Trump Administration's Draft Budget Raises New Concerns About Data Collection
March 9, 2017, 2pm PST
President Trump has made no secret of his disdain for many of the traditional data points used to represent the health and prosperity of the country. The budgetary process offers an opportunity to match words with action.
Feds Get Behind Participatory Budgeting
December 14, 2013, 7am PST
Participatory budgeting (PB) has been tried on a limited local level in several cities across the United States. A new White House initiative indicates the practice may become a common way of determining how to distribute certain federal funds.
On Garcetti's 100th Day: Let There Be Metrics
October 9, 2013, 12pm PDT
On Eric Garcetti's 100th day in office, the new mayor of Los Angeles showed progress on his promise to increase accountability by launching a beta website to track City Hall performance in nine categories and for each city department.
The 8 Most Promising Ideas in Open Gov
June 25, 2013, 6am PDT
This week, the Knight Foundation announced the eight recipients (out of 886 applicants) to share in $3.2 million in grant funds intended to promote the use of public data "to improve the way people and governments interact."
Fast Company Co.Exist
Open Data Brings Power to the People
August 24, 2012, 7am PDT
As the ways in which cities across the U.S. are utilizing the web continues to increase, open data is changing the way citizens interact with their government. Philadelphia is one city using information to level the power playing field.
New York City to Pass Landmark Open Data Law
March 1, 2012, 9am PST
Sarah Lai Stirland reports on the new bill, that was to be voted on by the City Council on Wednesday, which would codify many of the principles articulated by open government advocates in recent years.
Tech President
Connecting Coders and Cities
August 12, 2010, 1pm PDT
Urban Omnibus talks with Jennifer Pahlka of Code for America, a group looking to get the youth involved in developing computer programs and applications that help improve urban areas.
Urban Omnibus
Tech Tools Have Revolutionary Potential for Cities
March 25, 2010, 7am PDT
<em>Governing</em>'s Stephen Goldsmith looks at the trend of smart phone applications related to city governance and civic improvement. He sees huge potential in these early stages of a trend that's likely to experience exponential growth.
Governing
Trying to Let the Sun Shine on San Francisco's Public Agencies
March 12, 2010, 8am PST
The City of San Francisco has for years had a "Sunshine" ordinance, requiring that public agencies make their documents and proceedings available to the public. But recent reviews show that sunshine has been hard to find in the city of fog.
San Francisco Bay Guardian
The Trouble With Government Transparency
February 12, 2010, 11am PST
Keeping government open and accountable has led to some problems for cities, according to John D. Donahue.
City Data to the Masses
December 8, 2009, 10am PST
A growing number of cities are opening up public data streams to computer developers. Some say the move will improve civic discourse, but the nascent trend is still developing.
Open Data: Coming to a City Near You?
October 19, 2009, 5pm PDT
City data catalogs are fast moving from the exception to the norm for large U.S. cities.
Washington, DC's Data Catalog, spearheaded by former CTO Vivek Kundra, was an early leader. The site combines hundreds of static government-created datasets from across DC government with administrative feeds like the city's 311 system. Their site emphasizes providing data in multiple formats, including where possible formats that don't require proprietary software. Kundra's selection as the nation's first Chief Information Officer, and launch of the federal government's Data.gov has elevated the principle among the federal government's vast datasets. DC's two "apps" contests sought to encourage creative uses of the data made available, and some of which are available at the DC App Store.
Beyond DC, many big cities have recently launched or are planning open data catalogs of their own.
Municipal Vaporware: Why NYC's Data Mine is A Data Dump
October 6, 2009, 11am PDT
This morning, Mayor Mike Bloomberg unveiled New York City's long-awaited Big Apps contest. Big Apps seeks to promote the Internet industry in the Big Apple (it's sponsored by the New York City Economic Development Corporation) and make local government more transparent.
I've been following the evolution of open data initiatives at the municipal level for about a year now, and was really hoping that New York was going to set the bar for future efforts across the country. It doesn't. In fact it's hard to understand why some notable local tech superstars like investors Fred Wilson and John Borthwick would sign on to such a lame effort.
Anthony Townsend
Creating an Open City Can Be Cheap and Easy
The City of Nanaimo, British Columbia is a leader in the open data and open government movement, according to this post from the <em>Creative Class Exchange</em>. Getting there is easier and cheaper than many might think.
Creative Class Exchange
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