Data

As governments inevitably learn more about the importance of Big Data they may find that decisions made in the past - even those made by past governments or long retired bureaucrats - that were originally thought to be relatively straight forward may actually have had a number of unanticipated consequences.[read more]

image via shutterstock

Maryland State Senator Catherine E. Pugh has introduced four bills in this legislative session, and Governor Martin O’Malley has announced a package of initiatives designed to further Maryland’s leadership as a hub for cybersecurity jobs.[read more]

open map/shutterstock

There are 41 countries listed as having open data websites, out of almost 200 nations. In their national open data sites, in total, these nations have released at least 1,068,164 data sets (I was unable to get a count from China, Timor-Leste, Tunisia or Sweden's national open data sites), for an average of 28,869 and a median of only 483 - due to a few high release countries (US, France, Canada).[read more]

The website will allow residents to view performance data on government services in a more transparent format. The Socrata powered catalogue site will eventually include public financing information as well.[read more]

Shutterstock

The state of Illinois has launched a new technology challenged aimed at helping local governments expand the amount of data available to the public. The Illinois Open Technology Challenge is a pilot initiative that will make Illinois’ open data platform, Data.Illinois.Gov, available to municipal governments statewide. The challenge will...[read more]

IDC Government Insights has released a new report, “Technology Selection: The Government Datacenter of the Future,” that explores how government datacenters are undergoing a once-in-a-generation shift, triggered by the rapid emergence of several key IT disrupters, as well as a set of catalysts from government organizations such as the...[read more]

Jobs/Shutterstock

Jobs for teachers, firefighters and other public workers are slowly expected to be filled back over the next few years as cities and states start hiring once again. But the federal government is expected to lose 9 percent of its workforce.[read more]

In an age where freak weather and natural disasters suddenly seem to be the norm, it’s important for governments to take weather warnings seriously, and prepare for the possibility of catastrophe... Like many Americans, I mistakenly believed that the normal day-to-day life I had always known was invulnerable...[read more]

Photo by Orin Zebest via Flickr

The ACT government today announced the soft-launch of their new open data site, dataACT, through their equally new Government Information Office blog. In my view this is now the best government open data site in Australia.[read more]

New York City’s director of analytics for the Office of Policy and Strategic Planning in Mayor Bloomberg’s office talks about how his team of 5 is applying data analysis on the behalf of citizens to improve the efficiency of processes and more effectively detection of crimes, from financial fraud to cigarette bootlegging.[read more]

Johanna Goodyear/Shutterstock

Earlier this week the Ottawa Citizen ran a story in which I'm quoted about a fight between Treasury Board and Canada Post officials over making postal code data open. Treasury Board officials would love to add it to data.gc.ca while Canada post officials are, to put it mildly, deeply opposed. This is of course, unsurprising since Canada...[read more]

Image by Open Knowledge Foundation via Flickr

Yesterday, Tom Slee wrote a blog post called "Why the 'Open Data Movement' is a Joke," which - and I say this as a Canadian who understands the context in which Slee is writing - is filled with valid complaints about our government, but which I feel paints a flawed picture of the open data movement. Evgeny Morozov tweeted about the post...[read more]

Image: Justin Grimes

“Open Data Movement” is a phrase dragged out by media-oriented personalities to cloak a private-sector initiative in the mantle of progressive politics. Along with other cyberculture terms (“hacktivism”, “unconferences”, “hackathons”) the word “movement” suggests a countercultural grass-roots initiative for social change, but there isn’t anything of the sort that I can see.[read more]

Photo by mgrayflickr via Flickr

Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter has signed an executive order to establish an Open Data policy, which will provide increased access and will enhance the transparency of City data sets. The Executive Order creates a Chief Data Officer (CDO) position, which will oversee and enforce the Open Data Policy and will report to the Chief...[read more]

Many of you are probably aware that Facebook's active membership is larger than the population of the world's third largest country, however the numbers are getting too big to relate to Australia. So I've taken the idea and compiled a view of Australia by state, including the main social networks used by Aussies as if they were...[read more]