We've got the answers to the other questions we submitted, predictably vague but useful nonetheless (for campaign quotes, and just in building up the pressure to do something). You can read the questions and responses on Hansard, but I particularly like the look of this bit:

For central government bodies other than trading funds, the clear policy is that raw information should, subject to any statutory provision, be freely available or provided at the marginal cost of dissemination.

That's good to know, and backs up the Green Party's case for making it accessible as well, e.g. Parliamentary procedure in an open, machine-readable format rather than plain HTML, or key data on domestic energy use in one place as a canonical source rather than being scattered across different sections of government departments (Defra, BERR, CLG, etc.)

There's a nice piece in the Guardian today summarising recent developments, well worth a look. It would be nice if we could supply those guys with a decent set of OpenStreetMap graphics for use in articles rather than using non-free sources too!

The Government has responded to the first of several questions I drafted for Tim Beaumont, the Green member of the House of Lords. We want to pile on the pressure so that the Labour Government takes the report they commissioned seriously, and to find out if they intend to act on any specific parts. One very general question - asking "whether they intend to make the Ordnance Survey's MasterMap available free of financial or legal restrictions" - got this response:

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): As announced in the Budget, the Government will look closely at public sector information held by trading funds including Ordnance Survey, to distinguish more clearly what is required by government for public tasks and ensure that this information is made available as widely as possible for use in downstream markets. In the lead up to the next spending review, the Government will ensure that information collected for public purposes is priced so that the need for access is balanced with ensuring that customers pay a fair contribution to the cost of collecting this information in the long term. In the mean time Ordnance Survey will continue to generate the revenue it requires to cover its costs, to fund investments and to provide a return to government, from sales of paper mapping and from licensing use of the Crown copyright and Crown database rights in its data, including OS MasterMap.

So no surprises there, but the spending review is definitely a good campaign target. If the Government took their own research seriously, and approached Ordnance Survey's funding a little more creatively (e.g. with land registry surcharges), then communities like OpenStreetMap would be able to open up hugely beneficial opportunities. Expect a report from the Green Party on this whenever I get the time to finish it off!

I came across this great web site created by the Institute for Fiscal Studies - Where do you fit in?

Enter your household income, council tax and dependents then it will show you where you lie in the UK's income distribution. It turns out that I earn more than 77% of the UK's population, although I never thought that ~£20k in London made me particularly rich. A friend of mine on ~£31k is in the top 7% for the country!

It just goes to show how we can take our income for granted, how unrealistic young people's inflated expectations are, and that the working poor represent a huge stain on Labour's supposed social democratic concerns.

My fringe session on free software and data went well last night, we discussed the issues, possible policy and campaigns on what is a pretty niche subject. My cause was helped by the organisers using OpenStreetMap's coverage in the conference pack to show people how to get around - a nice treat for me since I helped map this area!

I started out by describing why Greens should care about "intellectual property", touching on the potential for free information to empower communities, taking control from centralising corporations to promote small and medium-scale social enterprise and exploring/defending/deepening alternative property forms such as the commons; also classical environmental concerns like the availability of data and research on climate change, e-waste created by Microsoft Vista's upgrade cycle, and so on.

I then introduced some context, namely:

• How Greens led the fight against software patents;
• Our policies promoting free software and access to information, also captured in various places in our manifesto;
• The amazingly successful media campaign against Microsoft Vista;
• Our collaboration on the free software, free society open letter promoting free software;
• Commentary and opposition to the Windows-only and DRM-full BBC iPlayer platform.

Participants fleshed out various ways of looking at the problems, including: open access scientific journals, and the comparative cost of open access versus paid access models; the quality of data available; the formats and standards in which data is made available; legal and technical restrictions on data; working cultures that lead to these problems and a general culture of excessive centralisation & restriction. So quite comprehensive!

Two nice practical ideas came out, which was a relief...

First, access to electoral data including boundaries (wards, constituencies, etc.), election results (that vary in format and quality across council web sites) and the postcode database. In Brighton, Jason Kitkat wanted to set-up a "who is your councillor" web page but couldn't because of the post codeissue. We could talk to people like ORG, mySociety, the British Computer Society, OKFN and others to represent this issue to the Electoral Commission. A bit dorky, perhaps, but maybe an easy win?

