Open Government
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APIs : To Charge or Not to Charge
There’s a discussion starting on the U.S. Government API Google Group on the subject of charging for the use of government APIs. This is an interesting discussion (one that governments should pay attention to as they develop their API strategies) and is a nice follow up to my last post on sustainable civic technology. Clearly… Continue reading
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On Sustainable Civic Technology
Sustaining civic technology will mean that both government’s IT infrastructure and the civic technology sector that builds on it will need to change. A pair of recent blog posts caught my eye and highlighted this theme in my head, and motivated me to capture a few thoughts on this topic. The first post was by… Continue reading
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The Problem with Public Data
Governments make a wealth of data available on their public websites. Forward thinking governments have take steps to ensure that more and more of this information is available in open formats. But the majority of the data available on government websites – even those with formal open data policies, like Philadelphia – is not open.… Continue reading
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Don’t Hang Any Pictures
A few lessons learned and insights gained serving as a municipal Chief Data Officer – I hope this will be of value to anyone interested in starting an open data program. Helping to create an open data culture in government is a process, not an outcome. It takes time. Though it may sometimes seem easier… Continue reading
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The Internal Benefits of External Data
2013 was a big year for municipal open data, but I think 2014 will be even bigger. Last year saw the development of an interesting dialog on open data focused on the proper goals for government open data programs. With their roots in transparency efforts, a growing number of people observed that open data programs… Continue reading
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How Open Data Can Help Fight the Flu
This season, influenza activity started about 4 weeks early and was intense. Influenza-like-illness rose quickly to well above the baseline of expected activity and remained elevated for 15 consecutive weeks, making this season slightly longer than average. — 2012-2013 Flu Season Wrap Up, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention When open data and an acute… Continue reading
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Five Ways to Make Government Procurement Better
Nothing in recent memory has focused attention on the need for wholesale reform of the government IT procurement system more than the troubled launch of healthcare.gov. There has been a myriad of blog posts, stories and articles written in the last few weeks detailing all of the problems that led to the ignominious launch of… Continue reading
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Communities Matter
Philadelphia is unique among big cities in how it publishes open data for civic hackers, journalists, entrepreneurs, researchers and other users. The City of Philadelphia has designated the community-built Open Data Philly website as it’s official data directory for open data – we’re the only big city in the country (maybe the only city period)… Continue reading
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It’s Not About Cheaper, It’s About Better
The Wall Street Journal recently featured an awesome story about civic hacking, focusing on the amazing work being done in the city of Chicago. It’s great to see the efforts of civic hackers and open data advocates covered in the mainstream press, and the team in Chicago – those both inside and outside of city… Continue reading
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This Is How It’s Supposed To Work
Openness in government strengthens our democracy, promotes the delivery of efficient and effective services to the public, and contributes to economic growth. — Federal Executive Order on Open Data, Section 1. People in the open government community talk a lot about the potential and promise of open data. The things that it might enable. The… Continue reading
About Me
I am the former Chief Data Officer for the City of Philadelphia. I also served as Director of Government Relations at Code for America, and as Director of the State of Delaware’s Government Information Center. For about six years, I served in the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services (TTS), and helped pioneer their work with state and local governments. I also led platform evangelism efforts for TTS’ cloud platform, which supports over 30 critical federal agency systems.
Civic Innovations 