How government data is at risk -- FCW: Business of Federal Technology

ab1630's bookmarks 2018-02-28

Summary:

"Open data advocates and former government employees have concerns about the fate of open government data, given budget and staffing cuts and the politicization of science and health care policy.

At a Feb. 27 event hosted by the nonprofit Information Technology and Innovation Foundation's Center for Data Innovation, Paul Farber, the managing director of the University of Pennsylvania's Program in the Environmental Humanities, characterized the federal stances on data to date as "a mixed bag."

"In one sense, open data initiatives still remain," he said. "But a number of the administration's tactics around data writ large have to do with data that's proprietary" and surrounding "things that are tied to contentious issues."

The Department of Agriculture, Department of Health and Human Services and Environmental Protection Agency, among other agencies, have changed the way they collect and publish data.

"Access to data is access to power," Farber added. "It's the ability to understand what you've inherited and what you are shaping."...

In Congress, there are some open data legislative efforts. The Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary Government Data Act, which would codify Obama's 2013 executive order to require federal agencies to publish their information to Data.gov in a non-proprietary, machine-readable form, passed the House in November 2017 as part of Speaker Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) bill on evidence-based policymaking.

The bill passed the Senate before the close of the last session of Congress, but must pass the Senate again this Congress."

Link:

https://fcw.com/articles/2018/02/27/open-data-policy-gunter.aspx

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oa.new oa.usa oa.government oa.foi oa.obstacles oa.quality oa.legislation oa.policies.funders oa.policies.funders.data oa.psi oa.stem oa.policies oa.unfamiliarity oa.data oa.funders oa.events

Date tagged:

02/28/2018, 12:56

Date published:

02/28/2018, 07:57