Open the data

To establish open government practices, concerned authorities should empower citizens by updating and disclosing information and data proactively

March 2 marked ninth International Open Data Day. According to opendataday.org, 185 events were registered for organizing talks, seminars, demonstrations, hackathons, training and announcement of open data releases or other milestones in open data all over the world. This was an opportunity to show the benefits of open data and encourage adoption of open data policies among government, business and civil society fraternities.

Open data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as per the need, without restrictions of copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. Open data, in reference to government data, is the proactive publication of unpackaged and open format government information, which can be reused and repackaged for different uses by audiences. By providing access to comprehensive, timely and detailed data, Open Data enables new forms of civic participation in decision-making processes. Access to information increases citizen’s access to information to public sectors. There are two major ways of accessing information—information disclosed proactively and information received following requests (reactive), under Right to Information (RTI) Act. The effective use of both these means can lead to a healthy ecosystem for accessing government information. Read more.......