Posts Tagged ‘open data’
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17 June 2013
FOI Notes: Funding, UK, Open Data, EU, US
Funding: The Open Society Foundations June 15 launched a $10 million Transparency Champions Challenge “to empower reformers around the world to improve government responsiveness and accountability.” The Open Society pledge of new resources to support the efforts of civil society and government transparency champions hinges on other governments, companies, and/or private foundations coming forward with […]
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14 June 2013
Groups Start New Initiative on Global Open Data
Five groups June 11 announced creation of the Global Open Data Initiative (GODI) “to share principles and resources for governments and societies on how to best harness the opportunities created by opening government data.” The effort is led by Fundar, Sunlight Foundation, World Wide Web Foundation, The Open Institute and Open Knowledge Foundation. “The initiative […]
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13 June 2013
FOI Notes: Transparency Champions, OGP Strategy, EU, Open Data
Transparency Voices: The Guardian features 12 transparency advocates: Peru Carlos Arroyo, national co-ordinator for Peru’s Anti-Corruption Network, Lima Nigeria Faith Nwadishi, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative board member; national co-ordinator, Publish What You Pay Bangladesh Hasibur Rahman, Management and Resources Development Initiative executive director, development worker, rights activist Mexico José Luis Moyá, consultant and landlord, Mexico […]
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31 May 2013
Russian House Adopts Criticized Open Data Bill
The lower house of the Russian parliament has adopted amendments to require the publication of information on the websites of governments in open data formats. The Duma, however, did not revise the bill to take into account a number of proposals to improve the FZ-8 submitted by the Freedom of Information Foundation. “As is seen, […]
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23 May 2013
FOI Notes: New Book on African ATI; Open Data; UK
Africa: The ATI committee of the African Network of Constitutional Lawyers has a new publication: “Access to information in Africa. Law, Culture and Practice,” edited by Fatima Diallo, African Studies Centre, Leiden, and Richard Calland, University of Cape Town. Published by BRILL. The chapters and authors are: 1. The State of the Art and the […]
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10 May 2013
U.S. Orders More Usability for Government Data; Inventory
President Barrack Obama May 9 issued an Executive Order and a Policy Directive requiring that data generated going forward by the government be made available in open, machine-readable formats. Agencies also must create and maintain an “enterprise data inventory” that accounts for datasets used in the agency’s information systems” and indicates which are available to the […]
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25 April 2013
Taiwan Journalists Unaware of FOI Law, Article Says
Journalists in Taiwan are not aware of the national freedom of information law, according to an article by an American journalist who attended a two-day data journalism seminar in Taiwan, but the open dta movement is growing and information is getting out in unofficial ways. During the workshop, we talked about how to obtain data, […]
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19 April 2013
FI Notes: India, Aid Transparency, Open Data
India: “The Right to Information Act in India: The Turbid World of Transparency Reforms,” a doctoral thesis by Prashant Sharma, of the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science. “My thesis investigates the enactment of the Indian RTI Act in 2005 through a political economy lens, locating it within […]
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11 April 2013
FOI Notes: Grant Competition, Jobs, Commentary, More
Grant Competition: The 40 finalists are announced in the Knight Foundation competition for projects to accelerate media innovation with “breakthrough ideas in news and information.” The competition now enters a further evaluation phase, where public input is welcome, with winners to be announced June 23. The finalists include: – ¿InfAction! is intended as a web/mobile […]
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4 March 2013
Open Data Day Expands Entries in Data Census
The Open Data Census, an almost one-year-old project of the Open Knowledge Foundation, has been increased in size and scope, now including datasets from 25 cities as well as 48 countries, plus rankings. The census was promoted around the recent Open Data Day 2013 activities and expanded by volunteer contributors who use the data submission […]
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22 February 2013
FOI Notes: Open Data Census, Research, Legislatures, OGP, Bedbugs
Open Data Census: A blog post by Rufus Pollack, founder and co-director of the Open Knowledge Foundation also includes a description of a developing effort to create a single overall ranking, an Open Data Index. Pollack also writes about how progress in open government data “is not (just) about the number of datasets being released. […]
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22 February 2013
Germany Urged to Join OGP, Improve Open Data Releases
Activists in Germany are urging the government to make the data sets it releases more useable and join the Open Government Partnership. In a recent joint statement signed by more than 300 groups and persons from the German open data community criticized the government data portal started last year and recommended improvements, such as releasing […]
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15 February 2013
FOI Notes: UK, US, OGP, Open Data, Sunlight Foundation
United Kingdom: “Your right to know? The future for transparency in England,” a report by The Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS), “the leading national organisation for ideas, thinking and the application and development of policy and practice to promote transparent, inclusive and accountable public services.” United States: An overview of the Obama record on transparency […]
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4 February 2013
FOI Notes: Open Data, Tisne Blog, Governance, EU
New Blog: “open up” — a new “personal’ blog for “freedom of information activists, open data geeks, fiscal transparency zealots and more, by Martin Tisne, who leads policy, advocacy strategy, and related investments for the global Government Transparency initiative of Omidyar Network. Governance: “Uncomfortable thought about governance for the day: The idea of good governance […]
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25 January 2013
FOI Notes: Studies, Ratings, Mentorship, Open Data, Reports, Surveys, Video
Open Government Guide Revision: The Transparency & Accountability Initiative (T/AI) is updating the 2011 Opening Government Guide which has multiple chapters describing good practices in transparency, accountability and citizen participation across a wide range of open government areas. Feedback on the original guide is being sought via a very short survey here goo.gl/SxcAX . To give […]
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10 January 2013
FOI Notes: Chile, Social Media, FOI Journalism, Open Data, Social Media, China, Aid Transparency
Chile: Chilean journalists think there´s more transparency in Chile now, but there still are institutions that are very slow to provide the answers. Almost 500 Chilean journalists participated in a survey (in Spanish) by the National Press Association (Asociación Nacional de la Prensa “ANP”) about the state of the access to public information, according to a […]
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31 December 2012
Publishing Names of Gun Owners Triggers U.S. Debate
The publication by a New York newspaper of the names and addresses of handgun owners, although public information, has generated a substantial controversy. The Journal News published an interactive map to make it easy for readers to find some gun owners in New York’s Rockland and Westchester counties, outside of New York City. The paper […]
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31 December 2012
FOI Notes: Open Data, Fighting Corruption, Brazil, Canada, Russia
Open Data/New York: The New York state Committee on Open Government makes transparency and accountability recommendations, proposing to obligate agencies to make their information available in open data format, either by legislation or by an order of the governor. The committee recommends the state “push” information through proactive disclosure by releasing material that is the […]
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21 December 2012
FOI Notes: Measuring Transparency, Calls for Papers, Reports, More
Measuring Transparency: “What is Government Transparency?: New Measures and Relevance for Quality of Government,” by Monika Bauhr and Marcia Grimes of The Quality of Government Institute, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg. The abstract says: As policymakers and researchers focus increasing attention on the importance of government transparency for accountability and good governance more […]
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21 December 2012
Campaign for FOI Objects to UK Government Proposals
The Campaign for Freedom of Information in the United Kingdom Dec. 18 issued a statement objecting that government plans to amend the Freedom of Information Act “would make it harder for requesters to obtain answers to new, complex or contentious FOI requests.” As explained by the Campaign: The government is proposing to make it easier […]