President Barack Obama ordered a new Open Data Policy May 10 to make open data the new default for releasing information in the federal government. The order is expected to provide business and research concerns with data to spur innovation and enterprise. (E Pluribus Unum, May 10, 2013, by Alex Howard)
While praising the order, open government advocates were wary about the new policy. “…the new policies take on one of the most important, trickiest questions that these policies face — how can we reset the default to openness when there is so much data? How can we take on managing and releasing all the government’s data, or as much as possible, without negotiating over every data set the government has?” said John Wonderlich of the Sunlight Foundation, May 9, 2013.
“As someone who has submitted Freedom of Information Act requests only to get back boxes of redacted and almost meaningless documents, the hunt for government information — or information that is supposed to be publicly available — can be daunting, exhausting and ultimately fruitless,” said Stacey Higginbotham, GigaOM, May 9, 2013. She also acknowledged that releasing vast new troves of data could lead to “amazing new apps.” -db