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Knowledge forEveryone: The OpenData Institute

Alameda County:Reinvents CommunityEngagement

How Open DataIs RevolutionizingHealth Care

6 GovernmentProcesses Replacedby Open Data

SPRING 2014

Building a Stronger Economy with Open Data

CHICAGOS SUCCESS STORY


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Dear Fellow Innovator,

Im glad you picked up a copy o our third edition o Open Innovation. Its packed ull o examples o how the open

data movement is growing quickly and becoming one o the most dynamic areas o technology today.

In our Community Report section, youll get to meet people who are bringing open data to more places, like the

executives in Montgomery County who supported the creation o financial transparency apps that educate citizens

on county budget data. Youll also hear about Code or Americas successul startup incubator program and the

Center or Medicaid and Medicares (CMS) innovative use o healthcare data. Finally, we highlight authors in the

community with our new book review section and showcase a ew members o the Open Data Doers Club. Any o

the doers remind you o yoursel?

Teres an app or that. Weve all heard it and its becoming more and more true thanks to new public datasets

made available by governments. In our Whats Appening? section, youll find out how New York City

encourages citizens to create apps that address the citys toughest issues and youll get an overview o Socrata Open

Expenditures and Socrata Open Budget, financial transparency apps we designed with help rom government

finance leaders.

We cover practical topics in our Smarter Government section, such as questions to consider when writing your

open data policy and how to host internal hackathons, like Alameda County, Caliornia does to educate staff and

encourage engagement with the Countys open data program. And, i youre interested in efficiency, you might like

our collection o six government processes replaced by open data.

And, now to one o my avorite subjects: economic development through open data. In our Open Data in Focus

section, youll read about Chicagos success in creating new businesses and jobs, thanks to their open data portal. We

also discuss the strategic value o data in government, spotlight how the United Nations Development Programme

inspires data journalism, and highlight the Open Data Institutes (ODI) work as an incubator o businesses based in

open data.

For un, we finish with a story about how art and open data can intersect by introducing you to Scott Kildall. Tis

San Francisco-based artist is transorming geo-data rom the San Francisco City and Countys (SFCC) open data

portal into 3-D art called Data Crystals.

Please let us know how you like the magazine and what you think we should eature next. We want this publication

to be a hub or the most exciting and inspiring innovations happening in open data and open government today.

Sincerely,

Kevin Merritt

Socrata Founder and CEO

Editor-in-Chi

Alida Moore

Contributing

Bridget Quigg

Tim Cashman

Patrick Hasseri

Design/Art D

Corey Smith

Promotion

Steven Gottlie

Published BySocrata

83 S. King Stre

Seattle, Wa. 98

[email protected]

(206) 340-800www.socrata.c

40 Growing Chicagos Open Data EconomyBy Bridget Quigg

Subscribe to future issues of Open Innovationby going to www.socrata.com/magazine

COMMUNITY REPORT

4 Socrata Book Club

6Te Rebirth ofGovernment Outreach:extizen Brings PublicEngagement into theMobile Era

By Patrick Hasseries

9Open Data Doers Club:American City-Dwellers

By Patrick Hasseries

12How Open DataIs RevolutionizingHealth Care

By Joe Pringle

18Montgomery CountyCollaborates on Open Data

By Ewan Simpson

WHATS APPENING?

21New York City AsksHackers to Solve oughIssues

By Bridget Quigg

24Financial ransparencyfor Smarter Governmentsand Citizens

By Safouen Rabah

SMARTER GOVERNMENT

275 Questions to AskWhen Creating YourOpen Data Policy

By Ian Kalin

30Alameda County:Te Gold Standard inCommunity Collaboration

By Alida Moore

376 Government ProcessesReplaced by Open Data

By Bridget Quigg

IN FOCUS

48Why GovernmentsMust Embrace the StrategicValue of Open Data

By Safouen Rabah

and Tim Cashman

53Knowledge forEveryone: Te Open DataInstitute

By Alida Moore

58How InternationalOrganizations UseData-as-a-Service toInspire Journalists

By Eleonore Fournier-Tombs

JUST FOR FUN

61Data Crystals: ScottKildall and the Collisionof Art and Open Data

By Alida Moore

SPRING 2014
mailto:info%40socrata.com?subject=http://www.socrata.com/http://www.socrata.com/open-innovation-magazine/http://www.socrata.com/open-innovation-magazine/http://www.socrata.com/mailto:info%40socrata.com?subject=


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BOOK CLUB

OPEN INNOVATION SPRINOPEN INNOVATION SPRI NG 2014

eyond Transparencypen Data and the Future of Civic Innovation

dited by Brett Goldstein and Lauren Dyson

Te rise o open data in t he public sector has sparked innovation, driven

fficiency, and ueled economic development. Its transormative potential could

ape the uture o civic l ie and reinvent the relationship between residents and

vernment, especially at the local level.

