Open Data: Better Politics, Winning Politics… But Still Politics — Crooked Timber

abernard102@gmail.com 2012-07-07

Summary:

“... A free press; universal suffrage; a public education system; the secret ballot: these are unobjectionable, broadly agreeable foundations of democracy. Open data should perhaps be the newest addition to that list. In one sense, open data is pre-political. Whatever parts of our political system you happen to value, unencumbered government data almost certainly plays a role in their support. Knocking on doors to get out the vote? That’s made possible by Census TIGER/Line map data and voter roll information. Wielding facts and figures in the poli/econ blogosphere? The open data policies of BLS, the Fed, CBO and other institutions power these debates. Even the tedious daily point-scoring of cable news is enabled, in part, by video, audio and text material provided by various publications and outlets of the House and Senate. Whether or not you consider these mechanisms constitutive of “good politics”—in the sense of representing a productive and positive kind of deliberation—the fact that they are possible seems like an undeniably good thing...”

Link:

http://crookedtimber.org/2012/07/06/open-data-better-politics-winning-politics-but-still-politics/

Updated:

08/16/2012, 06:08

From feeds:

Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » abernard102@gmail.com

Tags:

oa.new oa.psi oa.comment oa.impact oa.costs oa.benefits oa.definitions oa.economics_of oa.economic_impact oa.government oa.data

Authors:

abernard

Date tagged:

07/07/2012, 17:40

Date published:

07/09/2012, 14:05