In spring 2018, for the first time the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) has begun using the Internet to inform the American public about its ongoing investigations of unauthorized dispositions in an online dashboard. In a year that continues to be marked by regression on open government, this is a welcome development that shines a bright light on a matter of significant public concern.
Continue readingFacebook’s commitments to transparency before Congress are welcome, but insufficient
Unless Congress takes more time to understand and then to craft careful remedies, the emerging challenges for open government that Facebook is implicated in – from automated activity to algorithmic transparency to public speech on private platforms to data ethics and protections to anti-trust concerns to artificial intelligence – will most likely be obscured by more sound and fury emanating from Washington that ultimately signifies nothing.
Continue readingFollowing scrutiny of website removal, HHS women’s health office adds breast cancer page
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women’s Health has added a single webpage about breast cancer to its WomensHealth.gov, after removing more than half a dozen pages about the topic without public notice.
Continue readingIt’s time for a reboot on open government at the Department of Veterans Affairs
In 2016, after we highlighted missing data and non-compliance with President Obama's Open Government Directive, the agency committed to restoring public information and producing a new plan. Their promise to us and the American people to produce a self-assessment, progress report and plan for transparency and accountability has not been kept. It's time for a reboot.
Continue readingMore sunshine on health data will empower patients and caregivers
Transparency in healthcare empowers patients, caregivers, regulators and industry. Health data carries immense potential and serious risks to privacy, however, which means that everyone needs to approach opening it with care. First, do no harm.
Continue readingIn the wake of fraudulent comments, Regulations.gov revises API policy
After the Regulations.gov API was taken offline for almost two months, it's back, with new restrictions on user accounts and authorization. We don't know, but the EPA's response suggested that misuse was degrading the system.
Continue readingDepartment of Justice launches new FOIA.gov to kick off Sunshine Week
The new federal website for Freedom of Information Act requests mandated by Congress in 2017 is a gigantic improvement over the previous FOIA.gov, but the upgrade won't fix all that ails that nation's canonical transparency law as Sunshine Week dawns.
Continue readingToday in OpenGov: Release the Memos
In today’s edition, we celebrate the relaunch of the U.S. City Open Data Census, comment on transparency in DC, highlight... View Article
Continue readingHelp document the state of open data and journalism in 2018
In 2018, we're collaborating on an ambitious new international research project that's assessing the state of open data across a range of issues and themes, culminating in a book that will be introduced at the 5th International Open Government Data Conference in Buenos Aires in the fall of 2018. Please weigh in on all of the history, events, research, organizations, data-driven journalism projects, and other details we missed in our first draft, and get involved in the 21 environment scans that are underway.
Continue readingIn 2018, the State of the Union is mobile and monetized
For the first time in history, the names of campaign donors will be shown over the livestream of a President of the United States as he delivers the State of the Union to Congress. This past year, the future that arrived has often been stranger than fiction.
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