Creating a well-informed public is a core value of representative government. It is a prerequisite for ensuring the best representatives are elected and a crucial component of government oversight—as well as being important in areas well beyond civics. This document speaks to why public government data (also called "public sector information") is a valuable resource to society if put on the Web and shared freely with the public, and discusses how to go about doing it. We discuss technological considerations and end with guiding principles for best practices in open government data.
This best practices guide encourages data to be valued as an important resource to society. But this is not a new idea, and already many government entities have begun to embrace these ideas. A 2009 report for the U.S. Office of Science Technology Policy described the importance of shared data from science and technology research:
"The power of digital information to catalyze progress is limited only by the power of the human mind. Data are not consumed by the ideas and innovations they spark, but are an endless fuel for creativity. A small bit of information, well found, can drive a giant leap of creativity. The power of a data set can be amplified by ingenuity through applications unimagined by the authors and distant from the original field." ("Harnessing the Power of Digital Data for Science and Society", a working group report to the Office of Science Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President, U.S.A. government)
