Starting an open data project? You’ll need to investigate “who” is out there, “what” data they might need, and “why” they care.
Continue readingSunset and sunrise: a farewell announcement from Open Cities Director Stephen Larrick
Sunlight Open Cities Director Stephen Larrick practices some personal and professional transparency, announcing his departure from Sunlight, sharing a retrospective on his three years with the team, and bidding a fond farewell as he passes the baton to new Open Cities Director, Katya Abazajian.
Continue readingWe’re collecting user personas for open data — send us yours!
We’re collecting all existing examples of cities’ user personas for open data and government websites, and developing best practices for other cities that are looking to create them.
Continue readingRecording: “Unseal the Deal! How open contracting can improve your city’s procurement process”
Yesterday we hosted "Unseal the Deal! How open contracting can improve your city’s procurement process," a webinar with our partners from the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP), the Harvard Kennedy School's Government Performance Lab (GPL), and the City of Glendale, Arizona to discuss how open contracting can help cities get more bids, better bids, more contractors, and better outcomes—all while mitigating risks of corruption and improving trust and integrity—through an open approach to procurement. If you missed it, the recording of the webinar and presentation slides are now available.
Continue readingHow could open data help Austin, Texas better serve people experiencing homelessness?
The City of Austin has been working to deeply understand the experiences of people in homelessness, and build trusting relationship with a population that's wary of government. Now, Sunlight’s Open Cities team and the City are working together to see if open data could be part of the solution.
Continue readingHere are all the open data user personas created in our workshops
Understanding who wants to use public information and why is one of the best things cities can do to improve the impact and relevance of their open data programs. The Sunlight Open Cities team helps city staff develop open data user personas, and we wanted to share some of these personas to spark ideas and inspiration for open data staff in other cities.
Continue readingHow Baton Rouge is engineering open data for community involvement
Baton Rouge wants to make sure residents know about new open datasets as soon as they’re available. Leaders see this as a way to keep residents in the know about new resources, as well as an important part of how governments can and should be transparent in a digital era. A new website brings together all this work in one place.
Continue readingGet some fresh ideas to help your community use city open data
Maybe your city is already publishing data but you haven’t seen many members of your community use it. Maybe you’re just starting to publish data and want to build your program with community needs at the center. Or maybe you already have a thriving community of open data users and want to learn new ideas or share your successes. No matter where you are in your work, on Wednesday, April 18, 2018 from 1:00-3:00 pm EDT, city open data staff are invited to join us for an online discussion, idea swap, and presentation on best practices to support community data use.
Continue readingAustin and Norfolk selected to be the next pilot projects of Tactical Data Engagement
Sunlight Open Cities is excited to congratulate Austin, Texas and Norfolk, Virginia as the next pilot projects of Tactical Data Engagement. Austin and Norfolk are both passionate about open data and ready to convene community partners to learn how to support open data use outside of city hall. We’re looking forward to working with both of them to put open data to use addressing community needs.
Continue readingMemphis, TN uses a crowdlaw approach for its new open data policy
The City of Memphis unveiled a new open data policy earlier today, and we’re particularly excited about it because the city created the policy using crowdlaw, a relatively new part of our standard recommendations for cities.
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