Title: Open Data is Civic Capital: Best Practices for "Open Government Data"
Author: Joshua Tauberer
Publisher: Joshua Tauberer
Date published: 20/07/2009
Date accessed: 22/07/2009
Type of information: research document
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
This document is a best practices guide for governments embracing the notion of "open data". It discusses why open government data is beneficial to society, i.e. how it is civic capital, and what kinds of technological considerations must be made when making government data open. The document is intended to be read both by web managers, who may wish to skip the final Recommendations section, and by government web developers.
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Open government data is a valuable public resource for its ability to fuel innovation in areas far beyond the mandate or resources of government. Several examples were listed above that benefit public health, safety, business and the economy, and especially civic engagement, transparency, accountability, public trust, and digital inclusion. These benefits come from the ability for computers to sort, search, and transform data into new purposes that can't often be predicted before they are discovered.

Contents:
Introduction
Open Data as Civic Capital
How Open Data Is Useful
Recent Trends within the United States Government
Trends on Other Countries
Why Data Format Matters
Machine-Processable Information
The Ramifications of Data Formats
Best Practices
A Path to Achieving Best Practices
What is Open Government Data?
On The Openness Process
Related Guidelines for Web Pages & Databases
Conclusion