South Bend, Indiana Signs Open Data Policy

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On Thursday, August 22nd, South Bend, Indiana became the 15th municipality (and, with a population of roughly 101,000, the smallest!) in the US to sign an open data policy into law. Executive Order No. 2-2013, enacted by Mayor Pete Buttigieg, was largely crafted to introduce a new transparency website, data.southbendin.gov, as a platform for publishing public information — a fairly common motive for cities making this kind of policy.

What’s uncommon about South Bend is not just its size, but the fact that their new policy firmly grounds “open data” in the state’s public records law.

SouthBend

Public records laws and other on-the-books policies that defend and establish standards for public access to information (and control its publishing and quality) form the bedrock on which open data exists. These pre-existing provisions not only create a precedent that can be built on for new policies like the one in South Bend, but can help identify portions of the law that need new clarity and strength. When Texas recently passed a law allowing state legislators to participate in online message boards, they complemented the legislation with a second bill that explicitly underscored that in any setting (personal or professional), electronic communications sent by public officials about government business fall under the state definition of public information. Technically, this precedent already existed, but the language was not as explicit as lawmakers knew it needed to be for their new public-facing decision-making platform to carry weight. This is the opportunity offered to every open data policy: The chance to clarify our common and legal understanding of not just how data is made available to the public, but what information is open to the public.

In the short history of “Open Data” policies, municipalities have drawn on public records precedence at the federal, state, and local level, but usually only to define exemptions to their new policy. Of the cities we’ve surveyed, Madison, Wisconsin seems to be the only other municipality besides South Bend to lean on a public records law to define what data should be made public. Unfortunately, they complement this forward thinking with a laundry list of exemptions.

South Bend doesn’t fall into this trap. Instead, starting with the precedence for “public” information and ending with the technical requirements for implementation, the city crafts layered, but solid definitions of the legal and technical frameworks necessary to give the phrase “open data” meaning.

  • Public Data or Information means any data or information generated or received by the City of South Bend (the City) as defined by the Indiana Access to Public Records Act (APRA) at Ind. Code 5-14-3-2(n) which is fully disclosable under APRA or which the City has no discretion to refrain from disclosing under APRA at Ind. Code 5-14-3-4(b).
  • Open Data or Information means public data or information made readily available online, utilizing best practice structures and formats when possible.
  • Open Format is any widely accepted, nonproprietary, searchable, platform-independent, machine-readable method for formatting data.

Although this policy is just a first step for South Bend, it does a good job of securing some conceptual and actionable basics for disclosing public data online. Sunlight is glad to have played a role supporting the local community advocates (including the 2013 Code for America fellows) who helped make this policy a reality, and will continue to watch South Bend’s progress as they move to implement over the next year.

You can view the full text of South Bend’s new executive order accessible below and here:

See government announcement [here] (http://www.ci.south-bend.in.us/residents-business-government/news/2013-8-21/mayor-buttigieg-launch-city%E2%80%99s-open-data-portal-website).

CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 2-2013

ESTABLISHMENT OF OPEN DATA PORTAL FOR PUBLIC INFORMATION

WHEREAS, this Administration is committed to timely and consistent publication of data consistent with the Indiana Access to Public Records Act (APRA) which is essential to open and effective government; and

WHEREAS, this Administration seeks to empower the citizens of South Bend to participate in governance by providing easy and open access to maximum public data and information consistent with APRA; and

WHEREAS, the City of South Bend whenever possible shall procure technology and use efficient processes which advance the goal of making public data and information open and available consistent with APRA through the use of open data standards and formats; and

WHEREAS, the City of South Bend’s Division of Information and Technologies is positioned to work with other City agencies to find and provide access to public data and information; to make that information freely available online in a machine-readable, open format, which can be easily retrieved, downloaded, indexed, sorted, searched, analyzed and reused utilizing readily available Web search applications and software; and

WHEREAS, this Administration seeks to develop a culture which supports the provision and use of open data.

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me as the Chief Executive and Administrative Officer of the City, it is hereby ordered as follows:

1. Definitions

As used in this in this Executive Order the terms below shall have the following definitions:

  • Public Data or Information means any data or information generated or received by the City of South Bend (the City) as defined by the Indiana Access to Public Records Act (APRA) at Ind. Code 5-14-3-2(n) which is fully disclosable under APRA or which the City has no discretion to refrain from disclosing under APRA at Ind. Code 5-14-3-4(b).
  • Open Data or Information means public data or information made readily available online, utilizing best practice structures and formats when possible.
  • Open Format is any widely accepted, nonproprietary, searchable, platform-independent, machine-readable method for formatting data.
  • Open Data Portal means the Internet site established and maintained by or on behalf of the City, located at data.southbendin.gov or its successor website.
  • Open Data Management Team means the group within the Division of Information Technologies or its successor that is coordinating implementation of open public data policy.

2. Open Data Portal

(a) A single web portal shall be

  • (i) established and maintained by or on behalf of the City;
  • (ii) administered by the Division of Information Technologies or its successor Department; and
  • (iii) located at data.southbendin.gov or its successor website.

(b) Any dataset made accessible on the City’s Open Data Portal shall

  • (i) use a format that permits automated processing of such data and
  • (ii) be accessible to external search capabilities.

3. Open Data Management Team—Division of Information Technologies

The head of Division of Information Technologies shall identify a team to oversee the implementation and management of Open Data Portal policies and infrastructure. The team will coordinate the publication of public data from other City agencies and Commissions on the Open Data Portal, and will manage the Open Data Portal itself.

4. Open Data Coordinators

The head of each City agency or Commission shall designate from within the City Agency or Commission an Open Data Portal coordinator. Each Open Data Portal coordinator shall

  • (i) identify and communicate to the Open Data Management Team the public data that can be but is not being published online;
  • (ii) establish timelines with the Open Data Management Team for publishing the public data on the Open Data Portal; and
  • (iii) assist the Open Data Management Team with publication of the public data, and if possible, to publish the data themselves. Public data will be published and maintained on the Open Data Portal on an ongoing basis and in its raw form when available.

5. Annual Open Data Report

Within one year of the effective date of this Executive Order, and thereafter no later than September 1 of each year, the Open Data Management Team shall submit to the Mayor an annual open data report. Such annual report shall

  • (i) summarize and comment on the state of open data and dataset availability in City agencies from the previous year;
  • (ii) provide a plan for the next year to improve online public access to public data and maintain data quality. The Open Data Management Team shall present an initial implementation plan to the Mayor within 180 days of this Executive Order.

6. Notice of Executive Order

The Clerk of the City of South Bend shall cause a notice of this Executive Order, and the action taken herein, to be published under Indiana Code 5-3-1 and in accordance with Indiana Code 36-4-9-6 (e).

7. Effective Date

This Executive Order shall become effective immediately upon execution.

DATED this _____ day of August, 2013.

CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA
(Seal)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, MAYOR

ATTEST: Approved as to Form and Legality:

John Voorde Cristal Brisco City Clerk Corporation Counsel for the City of South Bend

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