eyond ransparency is a new anthology rom Code or A merica, edited

th ormer Chie Data Officer o Chicago Brett Goldstein. In this cross-

sciplinary survey o the open data landscape, practitioners rom municipal

ie inormation officers to civic entrepreneurs share their stories o what they

complished with open data. Te book eatures essays rom leaders including

ichael Flowers, ormer Chie Analytics Officer o New York City; im OReilly,

under & CEO o OReilly Media; and Beth Blauer, Socrata Director o GovStat

d ormer StateState Director or Maryland.

pen Data NowTe Secret to Hot Startups, Smart Investing, Savvy Marketing, and Fast Innovation

y Joel Gurin

el Gurin is Senior Advisor to G ovLabs Open Data 500, the first major study

American companies that use open data to build t heir business. In Open

ata Now, Gurin applies his wide-ranging experience and two years o research

provide a comprehensive guide on the open data field. He describes the

pen data landscape or technologists, business executives, entrepreneurs, a nd

dinary citizens, providing insight into how open data is changing ideas about

ivacy, corporate responsibility, and government regulation

pen Data Now is essential reading or anyone who wants to understand how

pen data is changing business, government, and society. Gurin describes how

cial media is shaping brand identity and reputation and how the new science

sentiment analysis is transorming marketing strategy. He also makes the

se or open innovation in science, describing how some research institutions

e sharing their data early on to promote discourse.

Socrata Book Club looks at the latest and greatest volumes written about

government transparency, open data, and data-driven decision-making.

Open GovernmentCollaboration, ransparency, and Participation in Practice

Edited by Daniel Lathrop and Laurel Ruma

Open Government is a collection o essays and c ase studies that lay out visions o

a more democratic and effective government, achieved by making meaningul,

structured data accessible to ever yone. Contributors come rom a wide spectrum,

including a White House insider, the chie technology officer o a major city, and

an activist hacker. Te book presents a balance between hopes or the uture andthe realities that stand in the way.

Open Government is a comprehensive compendium of the who, what, how, and

why of the emergent national Gov 2.0 movement. Its a must-read for all who care

about transparent, efficient, and participatory government, which, by definition,

should equate to each and every one of us in our capacity as citizens and voters.

~Andrew Hoppin, CIO, New York State Senate

Smart CitiesBig Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia

By Anthony ownsend

In Smart Cities, urbanist and technology expert Anthony ownsend takes a broad

historical look at the orces that have shaped the planning and design o cities and

inormation technologies rom the rise o the great industrial cities o the n ineteenth

century to the present. A century ago, the telegraph and the mechanical tabulator

were used to tame cities o millions. oday, cellular networks and cloud computing

tie together the complex choreography o mega-regions o tens o mill ions o people.

In response, cities worldwide are deploying technology to address both the

timeless challenges o government and the mounting problems posed by human

settlements o previously unimaginable size and complexity. As technology barons,

entrepreneurs, mayors, and an emerging vanguard o civic hackers are trying to

shape this new rontier, Smart Cities considers their motivations, aspirations, and

shortcomings while offering a new civics to guide efforts to build the uture, one

click at a time.


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COMMUNITY REPORTBULLETIN BOARD FOR OPEN DATA COMMUNITY NEWS


COMMUNITY

THE REBIRTH

OF GOVERNMENTOUTREACHextizen Brings Public Engagementnto the Mobile Era

y Patrick Hasseries

the extizen team to take part in

their 2013 Incubator program, which

helps fledgling projects rom the CA

Fellowship grow into i ndependent

business ventures. Te extizen team

set up a main office in San Francisco,

where the CA Incubator program

is based. For the next six months,

the team received intensive training

and mentorship, networking w

leaders in the government tech

industry, learning how to secu

investors and manage busines

and using an endowment o $

bestowed by Code or Americ

build and launch their busine

its launch, extizen has been u

poll citizens on a number o t

In 2012, the City of Philadelphia realized it had

an issue with diversity and citizen engagement.

Primarily older, wealthier citizens attended City

meetings, and their feedback did not accurately

ortray public opinion as a whole. To engage a more

verse base of residents, the City knew it needed

o adopt 21st century methods of communication

nd asked Code for America(CfA), a non-profit

rganization dedicated to improving government

with digital technology, for help. CfA was uniquelyositioned to help Philadelphia in a fraction of the

me and budget it would have taken the City through

onventional channels. In its 2012 Fellowship program,

ode for America challenged software developers and

esigners to come up with a solution. Within months,

hey developed the groundwork for a new service

with the potential to benefit cities everywhere.

It also significantly cuts down

on costs and labor by eliminating

the need to canvass an entire city

or print out individual ballots.

