Empowering the citizen: the endless opportunities of open data - HITC Politics

"... Interestingly, the UK government is believed to be leading the world with its open data initiatives. Since its launch at the beginning of 2010, the government’s data.gov.uk website has amassed over 14,000 datasets, including information on traffic, deprivation, council expenditures and obesity. The government has also partially funded the Open Data Institute (ODI). Founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt, the ODI is an independent, non-profit research & development organisation located in Shoreditch, London, which has been creating open data training programmes, supporting start-ups and businesses, and demonstrating the opportunities of unlocking data since its launch over two years ago. Meanwhile, cities, governments and international bodies around the globe are looking to open up more of their data. The European Commission has launched a formal tender for a new open data platform, whilst President Obama has signed into law the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act), obliging all federal agencies to reveal their spending data to the public. At a more local level, cities around the world, such as San Francisco, Cape Town and New York, are creating digital portals, so that their citizens can access reams of information about their local area ..."