Sunlight Foundation: You don’t have to be tech-savvy to benefit from open data

Open data can help you even if you know nothing about data, because it can power tools and resources that are usable by anyone.

This was on clear display recently at TransportationCamp, an unconference that focuses on the intersection of transportation and technology. Several developers from Mapzen ran a session presenting some of the open-source mapping tools they’ve been working on recently.

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California’s Open Data Portal Goes Open Source for the Apps

California’s Government Operations Agency relaunched its open data portal as open source Thursday, so civil coders and state departments might sustainably innovate on the new platform.

The state started piloting portals with greengov.data.ca.gov and a coinciding codeathon in October, out of which emerged 14 open source applications posted on the online project hosting site GitHub.

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Washington DC: Mayor Bowser Just Made DC’s Economic Data Open-Source

On Wednesday, Mayor Muriel Bowser's administration launched a new economic development dashboard, with the aim of providing District residents with easily accessible data on employment, income and housing. The Mayor's office said the site was developed in response to demand from residents for more data, specifically around the status of affordable housing projects and other construction around the District. The administration built the dashboard after seeing the success of District's Real Estate Project Pipeline, last year.

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NASA’s CTO: Open source software keeps us honest

It’s not every day that NASA creates a position just for you. NASA did just that for Chris C. Kemp in 2010. The tech pioneer became the space agency’s first Chief Technology Officer for Information Technology, appointed to lead and nurture IT innovation at the U.S. space agency.

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Open source code helps governments share information with citizens

Before open data, there was FOIA. Beginning in 1967, the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) empowered the public to request access to government documents. Unfortunately, some branches of government quickly began to push back, and within the decade the infamous phrase "can neither confirm nor deny" had been devised to avoid releasing information.

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The best and brightest in open government at TransparencyCamp 2014

It's Open Government Week at Opensource.com, and the Sunlight Foundation is celebrating by bringing amazing people and projects together in open government, open data, and civic hacking. Join like-minded folks at TransparencyCamp in Washington D.C. on May 30 and 31.

TransparencyCamp has brought together hundreds of people to share their knowledge about how to use new technologies and develop policies to make our government really work for the people—and to help people work smarter with our government.

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NASA releasing source code catalogue

NASA is set to release on April 10 a comprehensive catalogue of software code that runs some of the most sophisticated robotics and rockets on the planet.

The agency, in line with the White House's Open Government policy, is also aiming to make the free online catalogue of more than 1,000 projects one of its most easily accessible.

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