Te Philadelphia City Planning

Commission piloted the new app

in June 2012. News o the projects

success spread widely, and soon

the extizen team began to receive

requests rom government leaders

looking to deploy the app in their

own cities.

INTO THE CODE FOR

AMERICA INCUBATOR

As the 2012 CA Fellowship neared its

end, it was clear extizen had evolved

beyond its original scope. CA invited

FROM CONCEPT TO PILOT

CAs Fellowship answered the

challenge with a marketing tactic

that companies have used or over

a decade: mobile texting surveys.According to the Pew Research Center,

more than ninety percent o American

adults have a cell phone, and most

cell phones come with a basic texting

plan. Te Fellowship proposed that

Philadelphia position calls to action

in everyday advertising locations

billboards, websites, public transit

vehicles and stations, etc. and invite

citizens to participate in quick public

opinion surveys by texting in their

answers. o help the City accomplish

and track this new method o public

inquiry, the Fellowship developed

extizen, a dynamic, web-based

application. extizen makes it simple

or government officials to create

public opinion surveys. Te app pairs

each survey with an auto-generated

phone number to which people

can text their answers. extizen

catalogs responses as they are sent

in and provides detailed statistics

on responses through its easy-to-

use dashboard system. We chose

to use text messaging bec ause its a

technology that most people have and

know how to use, says Serena Wales,

Chie echnology Officer o extizen.

News of the projects success spread wide

and the soon the Textizen team began to

receive requests from government leaders

looking to deploy the app in their own cit

Inaugural run of Textizen: volunteers place ads in public places around

Philadelphia, inviting passersby to text in their answers to public survey questions.
http://www.codeforamerica.org/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/06/cell-phone-ownership-hits-91-of-adultshttp://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/06/cell-phone-ownership-hits-91-of-adultshttps://www.textizen.com/https://www.textizen.com/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/06/cell-phone-ownership-hits-91-of-adultshttp://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/06/cell-phone-ownership-hits-91-of-adultshttp://www.codeforamerica.org/


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OMMUNITY REPORT COMMUNITY

OPEN DATADOERSCLUB:

AMERICANCITY-DWELLERSBy Patrick Hasseries

From government officials and

software developers to everyday

citizens going about their business,

the power of open data impacts us

all. In our new series, Open Data

Doers Club, we introduce you to the

people who make up the open datacommunity to show how open data

helps improve their lives. In this edition,

you will meet common American

public officials and urbanites.

CITY TECHNOLOGY PICKER-OUTER

Alias: C hief Technolog y Offi cer ( CTO)

You have a meeting with a dozen city leaders tomorr

discuss technologies that could help agencies better c

inormation to the public. You know their objective i

improve perormance, set smarter goals, and track p

toward those goals. Youve already proposed creating

data portalor the city, but thats just the first step o

open data useul to your citizens. You are hard at wo

talking with your developer contacts, looking to othe

or examples, and scouring the web or possible solut

Chie echnology Officer, a perormance measureme

dashboard is what youre seeking. Cities like Kansas

Missouriare already using dashboards to track prog

toward city goals and the perormance o city service

have also used dashboards to identiy service redund

or gaps, share inormation between agencies, and sho

public how the city is progressing toward key goals. S

ahead, do your research into perormance measurem

dashboards and walk into your meeting with confid

knowing that you have at least one great solution to p

om roads and public transportation

mental health awareness. In one

articular case, Chicago Public

hools used the app to ask city

sidents what types o school

mprovement projects they should

ioritize. Te school board had

eviously attempted holding surveys

rough conventional means such as

eetings and letters to parents, but

ey received ew responses. extizen

lped them distribute survey ads

n local trains and buses through

e Chicago ransit Authority. Te

result was more than 2,000 survey

responses, with 98% coming rom

unique participants. By putting ads

in everyday locations like billboards

and bus stops, theres a very high

chance cities will c atch citizens

attention while they already have

their phones out and are looking to

pass the time, says Wales.

extizen has so ar deployed to

over a dozen U.S. cities, including

Boston and Salt Lake City. Its

engineers recently released support

or Spanish-speaking audiences and

are working to expand extizen or

use in other countries and languages.

Te app is a strong example o how

governments can reconnect with

the public using technologies and

services most people use every day.

Te company behind it demonstrates

the success and valuable services that

are born when sofware engineers

apply their talents to improving

government, especially when theyre

backed by programs like the Code or

America Incubator.

