IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced the launch of OpenJustice, a criminal justice open data initiative, during a press event in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Harris said the initiative is part of “a whole new way of doing business in government, which is adopting technology in a way that improves transparency.”

With last week’s Assembly Appropriations Committee deadline to determine which bills move ahead or quietly die, SB 573, Sen. Richard Pan’s bill that would require California to adopt an open data policy and appoint a chief data officer failed to pass.

Under the bill, each state agency would designate a data coordinator to report to the chief data officer, who would establish a series of annual benchmarks for the amount and type of data published on the statewide portal.

Experts discuss the uses of data, data legislation, and the potential for a state data “head honcho."

Efforts to bring open data into, well, the open have touched off widespread discussion as to just where the use of the information is headed, and whether there is a need for expanded oversight and state legislation.

With more government agencies taking on the task of looking at and publishing their data for all to see, technologists and officials are considering whether better defining rules of the game are the next natural steps in the progression.

Officials announce plans for a next-gen open data portal for agencies and departments.

California is hatching plans to pilot a next-gen open data portal to house all of its public agency data under one roof.

The announcement came Friday, Feb. 12 from Stuart Drown, the deputy secretary for innovation and accountability from the recently formed California Government Operations Agency (CalGovOps). Drown said the initiative began in 2015 when CalGovOps experimented with the idea by launching a portal that included 11 data sets from three different departments. Following the launch was a state sustainability hackathon called GreenGov that aimed to get feedback, Drown said, adding that a prototype for the state’s portal can be found at Greengov.data.ca.gov.

The OPEN Government data act would make a number of President Barack Obama's open data initiatives permanent

A new bill introduced Thursday would give a legislative basis to a number of open data initiatives already underway in the federal government under executive order.

The Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act, introduced by Reps. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., and Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, would build upon a number open data policies from the Obama administration that push federal agencies to make as much data as possible free for the public to use.

An executive order signed by the governor will create a new council responsible for establishing a comprehensive open data plan within six months.

Delaware is redoubling its open data efforts, Gov. Jack Markell announced Jan. 27. Through the signing of Executive Order 57, the governor mandated the creation of a Data Governance Council that will help executive branch agencies publish their data on the state’s open data portal.

“In today’s technology-driven world, we can do more to improve transparency by sharing non-identifiable public data in a format that is user friendly for members of the public seeking information,” Markell said in a press release. “The Delaware Open Data Portal offers this access in a central location and will facilitate better data sharing and collaboration across public agencies, nonprofits and the private sector to spur innovation and develop applications that can benefit our communities.”

Where government has raw data, professors and researchers have expertise and analytics programs. Government produces a lot of data — reams of it, roomfuls of it, rivers of it. It comes in from citizen-submitted forms, fleet vehicles, roadway sensors and traffic lights. It comes from utilities, body cameras and smartphones. It fills up servers and spills into the cloud. It’s everywhere.

The city of Venice, Fla., is now opening its Geographic Information System data hub, which is still in the process of being built, up to the public, making it accessible through links on the city website.

The city of Venice, Fla., is opening is Geographic Information System data hub for public use.

The hub, accessible at data-covfl.opendata.arcgis.com, is still being built out but users can access maps now.

Open data has proven to be a catalyst for the creation of new tools across industries and government uses.

President Obama recently announced the launch of The Opportunity Project, an initiative to utilize digital tools and open data sets to help promote economic opportunity worldwide. With the move, the government is demonstrating a resolve toward implementing more transparent practices and enabling the opportunities that come with them.

At the heart of this project is a commitment to open data and making sure public information is readily available to citizens. This means gathering valuable data across diverse fields of study, from employment to housing to schools to transportation, and providing it openly via the latest and most accessible technology.

From communicating with residents to building lines of communication with county and state entities, four mayors discussed their experience with using open data in local government during a virtual event last Friday.

Does open data impact local government? And if so, how? These questions were addressed by several mayors of Southern cities during an online roundtable last Friday.

