The Local Authority
Editors: Rob Dale, Ingrid Koehler
As council staff get more practice in releasing data, and the open-source developers get more experience and funding for doing something useful with this information, we must expect and prepare for further transformations towards more open local government. More
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What is a hack day? And why you should be bothered
This is a very useful blog post from Walsall Council press officer Dan Slee, someone who’s on a mission to explain to colleagues in local government why they should be releasing data and what can be done with it. Follow the link within it to a post from Stuart Harrison of Lichfield Council on building a picture of a ward using data from data.gov.uk
Nesta Make it Local Showcase
NESTA’s Make it Local programme aims to show how local authorities can work with digital agencies and developers to unlock their data and provide really useful web-based services for their citizens. From this link you can find information about the four projects involved in the programme: the London Borough of Sutton’s Bookshare project; the Birmingham Civic Dashboard, Kirklees Council’s Who owns my neighbourhood project,and Barnet Council with FixYourStreet.
Citizen Information Accounts
Users may be interested to learn about an exploratory piece of work which examined public perceptions around data linking and sharing within the public sector. If anyone would like more information or find out how this might move forward in the future please contact me on dave.ruston@m-e-l.co.uk
5 ways to make a difference with data: a round up of #madwdwm
My round up of the West Midlands Unworkshop on Feb 24th, including videos and audio.
Openly local - data source for local authorities
The Openly Local website is opening up access to data held by local authorities. It currently holds information from more than 160 councils, and has published the £500+ spend data LAs have been obliged to publish since January 2011. The site also includes a directory of hyperlocal websites.
Towards open council meetings
Eric Pickles and Bob Neill have issued guidance to local authorities, urging them to allow citizen journalists and hyperlocal bloggers to have full access to public council meetings.
US cities using tech to cull ideas from citizens
Samantha Gross covers the trend for the Associated Press of how cities are using tech to cull ideas from citizens.
Libraries: the data difference
Dilek Dogus (Labour, LB Haringey), Cabinet Member for Adults and Community Services, explains how Haringey is using retail techniques to get the best out of the council’s libraries.
Participatory Budgeting
A great map of all regions in the world using data to get citizens participating in the decision-making process of budget allocation.
Why www.police.uk is not (yet) the answer
Data Mapping Reporter Conrad Quilty Harper delivers stinging analysis of the open crime maps produced by the Home Office.
Using council data to build social capital
Mark Pack takes a look at how council data can be made more user-friendly
How data is merging cultures
The Economist takes a look at the coming together of top-down civil servant and bottom-up developer cultures
[Consultation] Code of recommended practice for local authorities on data transparency
Currently invited the public opinion, the proposed Code from DCLG is concerned with making data generated by authorities available and accessible to the public.
Councillors making a difference with data
a practical example of a councillor using data mapping techniques to keep residents informed during last year’s snow falls
The ultimate local government open data starting point
Chris Taggart is leading the mission to open-up local governemnt data – Openly Local is a truly brilliant resource
Paul Clarke: How I would fix data.gov.uk
Open data expert Paul Clarke explains how he would change the government’s open data project
Rob Dale
I’m the leader of all ‘digital democracy’ related work at the Local Government Information…
Ingrid Koehler
Ingrid Koehler is an Improvement Strategist at Local Government Improvement and Development…
Related blog posts
May 4th's 'Brewcamp' in Birmingham, to be streamed online, will include a proposal for a West Midlands…
One of the most exciting areas of the open data arena is the opportunity to use citizen data alongside…
Resource Documents
Socitm open data breifing
This briefing, from local authority IT management association Socitm, provides advice for local authority managers on how to respond to new requirements around open data and transparency placed on them by the Coalition Government.
Gateshead Council - Timely Information to Citizens project - 'Our Gateshead' community web space
The ‘Our Gateshead’ strand of Gateshead Council’s Timely Information to Citizens project created a community web space where local groups could promote themselves, share ideas and consult others.