Textizens online dashboard reports up-to-date survey results

through detailed statistics and visualizes them with rich, easy-to-

understand graphs. The dashboard also enables government officials

to create new public opinion surveys and deploy them with ease.
https://opendata.socrata.com/https://kcstat.kcmo.org/https://kcstat.kcmo.org/https://kcstat.kcmo.org/https://kcstat.kcmo.org/https://opendata.socrata.com/


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OPEN INNOVATION SPRINGOPEN INNOVATION SPR ING 2014

COMMUNITYOMMUNITY REPORT

CITY FINANCE FANATIC

Te public meeting has just started. You shuffle through

pages and pages o city finance data, getting everything in

order or the big reveal . Youre going to demand to know

why the city needs to raise taxes to pay or a new park when

they could be diverting unds rom redundant services

and making ex pensive programs more cost-efficient. Ten,

clumsy old Jane rom the PA trips and spills her coffee all

over your report. You watch in horror as the ink runs and

your data disappears beore your eyes. Te beautiul g raphs

you spent all night making in Microsof Excel are gone.

What calamity Jane has brought upon you and all the

taxpayers o the city! Financially concerned citizen, what

you need is open data. With financial transparency apps

like Open Budget and Open Ex penditures, you could

have saved hours o phone calls, financial analysis, and

chart-making. Plus, you would easily understand the

difference between capital budget and operating budget,

and youd see exactly where your government is spending

money. Best o all, you could have shared this in ormation

with other citizens, sa e rom Janes klutzy sabotage.

RACKLESS SEATTLE CYCLIST

You maneuver rom street to crosswalk like a graceul

unicorn on figure skates. You are doing the dance o the

bike commuter; you are a being that is hal pedestrian and

hal vehiclethe pinnacle o urban transportation. Te

morning mist dampens your ace as you breathe in the salty

Puget Sound air. Unlike cars and buses, cycling is ree, and

calories are the only uel needed to power your mission.

You roll to a stop and as you reach or the Cli bar in your

pocket, realization stri kes: theres no place to lock up your

bike. Looking about, you wonder where the nearest bike

rack is.

Seattle cyclist, open data is or you. What you dont know

is that there isnt a bike rack within a three block radius,

and the area youre in is prone to bike thefs. But with

mobile apps like Velorackspowered by city data, you can

always find the bike rack closest to your current location.

And with the Seattle Police Department publishing

up-to-date crime data on Seattles open data portal,

you can look up just how sae the area will be or your

two-wheeled baby.

MISSED TRASH DAY (AGAIN) SUBURBANIT

While going about your business, the unmistakable

o a garbage truck echoes in the distance. Realizatio

panic arise. You orgot to take out the trash again.

youre aced with three options: press the garbage do

and try to make enough room in the can or anothe

pull the garbage out and let its stench permeate you

space, or leave it outside and hope it doesnt attract a

In the meantime, your miniature dachshund, Schni

undoubtedly trying already to knock over the garba

get to those chicken bones you threw away the other

Alas, unortunate suburbanite! I only youd known

open data. With apps like Recollect, you could have

up your local garbage day and set yoursel reminder

More than that, it would help you communicate wit

local government about important city services. You

garbage would have been collected. Your amily wou

be complaining about the smell radiating out o the

kitchen trash. And Schnitzel wouldnt be revenge-ch

your avorite shoes. Te good news is you have anoth

opportunity to get this right next week.

TY DATA ACCESSIBILITY ADVOCATE

ias: C hief Dig ital Of ficer (CDO)

ou sit at your desk reading email and listening to phone

essages. Te eedback is clear: citizens want easier access

government data. Government workers are overwhelmed

y too many data requests rom citizens. City leaders need

better way to garner public support and eedback or

otential projects. It seems like conventional methods o

mmunication are ailing to serve at all ends. Tats why the

y hired you, Digital Guru. Its your job to find a solution

this communication barrier using new and innovative

chnologies.

hie Digital Officer, the solution you should seriously

nsider is a cloud-based, publicly accessible data repository

so known as an open data portal. Government agencies can

pload data they want to share with the public, and it would

readily accessible to citizens on any device with an Internet

nnection. City leaders could use the portal to address and

gage the public masses. Everyone would win, and maybe,

st maybe, they would finally erect a statue o you as the hero

at ushered in a new era o civic engagement.
http://www.veloracks.com/https://data.seattle.gov/https://recollect.net/https://opendata.socrata.com/https://opendata.socrata.com/https://recollect.net/https://data.seattle.gov/http://www.veloracks.com/


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OPEN INNOVATION SPRINGOPEN INNOVATION SPRI NG 2014

COMMUNITY

How Open DataIs Revolutionizing

Health CareBy Joe Pringle, Socrata Director of Health

The United States spends more than three trillion

dollars a year on health care. Governments at all levels,

in partnership with the private sector, are working to

improve the collection, use, management, dissemination,

and reporting of health data a project of a scope

equal to the Apollo Space Program. The emergence of

vast amounts of new health data, and improved tools

for using it, is occurring in parallel to a tectonic shift in

the demand for that data. The health care industry is

transitioning from an opaque, fee-for-service model,

where costs and transactions are based on the quantity

of care delivered, to a more transparent and value-

based model, where providers are compensated based

on value and consumers are better able to compare

providers in terms of cost and quality. These concurrent

trends foster a rapid rise in the health data economy

that will help transform health care and health policy.


