

Why good governments should embrace open data - kirtijthorat
http://gigaom.com/2014/01/04/5-reasons-why-good-governments-should-embrace-open-data/

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Buttons840
I'm a programmer in the medical field, and have heard complaints that some
state medical boards keep important information behind pay-walls, like which
doctors are sanctioned. (I wish I knew the details, but don't work directly
with state medical boards.)

Did you new doctor just move from another state? Do you want to know if he was
declared incompetent by the other states medical board? Then pay up.

I wonder if they do this out of greed, or they consider it genuinely expensive
to give this data out. It makes me think of all the large corporations; often
they make tasks I could automate with a few lines of Python sound nearly
impossible.

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kirtijthorat
This is an excellent article to read. I am very impressed with the thoughts.
Here are some of the best quotes(for those who r in hurry or that TL;DR):
We’re a long way from where we need to be — and end that will require
governments to change, too. "No one tries to judge what uses people will have
for it,” he said, “but having the information enables people to derive
whatever they need.” ‘Are we saving money with open data?’ The only question I
would suggest public agencies should focus on is ‘Are we doing the right
thing? Are we making our data available and machine-consumable to our
communities?’”

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sizeablepacket
Take the Courts... want to know which attorneys have received court sanctions?
Which routinely make cases drag out the longest? Who has the most aggressive
motion practice resulting in denied pleadings? Which Judges are often
overturned? In short, which attorneys/judges are regularly in disservice of
the process? Well you can't in State jurisdictions. No meta-data, no detailed
data online. Billions of dollars wasted on unnecessary litigation, backed up
courts and prolonged dispute resolutions that could be saved.

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primitivesuave
It seems like the current state of the industry is that open data is more of a
privilege than a right. I was at a conference where a prominent figure of a
large US city stated that he "doesn't support open data because these
programmers take the data, repackage it, and sell it to other people." As a
developer, it is hard to eradicate these fallacies, especially from people who
are performing a duty where stubbornness and unwillingness to change are part
of the job description.

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zpj5005
The team I'm a part of designed and built the platform Palo Alto uses to
publish their financial data, OpenGov.com.

I don't generally put in plugs on HN but we're always looking for people
interested in making a difference with the intersection of good government and
tech. Drop me a line if you're interested zjohnston@opengov.com.

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kirtijthorat
OpenGov is a very nice initiative. I did not know any such project in
existence at all. One thing is for sure that in order to build trust one need
to be transparent and accountable. Who says modern technology won't solve into
Govt. related issues? This great initiative is a perfect answer. Keep up the
good work. Thanks for sharing with us.

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MyNameIsMK
Three words: no thanks NSA. How about the government fix potholes and explain
where the gas excise tax revenues actually go...

