open data - Page number 5

One June 9th, The Department of Health and Human Services hosted the second Health Data Initiative challenge. The point behind the challenge is to promote and accelerate the use of open data to improve health. As part of the presentation, winning apps, utilizing the public data and conceived and produced by three teams of college students (one of which I use on a daily basis) were showcased. Very cool stuff.
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Last week, the Iceland Constitutional Council, made up of 25 Icelandic citizens, presented a bill to their parliament outlining a new constitution. The bill contains 114 articles in nine chapters, and includes elements for a more open government. It appears that the population will be given the chance to vote on the new constitution after the Alþingi (national parliament) reviews the draft.

In April 2011, Iceland decided to rewrite their constitution by crowdsourcing ideas and suggestions from the Internet. We've taken a look at the draft constitution and there are several articles that create a more open government for Iceland. » Read more

A case study for municipal open data.

The heat is scorching! Residents across Ontario, Quebec and parts of the US are trying to stay cool. Many seek out public swimming pools and splash-pads, and turn to their municipalities for information. Others, like the Canadian 'hacktivists' Joey Coleman of OpenHamilton and yours truly of OpenHalton seek out ways to make that information more accessible.

Hamilton 's Dowsing and Milton Splash are two of the most recent examples of what is possible with open data. They represent a real-life case study of how open data can help keep us cooler, while also helping cities provide a better service at a lower cost.

This is how: » Read more

The Open Source Food panel raised a diverse and complicated array of ideas about what exactly open source is and how it can be applied to food from software, hardware, social, and research perspectives. The conversation began by talking about how large amounts of information about where, who, and how our food is grown, as well as what processes touch it before it even gets to us, are often not available to the average individual. » Read more

Recently I was in Berlin at OKCon organized by the Open Knowledge Foundation, and I must say it was a great event loaded with presentations and workshops; 10 hours a day, for two straight days, more than 50 sessions on 5 tracks on open data, open education, open economy and much more. Below, I’ve summarized some of the sessions I attended and found worth mentioning. » Read more

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Todd Park joined us on July 7 to talk about the power of open data for improving health. His position with HHS was created by the Obama administration as a change agent. And he's taking that role seriously.
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attachments: 

Todd Park webcast recording

A week ago I wrote an article about the winners of the Open Data Challenge. The winner of the application category was ZNasichDani.sk ("From Our Taxes" in Slovak), which provides an interface for users to find the people standing behind companies and enterprises that are linked to government contracts. It empowers citizens to review those connections, including contract prices and commissions. » Read more

“Winning the Future through Open Innovation,” is a progress report recently released by Aneesh Chopra, US Chief Technology Officer, to the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) on the Administration’s Open Government Initiative.The report highlights a number of programs at different agencies that represent a wide variety of open innovation techniques, from opening datasets and APIs to creating incentives for competition or testing and certifying open standards. » Read more

Last week, the winners of the Open Data Challenge were announced at the First Digital Agenda Assembly in Brussels. The competition was divided into three main  categories: idea, application and visualization.

The winner in the idea category was bePart a mobile application that could increase citizen participation in urban projects. A citizen would be able to see current plans for urban construction projects  and review data regarding the project, such as consultation dates, cost, or duration of the implementation. The proposal urges the use of open infrastructure to build the application. » Read more

I was privileged this past weekend to be involved in a twenty-first century version of participatory government.

CityCamp Raleigh was an 'unconference' with little planned structure other than the first day. We learned about unconferences, CityCamps in other cities, and problems facing citizens and state and local governments. The event brought together government, business, neighborhood, non-profit, and academic communities to re-imagine the ways in which open source collaboration and technology will shape the future of Raleigh. » Read more