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THE EMERGING HEALTH

DATA ECONOMY

A second trend driving equally

important changes in health care is

the emergence o a shared layer o

health data that all organizations

and individuals can tap into. In

some ways, health data is ollowing

the same path as open data in other

sectors, where increasing amounts o

raw and machine-readable data are

being released into the public domain.

However, some o the most valuable

health data is patient-level data,

which is private and subject to severerestrictions in how it can be shared

and used. For this reason, patient-level

data is only being shared to approved

entities. Both publicly available and

privately shared health data will drive

innovation in the orm o reduced

costs, higher quality, and better

public policy.

Public sector health organizations have

published data or decades, but it has

generally been difficult to find, access,

and use. Innovative efforts by the U.S.

Department o Health and Human

Services, the Centers or Medicare

and Medicaid Services (CMS), and

the Centers or Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC) vastly improve the

Much o the attention

on the current health

data revolution is

ocused on both the

e o big data within the enterprise

nd the increasing availability o

ersonal health data to consumers.

oviders, payers, insurers, and

her actors are rushing to build

ata warehouses and to implement

wide range o technologies to

pport enterprise data management,

nalytics, population health,

cision-support, and business

telligence (BI) goals. raditionalealth care I vendors are adding big

ata, analytics, and BI capabilities

their offerings. Electronic data is

ow captured at the point o care,

nd providers access clinical decision

pport systems in real time as

ey interact with patients. Payers

e data mining and analytics to

mprove raud detection and risk

anagement. Wearable devices

ack and store health data, while

creased consumer awareness o

ersonal health records and data

ve individuals greater ability to

ake inormed choices. All told, vast

mounts o health data across these

tivities are being captured, stored,

nd accessed in new ways.

scaling up efforts to have providers

report on quality measures. CMS

reimbursement to providers will be

linked to quality outcomes, efficiency

and patient satisaction under a value

based purchasing (VBP) model.

Data on quality measures is being

shared to practitioners, health care

providers, health plans, integrated

delivery systems, purchasers, and

others. Te perormance o providers

can be eva luated in an objectiv

by comparing the quality and v

o the services they deliver aga

the costs charged or those serv

Tis is a given in other sectors

economy but largely absent in

health sector until now. Tird,

a better understanding o com

and health outcomes, which gu

health policy and investment. M

and more data about commun

quality and utility o available health

data. Tese efforts lower the barriers

or researchers, developers, and

entrepreneurs to build upon this data.

THE IMPACT OF DATA ON HEALTH

CARE AND HEALTH POLICY

Tis emerging health data economy

is driving a learning health system1

where prices are more transparent;

consumers, payers, and policy makers

can compare quality and outcome. At

the same time, research data is being

shared in new and innovative ways.Both these changes impact health

care and health policy in numerous

ways. First, we are seeing an increased

understanding o the cost o care.

As the biggest single payer or health

care in the United States, theCenters

or Medicare and Medicaid Services

(CMS) is playing a leading role in

making the costs o health care more

transparent and easier to compare

across geographies and providers.

CMS releases aggregated data on

provider charges a nd makes claims-

level data available to approved entities

or research. A number o states

are establishing a ll-payer- claims-

database (APCD) systems to provide

comprehensive, multi-payer data to

allow consumers, purchasers, and

policy makers to understand the cost,

quality, and utilization o health care

or their citizens. Innovative companies

such as Pricing Health Care, Health

Care Bluebook, and others use these

data sources to provide new tools or

consumers and others. Te media uses

1 Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously

Learning Health Care in America.Washington, DC: The

National Academies Press, 2013.

the data to shine a light on disparities

in costs in different communities. All

o this is driving providers to compete

on price in a undamentally new way.

We are also seeing health care

quality improve. As part o the shif

away rom a health system where

payments are based on the quantity

o care to a system based on value and

outcomes, CMS and other payers are

lectronic data is now captured at the point

f care, and providers access clinical decision

upport systems in real time as they interact

with patients.

CMS Medicare Provider Utilization and Payments Data:CMS recently released a

new dataset on Medicare Provider Utilization and Payments as part of an ongoing

strategy to make the costs of healthcare more transparent and easier to compare

across geographies and providers.
http://www.cms.gov/http://www.cms.gov/http://www.cms.gov/https://pricinghealthcare.com/https://www.healthcarebluebook.com/https://www.healthcarebluebook.com/https://www.healthcarebluebook.com/https://www.healthcarebluebook.com/https://www.healthcarebluebook.com/https://pricinghealthcare.com/http://www.cms.gov/http://www.cms.gov/


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alth is being shared, al lowing anyone

see and compare health outcomes

ross cities, counties, and states.

nderstanding how a community is

rorming with respect to health,

d how it compares in terms o social

terminants, costs, services, and

her actors helps inorm investment

d public policy decisions. Leading

alth organizations at the state level,

ch as the New York Department o

ealth, New Jersey Department o

ealth, and Caliornia Department o

ublic Health are aggressively opening

p state-level health data. In turn,

termediaries and aggregators, such

as County Health Rankingsand other

sources, use this data to help inorm

the public about how communities

compare in terms o health. Tis

leads to improved awareness and

understanding o public health issues.

