{"id":1875,"date":"2011-02-04T07:00:55","date_gmt":"2011-02-04T15:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.formtek.com\/blog\/?p=1875"},"modified":"2011-02-04T07:00:55","modified_gmt":"2011-02-04T15:00:55","slug":"open-data-centralized-control-of-government-open-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/open-data-centralized-control-of-government-open-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Data: UK Hopes To Serve as Model of Open Government"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the UK efforts are under way to centralize the collection and dissemination of data sets managed by various government agencies. \u00a0Last month the Cabinet Office created an agency<\/a> called the Public Data Corporation (PDC) with a charter of increasing accessibility of public information.<\/p>\n

Francis Maude, minister of the Cabinet Office, said “Public sector information underpins a growing part of the economy. The technology that is around today allows people to use and re-use this information in new and different ways. \u00a0The role of government is to help maximise the benefits of these developments. \u00a0Public sector information underpins a growing part of the economy. The technology around today allows people to use and reuse this information in new and different ways. \u00a0The PDC will be a center where developers, businesses and members of the public can access data and use it to develop internet applications, inform their business decisions or identify ways to run public services more efficiently.”<\/p>\n

UK’s PDC has the potential of serving as a model for other countries in best practices for collecting, managing and providing public access to government-managed information. \u00a0The hope is that the data sets will be used to create new innovative public services that will be useful to both businesses and private citizens. \u00a0Another goal of the PDC is to foster a relationship between the public and private sectors where private companies will have an opportunity to embed the data sets within commercial applications, and government will gain access to tools and data analysis which they otherwise would not be able to accomplish on their own.<\/p>\n

Edward Davey, UK Business Minister, pointed out other benefits of the PDC:<\/p>\n