Document freedom and Guyana

Have you ever received a document and did not have the software to open it? Have you ever thought you had the software, but then you were told you did not have the correct version of the software? Do you know of people who have old files on diskettes which they cannot open because they no longer have the software?

Document Freedom Day  is celebrated on the last Wednesday of every month The day is meant to advocate for the use of Open Standards in digital data so that knowledge and information can be freely exchanged. Document Freedom does not only mean the freedom to access documents and spreadsheets, but also images, audio, video , emails, statistics , spatial data on different devices, without any ties to any supplier or vendor of software.

In Guyana, the computerised systems tend to exist independently. There is no transparent interconnectivity or evidence that data is shared. Citizens could benefit from data exchange between GRO and GECOM for example, or GRO and the Ministry of Education.

For example, if there is a digitising project which is scanning images, then the images should be stored in a format which can be accessed now, and in the future by different systems.

There are IT projects which are being planned but it seems that the requirements seem to avoid the discussion on data formats and exchanges.

The use of Open Standards creates independence from vendors of software- some of whom operate almost as expensive monopolies.  The use of open standards encourages easier interoperability.

Open Standards are developed in a transparent manner , and are available for public access and use. Different types of organisations are responsible for managing the standards.

The use of Open Standards is linked to the use of free and open source software.  LibreOffice , FOSS software which provides word processing, spreadsheet and other productivity tools  uses the open document format. 


As Guyana adopts Information and Communication Technologies, we should pay attention to the use of Open Standards in the way in which we manage data. This will reduce the costs of accessing data and increase the wider benefits to the society.