The Global Open Data Initiative partners are excited today to share a draft Declaration on Open Data, and would welcome comments and feedback on its contents. This post was co-authored by the Global Open Data Initiative partners, and the original can be viewed here. 

Open Data has enormous unfulfilled promise to change how governments work and to empower citizenship. Even as more governments and issue experts discover new potential in the public release of data, civil society groups still need clear guidelines and mechanisms for cooperation. Global Open Data Initiative hopes to help provide both, and we hope this draft declaration will help us fill that gap.

By building on existing efforts to gather guidelines and best practices, and by building a clear, joint voice made up of outside groups, Global Open Data Initiative hopes to provide a CSO-led vision for how open data should work.

Please give us your feedback

While we’re excited about the start we have, we want to hear from others too. Does this draft adequately describe open data’s promise, and the challenges we face in fulfilling it? Are there other issues it should cover? Are there additional standards, initiatives, or guidelines to which we should refer to (if even in an extended notes section)?

Click here to go to the Declaration on Open Data

Please read the declaration by following the link above and add your thoughts in a comment. For more in depth conversation, please join our discussion list.