News and ideas on Open Government Data from around the web:

  • The New York Times covers Carl Malamud and Aaron Swartz's geurilla efforts to open up access to US court archives. (hat tip to @dgrobinson)
  • An editorial in the Columbia Journalism Review calls on President Obama to:

    "Encourage the development of systems that proactively release government information, and build databases so they can be accessed and adapted by innovators outside government."  

    (via Open Access News)

  • Data published by the government should be in formats and approaches that promote analysis and reuse of that data.
  • Data republished by the government that has been received or stored in a machine-readable format (such as online regulatory filings) should preserve the machine-readability of that data.
  • Information should be posted so as to also be accessible to citizens with limitations and disabilities.
  • Citizens should be able to download complete datasets of regulatory, legislative or other information, or appropriately chosen subsets of that information, when it is published by government.
  • Citizens should be able to directly access government-published datasets using standard methods such as queries via an API (Application Programming Interface).
  • Government bodies publishing data online should always seek to publish using data formats that do not include executable content.
  • Published content should be digitally signed or include attestation of publication/creation date, authenticity, and integrity.
  • Favourite 'Data For Development' story this week: Unicef is using data gathered via SMS messages to fight malnutrition in Malawi. (via @appropedia)