Finally, health care and health policy

research are improving. More data

is coming in, which pushes more

value out. Te biggest value rom the

increasing availability and utility o

health data comes rom research on all

aspects o our health system think

Human Genome Project multiplied

by 1,000. Te National Institutes o

Health(NIH) has long been a leader

in requiring the groups and projects

it unds to create a plan or sharing

the data they generate. In addition

to its open health data activities,

CMS makes privileged data, such as

claims data, available to approved

entities or research. Organizations

are orming networks o all sizes to

acilitate data sharing across traditional

organizational boundaries. Much o

this data is not open or shared publicly.

Lowering the barriers or approved

entities to access and use this privileged

data vastly reduces the amount o churn

or researchers to assemble the data they

need, increasing the pace o innovation.

SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES AND

GREAT OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD

Te health data revolution is

just getting started. Numerous

opportunities remain to increase the

supply o available data and make it

easier to find, access, and use. Tere

are, however, significant challenges

ahead that must be overcome i we are

to realize the ull benefits or health

care and health policy. First, we must

improve tools and approaches or

overcoming privacy issues. Health

data is both extremely valuable and

extremely private. Tough sharinghealth data across organizational

boundaries offers tremendous promise,

maintaining the security and privacy o

that data creates additional complexity.

Aggregated and population-level data

must be de-identified, and we must

guard against emerging techniques that

can be used to re-identiy data using

proxy identifiers. Sharing personally

identifiable data (claims data, clinical

data, etc.) requires an additional

layer o technological and procedural

inrastructure to protect it. Tis takes

time and costs money, and we need

improved tools or doing this better,

aster, and cheaper to help the data

flow more smoothly while maintaining

sufficient privacy controls. Second, we

must encourage researchers to share

data. Researchers are recognized and

rewarded or publishing papers, not

their data. Releasing data can even be

counterproductive or those researchers

simply looking to maximize their own

prospects or publishing uture papers.

Despite numerous efforts underway

to encourage researchers to release

their data, this is still a huge barrier to

the ree flow o research data. Finally,

we must encourage organizations to

ocus on interoperability and link ing

health data. Were currently in the

early stages o transitioning rom

an opaque, closed, and proprietary

environment or health data to a more

transparent and open environment

where data is shared across

organizational boundaries. Te HHS

Office o the National Coordinator

is aggressively pushing health care

I vendors towards interoperability.

Tis is a first step or simply being

able to map electronic health records

rom one vendor to another. Healthdata publishers are sharing data in

machine-readable ormats and APIs

that make it easier or entrepreneurs

to connect and repurpose it. A messy,

overlapping array o standards

discussions are taking place at all

levels to better understand how we can

harmonize the data. Tese efforts will

require sustained involvement by key

stakeholders across the health system.

IMAGINING THE FUTURE

OF HEALTH DATA

Looking ahead, one can imagine a

uture where shared health data can

be easily and securely accessed among

individuals and across organizations.

Tere are too many brilliant people

working on leveraging health data

and too much value to industr

society to expect anything less

revolution over the next decad

will t hat revolution look like? P

will advertise prices and tout th

perormance on quality measu

individuals and payers will be

quickly and easily compare pro

cost, quality, and patient satis

More transparency and more

will relentlessly drive innovati

competition. Voters will be abl

understand how their commu

is doing with respect to health

inputs and outcomes, and will elected officials and policy mak

optimize investments and pub

Researchers will share data re

accelerating the velocity at whi

understand whats working, wh

and how we can improve techn

and practice. Health data capt

at the point o care and in wea

devices will eed a real-time da

that can be tapped by clinician

health officials, payers, and con

to inorm decisions at all levels

o this innovation will be powe

health data being shared in new

innovative ways. For many rea

health sector has been slow to h

the power o open data, but go

orward it will have a transorm

and immensely positive effect

care and health policy.

technology advances and medical records evolve from paper to digital, we enter

new future of health data, where this data can be easily and securely accessed

mong individuals and across organizations.

Numerous opportunities remain to incr

the supply of available data and make i

easier to find, access, and use.
http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/http://www.nih.gov/http://www.nih.gov/http://www.nih.gov/http://www.nih.gov/http://www.nih.gov/http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/


10/33

OPEN INNOVATION SPRING

COMMUNITY

OPEN INNOVATION SPRI NG 2014

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

COLLABORATES ONOPEN DATA

By Ewan Simpson,Customer Success Manager

W

hen people talk

about municipal

open data

innovators, they

use names like Bloomberg,

OMalley, and Emmanuel.