Hosted by What Works Cities, “Open Data Day 2021: Southern Cities” introduced a number of topics, ranging from strategies to increase community engagement to how data can be used to communicate with state and county governments.

The platform received a grant to expand Raleigh, N.C.'s free data portal, getting the data out and into the hands of residents.

With the help of a $35,000 grant, city staff members are working on a way to make budgets, property information and other data easier for residents to find and understand.

Raleigh’s information technology department received a grant in January from the Knight Prototype Fund, part of the Knight Foundation, which supports journalism, arts and community initiatives.

The new system brings together 92 databases, giving users free access to raw data, as well as presenting them with 17 maps highlighting different geospatial features across this county of 1.2 million people.

Tech-savvy Oakland County, Mich., got an early jump on the data game. It started putting geospatial information online in 1998 and in subsequent years did a brisk business selling the data.

The recently completed U.S. States Open Data Census benchmarked states’ efforts, while enlisting an open assessment process to encourage improvement.

The U.S. States Open Data Census took a new approach when rating open data across all 50 states and Puerto Rico. It allowed states to improve their results as the census looked into their open data initiatives. Instead of a closed assessment process, states watched their scores emerge and made improvements. U.S. Open Data launched the census early last year and completed it in February 2016. Waldo Jaquith, the organization's executive director, announced the final results via a tweet.

2015 was a year of progress for government transparency — however, there’s still much work to be done.

As 2015 winds to a close, we can look back on a year of success stories and failures when it comes to transparency in government.

At the start of the year, the federal government began releasing its enterprise data inventories — comprehensive indexes of the data sets it collects — to the public. The move, which came in response to a Sunlight Foundation Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, was a major victory for government transparency. By making the indexes publicly available, we’ll have a better picture of what data and information the federal government collects and maintains, and it opens the door for further investigation and analysis by Congress, journalists and citizens alike.

According to a study conducted by open data company Socrata, investment in and support for open data remain steady. In fact, the company's CEO called today's market the strongest he's ever seen.

Open data is one of government’s most acclaimed endeavors, but back in March, U.S. Open Data Director Waldo Jaquith noted that open data might be a trend on shaky ground. “Fad” can be another word for "trend," after all. But a new study conducted by open data company Socrata indicates that, for the time being, investment in and support for open data remain steady.

A new open standard for building permits is in the works with the goal of making it easier to share and use open data to create new apps across the municipal enterprise.

E-government solutions firm Accela along with a coalition that includes real estate companies Zillow and BuildFax are drafting the standard and expects to release it in the spring.

Utah CIO Mike Hussey talks about the state's inclusive approach to its open data portal.

On the job since last October, Utah Chief Information Officer Mike Hussey leads IT in the state's fully consolidated environment. One area of notable leadership is Utah's open data portal, opendata.utah.gov.

An executive order will breathe new life into the commonwealth's civic tech push.

Pennsylvania is renewing its commitment to transparency.

On April 18, Gov. Tom Wolf, who assumed office in January, signed an executive order to create an open data portal. The new portal is mandated to contain downloadable, machine-readable data, a feature not offered by the state’s existing transparency site called PennWATCH. The state Office of Administration is also mandated to help agencies find their most valuable data sets.

The portal will make government more accountable, modernize their systems by creating a central repository of data where other agencies’ federated data can be posted

Following an executive order in April, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced on Aug. 22 the launch of the state's first statewide open data portal, called OpenDataPA. The data portal includes the release of 12 new data sets, centered around the governor’s platform of education, economy and improved government operations.

Data standards create a common structure that facilitates information sharing, inter-organizational cooperation and the ability to build on past successes — all important ingredients to driving data-smart innovation.

I recently moderated an event for the National Governors Association at the Harvard Kennedy School. In one session, performance management expert Bob Behn told a group of governors’ chiefs of staff that one of the most basic but often overlooked aspects of an efficient organization is a shared definition of key terms. Simple words can take on significantly different meanings to different people, and if a standard definition for these words is not set, collaboration is stifled by miscommunication.