Jason Hare's Data Management Blog

Are we convening a community? The US Nodes have voiced their opinion. Second annual report  celebrates hitting reach, influence and impact targets The ODI has announced that it has been awarded a grant of $4.1m from  Omidyar Network , aimed at creating value from open data across the world. Most of the nodes in the US decided to close because the new unfranchise model from the ODI was not financially viable. Some nodes felt that the ODI was competing with their own nodes in regards to opportunities for working on open data tenders. The former US ODI nodes have decided to convene a congress and create a network of nodes in the US that champion the "convening of a community" around open data. A US Open Data Congress could define how to choose a platform provider, how to choose and evaluate business services around the open data programs and provide guidance beyond transparency. We leave

The US Congress is working on Open Data legislation to protect current Open Data policy. While this all sounds good, it is also important to lay out a clear picture of what has been done so far to detect the right Open Data legislation opportunities. THIS ALL SOUNDS GREAT Congress is stepping up to protect Open Data! When I read this I was struck by two feelings: Elation, and Surprise. The Center for Data Innovation published the who and what of this legislation on April 16, 2016. Quoting from the article: Sponsored by Representatives Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Blake Farenthold (R-TX) in the House and Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Ben Sasse (R-NE) in the Senate, the bill would make changes to the U.S. Code to institutionalize open data best practices, such as publishing government data, by default, using open and machine readable formats and with an open license that imposes no restrictions on reuse. “Open by default” has been a mainstay of the open data movement for years, and for

I thought I was done with Open Data in the late Spring of 2015. I had experienced severe brain trauma from an accident and penned my retirement letter on my blog the same day Mike Bracken left the UK’s Government Digital Service. So why did I come back? Mostly because I have recovered. But I also came back because I believe that there is a superior product to deliver data storytelling. That product is OpenDataSoft. I have spent the last half-decade as an open data pundit. I worked hard to keep my comments agnostic to the technology. But OpenDataSoft's platform, work culture and ethics won me over. I am a believer, and I believe the best Open Data Platform solution is OpenDataSoft. If you live in the US and have something to do with Open Data then you probably know my name. Among the American Open Data portals I have built are the City of Raleigh, City and County of Durham, Gainesville, Roseville, Newark, Rutgers and now the Town of Chapel Hill. We may have met at the World

I thought I was done with Open Data in the late Spring of 2015. I had experienced severe brain trauma from an accident and penned my retirement letter on my blog the same day Mike Bracken left the UK’s Government Digital Service. So why did I come back? Mostly because I have recovered. But I also came back because I believe that there is a superior product to deliver data storytelling. That product is OpenDataSoft. ABOUT JASON HARE   This is me at Colorado’s GoCode Civic Engagement Event. I helped to build the program and worked as a mentor. Photo by 23 Studios. I have spent the last half-decade as an open data pundit. I worked hard to keep my comments agnostic to the technology. But OpenDataSoft’s platform, work culture and ethics won me over. I am a believer, and I believe the best Open Data Platform solution is OpenDataSoft.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer @2008 The Yu and Robinson article "The New Ambiguity of 'Open Government'" was something I read a few years ago. I disagree that the edge of open government is going away. Yes there are data sets being published that have nothing to do with accountability. Yes there are open data initiatives that stand up a few data sets and call it "open". This does not mean that all or most open data professionals do this. This whole line of "government versus the people" is one of the reasons Public Sector Agencies (PSA's) have trouble getting open data initiatives launched in the first place. The main issue is the disconnect between PSAs and the private sector. There is little, if any, discussion on the value-add of releasing these data. This is not purely a government issue. Private sector, with a few shining exceptions (BuildingEye for example) have shied away from using or even trying to use these data. PSAs see this lack of

The City of Durham and Durham County governments in North Carolina have chosen OpenDataSoft, an award-winning Paris-based internet platform, to power their growing Open Data initiative. THE DEAL MARKS OPENDATASOFT’S FIRST CUSTOMER IN THE UNITED STATES. “We chose OpenDataSoft because it was best suited to help us achieve specific distinctive project objectives,” said Greg Marrow, CIO of Durham County. “Our vision is to build a highly sustainable opendata program that empowers our citizens, employees, private industry while being open to other local,state and federal governments.”After sifting through dozens of open data platforms and API architectures available the team, led by recently retained open data consultant, Jason Hare, chose ODS based upon the criteria established by the joint City and the County team. Kerry Goode, CIO for the City of Durham, said, “We specified a platform that was easy to use, worked with almost any device, and integra