National

Last month’s post on how open data is a major factor of economic growth was an important analysis of the wider debate on the impact open data has on governance. Worldwide, businesses and public bodies are unfortunately facing a lack of quality…

The OGP has quickly become the leading global movement for promoting government openness. So it might seem odd to ask whether something as central to openness as the right to information (RTI or freedom of information) is being taken seriously…

TreeMendelBlog.png President Obama launched his term with grand hopes and big initiatives. Of the many promises that he campaigned on, one of them was, of course, that of delivering an unprecedented level of government communication and openness to the American…

Since Croatia applied to join the OGP in 2011 when the then government was more focused on parliamentary elections than on plans for the future, OGP related activities were run by enthusiasts from civil society organisations (CSOs, e.g. GONG ),…

  All UK Government departments produced an open data strategy in June – alongside the Cabinet Office’s Open Data White Paper – pledging themselves to big releases of datasets and innovative open data approaches over the next two years.  Although…

A month ago the Bulgarian cabinet voted in a 33 point action plan for achieving open governance. The main goals of this plan are financial transparency, public registry improvement, public consultation and corporate social responsibility. One of the most important…

A snap survey conducted by Local Interventions Group in Kavre district of Nepal predictably reveals that in average 87% of the public are unaware of the money that the government is spending in their villages for education, health and infrastructure.…

One of our Facebook followers, Paul Beentjes, posted on our page: You hear this a lot these days: "Open data is a driver of economic growth". But how can you explain this? True, the link is not always evident, but…

4458527284_21d7409410_b.jpg   The British public could be given direct input into all new legislation if Government proposals published last week come into effect. The Coalition Government are currently piloting a new ‘public reading stage’ for bills to give citizens an…

Photo credit: Whole Earth by NASA on The Commons via Flickr This week, hundreds of open data enthusiasts descended upon Washington DC as the World Bank Open Data Initiative and the Open Development Technology Alliance came together to host the…