Sharing in the age of information

by Elizabeth Henriks, Freshwater Policy Advisor
So, for the water nerd population (there are more than just a few of us, you know!) it’s really exciting and encouraging when the likes of The Council of the Federation, an institution that allows Canada’s premiers to better collaborate with each other, show an interest in water and take action on that interest.
In my pre-WWF days I led the creation of the Living Water Policy Project, so I was pretty excited to hear about a new water sharing information initiative, Canada’s Water InfoStream, (CWIS) to build “on momentum of the technology age and more open government”.
The media release describes CWIS as “an online listing of major provincial, territorial and federal government water resources.  The online catalog will act as a communications tool to help spread the word to researchers, policy makers, and the public at large about water data and information relevant to their interests and needs, both locally and nationally.”

(c) WWF-Canada
This is particularly exciting because sharing information is an important part of what we do at WWF and obstacles to sharing are obstacles to achieving our goals.  We know that there’s a lot of useful information out there, but sometimes it can be very hard to access.
Unfortunately, as Water Canada noted, “One click directs visitors to a wishy-washy listing of major provincial, territorial, and federal government water resources…What’s so valuable about listing sites that any remotely interested person could find on his/her own using a reliable search engine?”
In its current form, CWIS missed the mark but, in the spirit of sharing information, here are some suggestions for improving it.

• Know what type of information you want to share and why.  An organizing framework is critical to ensuring consistency and providing users with context as to what information is being shared, why, and why it is important to Canada or the Council.
• Starting small is fine.  Start with a beta version of a website; launch the site to a smaller group to make mistakes, learn and improve before moving toward your larger vision.
• Commit to the community.  Across the country, there is a strong and passionate community of people who really care about how Canadian water is managed and are committed to working with a wide range of stakeholders to ensuring water for nature and for people. There is a wealth of innovation to build on.
• Process is important and it takes time.  It took two years to get from the initial concept to the “launch”, of the Living Water Policy Project.  Information sharing and websites are actually really big jobs and commands a process to produce great products.

 
I think, to improve the nature of information sharing and water management in Canada we need organizations like The Council of the Federation to be a part of the solution.  It’s a time of great opportunity to improve water management in the age of information!