ADDRESSING INFORMATION ASYMMETRY IN THE SOCIAL CONTRACT: AN ARCHIVAL-DIPLOMATIC APPROACH TO OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA CURATION James Lowry A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Information Studies UCL London, UK 2019 1 Declaration of Originality I, James Lowry, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Signed: James Lowry PhD candidate 2 Dedicated to William and Elaine Lowry 3 ABSTRACT This thesis shows that the concepts and practices developed in the field of record-keeping can be applied to the curation of open government data to strengthen the trustworthiness of that data. It begins by situating open government data in the context of the social contract, which operates through the exchange of information. The thesis develops the notions of the ‘record-as-command’ and ‘data-as-command’ to explain the dialogical but asymmetrical information relationship between the individual and the state, which is modelled as a principal-agent problem. Using concepts from information economics, the study argues that open government data is the latest monitoring mechanism in a long history of government secrecy and openness. This establishes the significance of the curation of open government data beyond technical questions. The thesis then considers how trustworthiness has figured in thinking about record-keeping, identifying three core record-keeping controls; 1) metadata used to document 2) custodianship in 3) auditable systems. To show how these three broad controls have been put into practice, the study examines two examples of record-keeping guidance, one for paper records and one for hybrid records, which demonstrates the application of the three core controls across time and media. The study then looks for the presence or absence of these controls in government datasets published in Kenya and Australia. These analyses trace the datasets back to their source(s), at each step looking for evidence of custodial and curatorial interventions documented in metadata managed in auditable systems. The study’s contribution to open government data work is its demonstration of the value of record-keeping controls in the curation of data. Additionally, the study contributes new insights to information in the principal-agent problem of the social contract, contributes to archival theory and finds a need to foster critical data literacy in the body politic if open government data is to be read and used to correct information asymmetry. 4 IMPACT STATEMENT The insights set out in this thesis could be put to beneficial use in the curation of open government data. As the thesis explains, the open data community is becoming increasingly interested in data quality, including data trustworthiness, and is seeking methods for improving open data. Some of that work is reinventing concepts and techniques that have been developed over many centuries in the field of record-keeping, and those record-keeping concepts and techniques could usefully be introduced into the open data community and its projects in order to make open data more trustworthy. The findings of the thesis could inform data curation practices in terms of thinking about how data is collected, aggregated, used, published and repurposed, and throughout these processes, documented in systems that allow custodianship to be audited. Such interventions would improve data quality by improving trustworthiness, which in turn could have substantial impacts on information asymmetry under the social contract. Improvements in open government data trustworthiness might have other benefits further down the data value chain, in terms of social enterprise, commercial activity, public policy development, public service delivery and the quality of the environment. These effects might be seen on the individual, communal and societal levels. These possible benefits are not restricted to local or national contexts, but may be effected wherever data processing could be improved. Beyond these technical and social impacts, the benefits of this research might include benefits within academia, including greater interdisciplinarity in the teaching of records and archives management and data curation and analysis. These impacts could be brought about by disseminating the findings through scholarly publications, but the primary focus of dissemination should be in easily accessible (free and online) guidance with an applied focus aimed at data curators and users, which is the audience best placed to implement the findings of this research. 