Jason Hare's Data Management Blog

Something I could not say 9 months ago is how to take an open data resolution and turn it into a strategy. Since that time until late last week I have been thinking about two basic approaches for open data: Data as infrastructure Open Government Data as a platform for innovation and economic impact Data toward transparency and accountability Open Government Data made available to the public as machine readable requests for information I am about to make some broad generalizations so feel free to violently disagree with me. I am reporting what I have read, seen and experienced after nearly a year in the trenches watching the open data world mature and unfold. The Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN), based in Berlin and London, is concerned with open machine readable data. In fact the City of Raleigh has based their open data resolution on the list OKFN open data principles and the Open Data Handbook. Open Raleigh, however, does not use transparency as the primary driver for its open data

  Site analytics for Open Raleigh from launch date to today. Note the exponential rise in page views over time. Access Open Raleigh at  https://data.raleighnc.gov This summer we start on the implementation of the post-beta version of Open Raleigh. We now have a steering committee and buy-in on our road-map is underway. Culturally the city is ready for open data. I wanted to look back on the previous 9 months and see how far we have come in delivering on the City Council's resolution from February 2012. This is an exciting time and we are just getting started. Looking back, I am impressed with the leadership that governs our municipality and the quality of the people that work in my department. I have made friends inside the city government as well as friends with my trusted citizen advisers and activists. None of this would have been possible without the friendship and guidance of the dozens of people I have met along the way. That first day, September 17th 2012, I looked at a clea