A new paper distinguishes between open government data that makes the government as a whole more transparent and politically neutral public data that have nothing to do with public accountability.
- Yu, Harlan and Robinson, David G., The New Ambiguity of ‘Open Government’ (February 28, 2012). Princeton CITP / Yale ISP Working Paper. Available at SSRN.
Today a regime can call itself “open” if it builds the right kind of web site — even if it does not become more accountable or transparent. This shift in vocabulary makes it harder for policymakers and activists to articulate clear priorities and make cogent demands.
This essay proposes a more useful way for participants on all sides to frame the debate: We separate the politics of open government from the technologies of open data.
See also:
Open Government vs. Open Data, By Joseph Marks, NextGov
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