We Aim to Transform Public Information Into Public Knowledge

Public Information is comprised of the data that the state possesses and that the public has interest in, such as state laws, government decisions, budget data, government data on transportation, housing, and the environment, and details on the performance of public authorities.

Public Knowledge is comprised of the insights attained through the communal processing of public information.

Liberating public information and turning it into accessible public knowledge enhances democracy by enabling greater and more informed civic involvement, thereby deepening the relationships among citizens and authorities.

The Open Government Data Working Group’s Principles of Open Public Information

Government data shall be considered open if the data complies with the principles below:

  1. Data Must Be Complete: All public data are made available. Data are electronically stored information or recordings, including but not limited to documents, databases, transcripts, and audio/visual recordings. Public data are data that are not subject to valid privacy, security or privilege limitations, as governed by other statutes.
  2. Data Must Be Primary: Data are published as collected by the source, with the finest possible level of granularity, not in aggregate or modified forms.
  3. Data Must Be Timely: Data are made available as quickly as necessary to preserve the value of the data.
  4. Data Must Be Accessible: Data are available to the widest range of users for the widest range of purposes.
  5. Data Must Be Machine processable: Data are reasonably structured to allow automated processing of it.
  6. Access Must Be Non-Discriminatory: Data are available to anyone, with no requirement of registration.
  7. Data Formats Must Be Non-Proprietary: Data are available in a format over which no entity has exclusive control.
  8. Data Must Be License-free: Data are not subject to copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret regulation. Reasonable privacy, security and privilege restrictions may be allowed as governed by other statutes.

Finally, compliance must be reviewable.

Source: 8 Principles of Open Government Data, Open Government Data Working Group