Good news for the open social web and open government data

"Earlier today, the White House finally issued the guidance on open government data Congress mandated 6 years ago, on the anniversary of former President Trump signing the bill into law on January 15, 2021.

The irony of publishing guidance on open data as a PDF is …sharp. I’m old enough to remember a White House that modeled open information and digital government by example.

Outgoing Office and Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young also did not share the guidance on her way out the door today, make a statement in a release, or write a blog post — much less host a press conference about it. 

The landscape for public access to public data would look different if the Biden administration had done this in 2021 and driven implementation since.

In the void of guidance, chief data officers across government have moved forward with opening and structuring public records, but there’s no replacement for presidential leadership and aggressive oversight.

Instead of leading on opening public records to the public they serve, fixing FOIA, strengthening agency capacity, this White House issued (mandatory!) guidance on open government data on the way out the door...."