In Montgomery County,

Maryland, some of the

names commonly associated

with open data innovation

are Riemer and Leggett.

In Montgomery County

however, unlike in many

other municipalities, the

impetus for open data

started in the legislative

body. Councilman Riemers

work in creating open

data policy serves as a

model for county council

members across the

country, showcasing how

they too can play a role in

democratizing data for their

citizens. Councilman Hans

Riemer, with support from

County Executive Ike Leggett

and members of the CountyCouncil, championed the

Countys open data initiative,

which began in 2012 and

exemplifies the importance

of creative collaboration

between executive and

legislative powers.

In his our years on Montgomery

County Council, Councilman

Riemer has been a staunch supporter

o a citizens right to k now what his

or her government is doing. And

his career has long been a study in

understanding how technology can

make an impact on government and

legislation. When I was elected

as a councilmember, it was my

mission to bring that intentional

ocus to help the County reinvent

how we use technology, he

says. he Councilman was i nspired

by the work o Code or America,particularly the organizations usion

o technology and civic change.

He ollowed their work closely and

decided that Montgomery County

needed to hold a hackathon. I began

to research what it would take to

hold a hackathon and I realized

that beore the hackathon, you

have to have quality data. I began

to understand how undamental

open data would be to our success.

Councilman Riemer and the

County Executive Leggetts oice,

legislative and executive, quickly

realized that not only could they

do this but that open data co

make a big dierence to citiz

and government. he next st

was iguring out how best ge

open data program started. R

decided the County irst nee

an open data policy with mu

he Open Data Act introduc

a number o practices, includ

a department-wide data poli

centralized repository or da

an implementation plan. In r

to this bill, Montgomery Cou

launched dataMontgomery, t

open data portal in OctoberIt serves as a central reposito

a growing number o munic

datasets including 311 inorm

restaurant inspection, and p

he portal is expected to gro

substantially within the next

It is equipped with a series o

visua lization tools that allow

to create their own maps and

API endpoints or developer

civic technologists, and socia

tools that allow the County t

capture suggestions and eed

Montgomery Countys appro

In his four years on Montgomery County

Council, Councilman Riemer has been a sta

supporter of a citizens right to know wha

his or her government is doing. And his ca

has long been a study in understanding ho

technology can make an impact on govern

and legislation.
https://data.montgomerycountymd.gov/https://data.montgomerycountymd.gov/


11/33

WHATS APPENING?THE LATEST AND GREATEST IN OPEN DATA APPS


OMMUNITY REPORT

open data has been thoughtul

nd thorough as Riemer describes,

We had to determine what our

ntribution would be to the wider

pen data community. We decided

e best way to contribute would be

y building a strong oundation.

hallmark o C ounty Executive

eggetts leadership and reputation

r innovation, dataMontgomery,

eines open data best practices. In

ddition to legislation with teeth,

ontgomery Countys thorough

proach to opening data includes

tizen outreach, peer education,

ata inventory, evaluation and

view. Although relatively new,

ur open data program has quickly

come a model or others. We

alized that the best way to

implement the program, within

our resource restraints, was to

prioritize. o prioritize what data

needs to be published and when,

we went to great lengths to solicit

input rom residents, businesses,

and our sta. his level o outreach

and engagement around open data

was unprecedented and really

helped us de-politicize the process

so that were just ocusing on

valuable , use ul data , says Da n

Homan, Chie Innovation Oicer.

Another key to dataMontgomerys

continued success, according toproject manager Victoria Lewis,

is the ongoing commitment

rom participating departments

and Montgomery County senior

management, dataMontgomery

would not be as successul i we

didnt have the level o engagement

and commitment that we see ever y

day rom our data owners and

executive sponsors. We needed

to comply with Bill 23-12, but

people here also see the many

beneits o publishing data.

Moreover, Montgomery County

continues to push the envelope

in open data innovation and will

soon debut a series o inancial

transparency applications providing

unprecedented visibility into how

the county spends money and

how the county is perorming

within the conines o its budget.

County Executive Leggetts model

or innovation and transparency

continues to reach new heights as the

platorm expands data availability,

provides easy to use interaces and

contextualized views o data, and

open dialogue with citizens and the

civic technology community.

For Councilman Riemer, his

commitment to open data

and government transparency

continues to grow. One purpose

o open data is to enable the citizen

analyst to have a stronger voice,

he says. Open data gets people

more engaged in the decision-

making process and, inally, allows

governments to provide better

services. He plans to urther engage

with other members o the open data

community who are beginning their

own programs.