The second is to see if we can convince someone in a council that we have some political power in - i.e. Brighton, Lewisham, Norwich or Oxford - to assist OpenStreetMap more directly. For example they could notify OSM volunteers when streets, amenities etc. are created or change.

I'm hoping to turn a list of email addresses into a working group, with a view to submitting a policy motion in the Autumn conference and developing those campaigns in the meantime. Fingers crossed, stay posted!

The Green-EFA Alliance have put together this silly little video as part of the I wouldn't steal campaign. The Greens have been leading the fight against laws that protect multinationals' profits at the expense of ordinary citizens, and artists who create those films. Here's the vid:

A cabal met up this Wednesday and so the free art show is definitely going to happen, hooray! The best kind of Green politics - combine a practical celebration of your ideals with some alternative propaganda and persuasion. I need to get on with mapping the rest of the area around the gallery on OpenStreetMap. Then I can produce public transport maps to convince those dafty North Londoners that it's not that difficult to reach Old Kent Road :).

I went to a very interesting meeting at the New Economics Foundation recently to discuss thriving communities. The strongest message that I took away was the need to empower individuals and communities to become economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. I met some really amazing people working in social care services, schools, regeneration trusts, councils, think tanks and other charities, who were all finding practical ways to do just this. Read on for a few reflections and links.

Had a lovely Christmas and New Year and got reflecting on what I've achieved in 2007 outside of my job. Except for some good media work for the Green Party on free software issues, and keeping up my commitments for People & Planet and KDE, I've mostly dithered about not really making good ideas happen. So here's what I'm planning to get up to in the following year:

• Organise a Free Culture art show - I've got an offer of a space on Old Kent Road, now I just need to gather together the bods to make it happen;
• Become a Sustrans Ranger for part of the Wandle Trail in London;
• Get a decent Green Party campaign going on free software and free data;
• Join a south London choir and get singing again;
• Get on with the economics reading group I'm doing with friends to broaden and deepen my knowledge;
• Map around Wandsworth Road station area with my wonderful lady;
• Meet more nice people in my area to avoid having to travel so far to see old friends or sitting around lonely.

On Monday night I attended the South London Citizens AGM, along with Rachel from BioRegional's paper recycling company and Sue, our Director. Dues-paying church groups, charities and trade unions joined together to discuss asylum and immigration, the living wage, the London Mayor elections next year, and active citizenship in general. It was a great contrast to the preceding weekend of decadance in the countryside. The meeting also got me thinking about Green political strategy and grassroots change...

Hello all on Planet KDE,

After yet another session of select all + delete on kde promo and marketing lists, I decided to unsubscribe and say goodbye once and for all. With all my work for my employer, the Green Party, People & Planet and getting completely caught up in a new relationship, I just don't have the time. Probably not even to help out much with the KDE 4.0 release.

Besides, there are so many cool new people involved in KDE promo work these days that my presence is hardly needed anyway!

So goodbye, thanks for all the fish & good times, I wish you all the best of luck and I'll try to keep track of the planet / Dot. I'll get my blog off Planet KDE too so nobody need read my occasional off-topic rants about UK politics and making maps!

I'm publishing a draft of something I've scribbled into on and off for the past couple of months, here's the abstract:

Greens have started to mobilise with the increasingly confident Free Culture and Free Software movements in the face of copyright maximalists. This short paper establishes a vision of cultural policy that asks how we can defend, create and enlarge spaces where cultural activities can unfold freely. It then walks the reader through a critique of copyright; first it argues that copyright is a civil rather than a natural property right, so it should be shaped to serve the aims of cultural policy rather than inalienable rights; and second that it conflicts with this paper's vision of cultural policy in various ways. Finally it suggests a few brief strategies for Greens to advance cultural policy through active politics.

I'd be interested to get any feedback.

In other news, I've come third in this year's top green blogs list, which is almost as cool as the mobile clubbing happening I danced in at the Tate Modern last Friday :)