The Office Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario is in the midst of its second annual IPC Transparency Challenge. Commissioner Patricia Kosseim is encouraging Ontario's public-sector organizations to submit their work on open data initiatives that improve government transparency.
A number of projects and programs will be featured in the IPC's Transparency Showcase, which is a 3D gallery of some of the notable open government initiatives. The deadline for submissions to this year's challenge is 31 May.
Last year's inaugural challenge saw 26 submissions from public-sector entities, and Kosseim is hopeful the second year yields even more interest.
"Last year's examples will really captivate people and help them understand the best-in-class models that are out there to inspire them for their own projects," Kosseim said in a recent interview with the IAPP. "I'm hoping we can build off the momentum from last year."
An additional wrinkle to this year's challenge is a call for institutions to submit projects that showcase enhanced transparency for collecting, using and disclosing personal data. Kosseim believes the effort will spark "a little competitive spirit" among participating entities to demonstrate their best practices for managing the personal information they collect responsibly, while streamlining their disclosure of public information to meet open government obligations.
"There are a lot of examples of organizations that have come up with really creative ways of being transparent with how they collect, use and disclose personal information and for what purposes," Kosseim said. "We're looking for examples that break the mold. The important thing here, in all of these initiatives, is to foster a culture of openness."
In recent years, public sector entities throughout Ontario have been innovative in how they disclose their uses of personal data. Kosseim indicated the IPC may judge this year's submissions with an eye toward that innovation.
For example, some organizations are creating videos or infographics to increase transparency and consumer awareness around the uses of their personal data instead of relying on "awful 30-page privacy notices," she said.
"As a modern and effective regulator, we certainly aspire to encourage these kinds of good examples and not just harp on the bad all the time," Kosseim said. "By doing it through a cooperative regulatory approach, we want to show organizations why transparency is important."
She added the IPC wants to use the challenge to "incentivize" and "celebrate real tangible benefits" the submissions are providing while shifting the focus away from "compliance checklists and enforcement after the fact."
Artificial intelligence plays a role in the challenge as well given how it has begun permeating into government services. Kosseim said a "great candidate" for the Transparency Challenge could be entities that have developed innovate ways to integrate AI tools into their operations.
She specifically pointed to the practical use of AI tools that help "get organized data out there" in a "collated and curated manner."
"Hopefully, we'll get some precedent-setting examples of using these kinds of emerging technologies responsibly and for the better," Kosseim added.