Open Data Round Up: 31/10/13

Happy Hallowe’en! There’s nothing spooky about open data but it has been an action-packed week of open data activity and announcements ahead of  the Open Data Institute Annual Summit and the 2013 Open Government Partnership Conference. Some key announcements are below:

• The Global Open Data Initiative have this week launched their Declaration on open data. The declaration, entitled “A Citizens’ Call to Action on Open Data” calls for increased action by governments around the world to move towards ‘open data by default’ in order to improve the quantity and quality of open data as well as to increase transparency and accountability

• The Open Data Institute has announced the launch of a new ODI Global Network. Thirteen initial ‘nodes’ have been announced: Country Nodes in the USA and Canada; City/Region Nodes in Dubai, Chicago, North Carolina, Paris, Trento, Manchester, Brighton, and Leeds; and Communications Nodes in Gothenburg,  Moscow and Buenos Aires
• The Open Knowledge Foundation has published it’s 2013 Open Data Index ahead of this week’s Open Government Partnership Conference in London. The UK and the USA come out on top of the poll however the OKFN notes there is still more to be done, particularly in regards to publishing company data and allowing re-use of open datasets. The Guardian’s datablog has published an interesting analysis of the survey

• The Greater London Authority have launched a London Dashboard which provides easy to understand analysis and information about key public services in London. The site is still in beta and feedback is invited but it’s a really interesting model for accessible presentation of open data

This really is only a snapshot of all that is going on at the moment in the field of open data – if you don’t believe me try searching for #opendata on Twitter! If there’s anything you think I’ve missed from this week’s post or that you’d like to see on future post please let me know in the comments.