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to my supervisors, Elizabeth Shepherd, Andrew Flinn and Elizabeth Lomas, for their advice and patience. For their support or their help with my research, thanks to Prestone Adie (Data Analyst, Open Data Initiative, ICT Authority, Kenya), Nisa Bayindir, Mark Brogan (Senior Lecturer, School of Computer and Security Science, Edith Cowan University), Alexandrina Buchanan (Senior Lecturer, Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies), Marilyn Deegan (Professor, Department of Digital Humanities, Kings College London), Frederick Galtung (President, Integrity Action), Anne Gilliland (Professor, Department of Information Studies, UCLA), Erin Harris, Edward Kosgei (Head of Lands Administration, Lands Department, Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning, Kenya), Catherine Lowry, Gabriel MacCormack, Patricia MacCormack (Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University), Sifa Mawiyoo (Open Data Specialist and GIS Technologist, Open Data Initiative, ICT Authority, Kenya), Peter Molnar (Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Media and Communications Studies, Central European University), Sandra Musoga (Senior Programme Officer, Transparency, Article 19, Kenya), Leonida Mutuku (Founder and CEO, InteliPro, Kenya), Francis Mwangi (Director, Kenya National Archives and Documentation Service), Emily Ndungi (former Principal Records Management Officer, Lands Department, Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning, Kenya), Liana Saif (then British Academy postdoctoral fellow at the Oriental Institute at the University of Oxford), Anthea Seles (then at the National Archives, UK), Ember Taylor (then at the University of Liverpool), Anne Thurston (Director, International Records Management Trust), Megan Venter (then at the University of Liverpool), Justus Wamukoya (Professor and Dean, School of Information Sciences, Moi University, Kenya), Richard Wato (Assistant Director, Kenya National Archives and Documentation Service) and Stacy Wood (Assistant Professor, School of Computing and Information, University of Pittsburgh). 6 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES 11 LIST OF ACRONYMS 12 Chapter 1: Introduction and Research Design 15 1.1. Introduction 16 1.2. Justification of the Topic - An Archival Imperative 17 1.3. Research Questions 19 1.4. Methodology 20 1.5. Limitations 26 1.6. Definitions 28 1.7. Thesis Outline 31 Chapter 2: Information and the Social Contract 35 2.1. Introduction 36 2.2. Commands 36 2.3. The Record as Command 40 2.4. Bureaucracy as Apparatus 48 2.5. Information in the Societies of Discipline and Control 55 2.6. Conclusion 63 Chapter 3: Information Asymmetry in the Social Contract 67 3.1. Introduction 68 3.2. The Social Contract and Agency 68 3.3. Information Asymmetry 77 3.4. Information Economics Approaches to Information Asymmetry 82 3.4.1. Selection Problems (Adverse Selection) 82 3.4.2. Incentive Problems (Moral Hazard) 84 3.5. Information Asymmetry in the Social Contract 86 3.6. Conclusion 89 Chapter 4: Opening Government: A History of Monitoring 91 4.1. Introduction 92 8 4.2. The Development of a Culture of Secrecy in Government 92 4.3. Archival Access 98 4.4. Whistleblowing 102 4.5. Freedom of Information 106 4.6. Open Government Data and the Open Government Partnership 114 4.7. Conclusion 121 Chapter 5: Trustworthy Information 125 5.1. Introduction 126 5.2. Informational Trustworthiness in Historical Perspective 126 5.3. Archival Approaches to Trustworthiness 131 5.4. Defining Trustworthiness 132 5.4.1. Reliability and Accuracy 133 5.4.2. Authenticity 137 5.5. Accuracy, Reliability or Authenticity? 139 5.6. Establishing and Maintaining Authenticity 141 5.6.1. Metadata 141 5.6.2. Systems 142 5.6.3. Custodianship 144 5.7. A Note on Originality and Fixed Forms 150 5.8. Conclusion 153 Chapter 6: Practices for Establishing and Maintaining Authenticity in Information 157 6.1. Introduction 158 6.2. The Bengal Records Manual 1943 159 6.3. ICA-REQ 162 6.4. Controls for Authenticity: The Bengal Manual & ICA-Req in Comparison 167 6.4.1. Registration 167 6.4.2. File Registration 175 6.4.3. Forward Diaries 177 6.4.4. Naming and Numbering Conventions 178 6.4.5. Foliation and Fly-Leafs 180 6.4.6. Tracking: Removal Slips, Receipts for Transfer and 9 Assurances of Safe Custody 182 6.4.7. Cross-Referencing and ‘Stitching’ 184 6.4.8. Copying 185 6.4.9. Security Classifications 187 6.4.10. Records Destruction 189 6.4.11. Into the Archives 190 6.5. Conclusion 192 Chapter 7: Case Study: The Kenya Open Data Initiative 196 7.1. Introduction 197 7.2. Historical Development of Open Data in Kenya 197 7.2.1. Secrecy in Kenyan Government 197 7.2.2. Access to Information: Open Data and Freedom of Information 200 7.3. Current State of Kenya’s Openness Programme 210 7.4. The Role of Civil Society 216 7.5. Examination of Land Data 220 7.5.1. Land information management 220 7.5.2. Examination of land dataset 225 7.6. Conclusion 230 Chapter 8: Case Study: data.gov.au 234 8.1. Introduction 235 8.2. Historical Development of Open Data in Australia 235 8.2.1. Secrecy in Australian Government 235 8.2.2. Access to Information: Open Data and Freedom of Information 237 8.3. Current State of Australia’s Openness Programme 247 8.4. The Role of Civil Society 249 8.5. Examination of Land Data 251 8.5.1. Land information management 251 8.5.2. Examination of land dataset 255 8.6. Conclusion 265 10 Chapter 9: Applying Record-Keeping Controls to Government Data Curation 267 9.1.