2014 may very well go down as the year of open data. The federal government passed the Open Data Act back in May. Major cities like Los Angeles and Philadelphia hired Chief Data Officers. And many states like Maryland and New York followed suit. But the push for governments to open data sets does haveRead… Read more »
Data at your fingertips — that is the mission of The Sunlight Foundation. And now they have a new leader, Chris Gates, who is looking to take that mission to the next level. He wants to make open data the norm, not the rule. Gates sat down with Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER program to talkRead… Read more »
We hosted a special edition of GovLoop’s DorobekINSIDER today. We meet every month with the simple idea, get smart people together and share ideas because we believe that the real power of information comes when it is shared. Listen to the Archive. Last month, we discussed enterprise architecture here on GovLoop’s DorobekINSIDER LIVE. When mostRead… Read more »
Open data is no longer just a fad. We’re now living in a world that demands government data be open to the public. So how can agencies cope? Last year the Sunlight Foundation came out with their Open Data Policy guidelines. The goal of the guidelines was simple: get government started on the path toRead… Read more »
Have you ever wondered how many traffic tickets New York hands out every year? Or how many health outbreaks affect the Empire State? Now, with Open NY, the state’s transparency and openness initiative, you can. Governor Andrew Cuomo initiated Open NY in 2013 to create “unprecedented transparency across all levels of government.” Now, about twoRead… Read more »
If you ask 20 people to define open government, you will get 20 different responses. The lack of uniformed definitions makes implementing open government services very difficult. It would be like asking a pastry chef to bake a cherry pie and then providing 20 different recipes. The chef would have no idea which pie youRead… Read more »
The Administration is pushing for more performance metrics. They launched Performance.gov in June 2011. So how is it going? And why should these metrics matter? Dennis D. McDonald is an independent consultant. He has written a white paper on web-based performance metrics, “Developing Digital Strategies for Web-based Public Access.” He told Chris Dorobek on theRead… Read more »
For the past four year the US Public Interest Group has graded each of the 50 states on their level of transparency. While 7 states made the honor roll, six states received failing grades. How did your state do? Phineas Baxandall is a senior analyst for tax and budget at the US Public Interest Group.Read… Read more »
Transparency is essential for good government. Federal scientists play an important role in fulfilling that mandate by providing critical expertise to decision makers. The Union of Concerned Scientists new report, Grading Government Transparency, looks at the policies governing scientists’ communications and gives them a grade on their openness. Gretchen Goldman is an analyst at theRead… Read more »
The Obama Administration has made openness and transparency a priority. But three years in, people are starting to ask does transparency add VALUE? John Wonderlich is the Policy Director at the Sunlight Foundation. He’s written extensively on the status of open government. He told Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER program why transparency matters. “It shouldn’tRead… Read more »