
What is my government doing? Where are time and resources being invested? How are those investments shaping my community today—and... View Article
Continue readingWhat is my government doing? Where are time and resources being invested? How are those investments shaping my community today—and... View Article
Continue reading2017 was one of the most tumultuous years in recent political memory for the United States, but throughout the year city halls emerged as leaders on civic innovation, transparency, and good government.
Continue readingEight years since Portland, Oregon passed the nation’s first open data policy, open data advocates are now beginning to shift... View Article
Continue readingThe Open Government Partnership's 2017 Americas Regional Meeting included a new focus on cities, and it opened conversations about data, experiences, and shared learning across continents. Here's what we heard from three days in Buenos Aires.
Continue readingUnderstanding who uses open data and how helps city staff share public information in ways that are most likely to result in social impact. At “Designing for Community Use," our workshop on the What Works Cities on Tour, we helped city officials brainstorm potential users of open data, develop personas, and then use those personas to design improvements to how city halls disclose information.
Continue readingThe U.S. City Open Data Census is an ongoing, crowdsourced measure of the current state of access to open datasets... View Article
Continue readingCities collect, store, analyze and disclose many different kinds of government data that are critical to understanding and addressing social inequality and racial justice. Advocates for equity can and must do more to demand more transparency from local authorities by working with cities to open up, close information gaps in their communities, and end data poverty.
Continue readingSunlight’s Open Cities team will be in Madison, Wisconsin for two weeks, conducting dozens of interviews as part of our first-ever pilot project for our Tactical Data Engagement work. To that end, if you live or work in Madison and have ideas about these issues, please tell us! Email opencities@sunlightfoundation.com and share your perspectives about how the city could improve how it collects, releases, uses or applies government data.
Continue readingThe City of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, wants to make it easier for residents to see and understand what's happening in their city. A new open data policy, a major component of that work, is now open for public comment.
Continue readingTo learn how important federal data is to cities, the Sunlight Foundation, in partnership with DataLensDC, conducted a national survey of city staff about how federal data informs their work. The findings of our survey are now available.
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