This update on the Feds OpenData initiative comes via the Whitehouse blog and shares information about the new "Project Open Data" – an online, public repository intended to foster collaboration and promote the continual improvement of the Open Data Policy. Recall, recently we provided details on the new Open Data Policy and executive order
About the Project:
The project is published on GitHub, an open source platform that allows communities of developers to collaboratively share and enhance code. The resources and plug-and-play tools in Project Open Data can help accelerate the adoption of open data practices. For example, one tool instantly converts spreadsheets and databases into APIs for easier consumption by developers. The idea is that anyone, from Federal agencies to state and local governments to private citizens, can freely use and adapt these open source tools—and that’s exactly what’s happening.
We invite you to add your own contributions to Project Open Data, and hope you will participate in helping to transform our government for the 21st century.
Here’s how Project Open Data works:
- Contributing: Project Open Data is a collaborative, open source project. Both Federal employees and members of the public are strongly encouraged to improve the project by contributing. Fortunately, contributing is very easy. Simply click the “Improve this content” button at the top of every page, make your edit, and hit “submit.” Your changes will appear once they are approved. Additional instructions can be found here.
- Owners: Project Open Data is managed by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). As the Federal CIO and CTO, we both plan to be actively involved in this exciting project and are looking forward to merging many more “pull requests” along the way. Members of our teams will also be involved in maintaining the project.
- Approving changes: In GitHub speak, Project Open Data is actually a collection of different little-p “projects” housed in individual repositories, or “repos.” Each individual project repo will be managed as an open source project – i.e., users can make pull requests (suggest changes). A repo manager will adjudicate the pull requests (accept, modify, or reject) in a public log on a standard release cycle. Changes to relevant policy areas will be reviewed and approved by relevant policy officials. We will document and carry out these conversations within Project Open Data through issues and comments.
- Timing: White House owners will have regular “stand ups” to review the pull requests and ensure suggestions are addressed in a reasonable time frame. Changes that are relatively minor (e.g., typos, minor edits) should be approved fairly quickly, while more substantial changes may take longer to review and approve with necessary White House stakeholders.
See More – President Obama Issues Executive Order and a new Open Data Policy – Another bold move from the Obama Administration, this time via an executive order and a newly released open data policy. The move aims to arms business and developers with previously hard to find, or even impossible to access data.
Related Weblinks