging fruit and catch them first," he said.

Norman Reid (USDA) said: "Sharing information is not a
technical problem. We know we've got the systems. It's about
building relationships between organisations that are not
used to co-operating."

And ... the USA 9/11 Report

                       Debating points
SDIs remain "Sub-optimal negotiations between risk-averse
agencies (in essence a process of relationship management),
and to date the scales at which SDIs operate do not threaten
national information sovereignties."

Hub and spoke; De-centralised network; Singular integration

Re-militarising potentials and ethical paradoxes
  The surveillant surge
  The disappearance of disappearance
  
SDIs are not new
SDIs are `immanent' at present, and it will be a long time
until they reach transcendence.