The
City of South Bend, Indiana, assisted by the Sunlight Foundation, has
enabled free, easy and direct public access to a remarkable catalog of
city records.
By its mayor’s executive order last month (August, 2013), South Bend created an open data portal online.
South Bend’s policy implements and expands concepts in Indiana’s open records statutes.
This
advance makes an extremely wide (and still expanding) range of
information available in a user-friendly format. It refrains from
exemptions common in other jurisdictions. The executive order also
specifies the nature of the technology to be employed.
The
city’s IT specialists are directed to apply “best practices.” The
format is required to be “...any widely accepted, nonproprietary,
searchable, platform-independent, machine-readable method...”
The
city’s announcement quoted the software vendor (in part), “South Bend
is joining an elite group of open data pioneers who are using the latest
technologies to make public data more accessible and streamline
collaboration between internal departments.”
This
could be a model for open government everywhere, both at the local
level and in state agencies. Take a close look at this outstanding
achievement. I think it's worth endorsing for adoption throughout the country.
http://sunlightfoundation.com/
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