Prism president Sean Brady will be Susan Arbetter’s guest on The Capitol Pressroom this Thursday, March 8 from 11:20 AM to 11:30 AM. Susan will be discussing an open letter from Sean and Cornell professor John Sipple to Andrew Cuomo advocating that the governor support a New York State government open data initiative. The letter appeared on February 14, 2012, as a Guest Viewpoint in the Ithaca Journal, Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin and Elmira Star-Gazette, and as a blog post: Dear Governor Cuomo, Free the data. Please.
The Capitol Pressroom can be heard on public radio throughout upstate New York on stations including Buffalo (WBFO), Rochester (WXXI), Syracuse (WRVO), Binghamton (WSKG) & Albany (WVCR). You can also listen by live stream or podcast.
Open data initiatives allow citizens to browse open data portals in order to find, download and use machine-readable data sets generated by the government. The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and even Kenya have open data portals. States such as Oregon, Utah and Illinois and cities such as Baltimore, Chicago and New York do as well.
Free and open access to data:
- Spurs innovation and economic development
- Increases government transparency and accountability
- Reduces waste and fraud
- Improves our quality of life
- Strengthens our democracy.