How do you get the most out o an apps contest

where eight million people are invited? When

the City o New York began its BigApps

competition in 2009, organizers wanted

bright minds to use the citys data to improve quality o

lie in NYC. Over the years, they learned the best way to

do so is to challenge those minds by connecting them with

real civic problems and partners. Former NYC Mayor

Michael Bloomberg initiated the BigApps competition well

beore most cities were considering open data programs.

It had always been a joint effort between the E conomic

Development Commission (EDC) and the Department

o Inormation echnology &

elecommunications (DOI).

Describing his vision, Bloomberg

said, I were going to continue

leading the country in innovation

and transparency, were going to

have to make sure that all New

Yorkers have access to the data

that drives our city...catalyzing

the creativity, intellect, and

enterprising spirit o computer

programmers to build tools that

help us all improve our lives.

Director o OpenNY or the State

o New York, and ormer Director

o Research and Development or

NEW YORK CIY ASKS HACKERSO SOLVE OUGH ISSUES

BY BRIDGET QUIGG

the NYC DOI under Bloomberg, Andrew Nickl

played a leadership role at the beginning o N YC B

He wanted to put the data to work. He adds, Open

not an end but a means. Just by looking at data you

know everything about what makes that data impo

a oundation or economic growth.

TOP TIER OPEN DATA PORTAL

Initially, New York City had a homegrown applicat

or hosting public city data but moved to the Socra

platorm in 2011 with NYC OpenData. Te data on

site has been the core o B

It is one o the most attrac

comprehensive, and user-

open data portals in the w

Not only can citizens gain

time access to public data

via application programm

interaces (APIs), the data

organized into categories

searching. Images accomp

popular datasets, support

materials and guidance o

developers are easy to find

and the site offers a umb

eed o stories about how

access is impacting the cit

Montgomery County continues to push the

envelope in open data innovation and will

soon debut a series of financial transparency

applications providing unprecedented visibility

into how the county spends money and how

the county is performing within the confines

of its budget.

One purpose of open data is

to enable the citizen analyst

to have a stronger voice.

Open data gets people moreengaged in the decision-

making process and, finally,

allows governments to provide

better services.

- Councilman Hans Riemer
http://nycbigapps.com/https://nycopendata.socrata.com/https://nycopendata.socrata.com/http://nycbigapps.com/


12/33

OPEN INNOVATION SPRINGOPEN INNOVATION SPR ING 2014

WHATS APPHATS APPENING?

l o these resources, interactions,

d inspiration add up to the ideal

ome base or participants in the

gApps competition. Te real

cret to success behind BigApps is

arketing the competition so that

appeals to thousands o students

d proessionals with diverse

lents and backgrounds, says

ema Shah o HR&A Advisors,

economic development and real

tate consulting firm producing

e BigApps competition in 2014.

Whether you have a technical

illset or not, your lie experiences

e the most valuable assets you can

ing to BigApps. Everyone in NYC

nderstands the intricacies o civic lie

re -- and thats why ever yone should

articipate. She notes New York City

ready has an active civic hacking

community, so the best strategy or

BigApps is bringing new people into

civic hacking. Te competitions

website has done a better and better

job over the years o encouraging

participants to connect, share ideas,

recruit new teammates, and track

progress. In addition, BigApps offers

some o the largest cash prizes in civic

hacking. Beside tens o thousands o

dollars in earnings, winners receive

opportunities to urther develop their

products alongside local tech leaders,

even receiving ree office space and

other resources.

THE MOVE TO BIGISSUES

Widespread engagement isnt enough

or the BigApps team, though. Ian

Fried, communications lead at the

Big Resultsfrom BigApps

2013 BigApps included

13 events, 120 project

54 eligible apps, 517

participants, 42 data

providers, 7 winning te

Founded in 2009 andhas launched more tha

300 apps

Has opened up more

than 1,000 datasets to

developers around the

world

Focuses participants on

real world civic issues f

greater impact

BigApps teams have ra

more than $8 million

dollars in VC funding

Opportunities to win

over $100,000 in prize

winnings every year

EDC says, he goal is to reward

the best tech solutions to civic lie

in NYC. At its core, BigApps is a

mission-oriented, industry-agnostic,

citywide competition that believes

in the transormative power o

technology. He points out that

the irst criteria or judging apps

is, Potential positive impact on

New York City residents, visitors,

and businesses. However, in the

early years o the competition,

there wasnt enough o a ocus

on garnering par ticipation rom

small businesses, nonproits,

universities, cultural institutions,

and other entities that contributed

to supporting a vibrant civic lie. In

2013, the BigApps team asked local

leaders and various organizations

to become partners and surace

speciic, pressing local issues that

participants could directly address

and solve. he new approach, called

BigIssues, allowed local businesses

and organizations to sponsor work

on key civic issues where they have

expertise. In 2013, the BigIssues

categories covered the envi ronment,

the economy, lielong education,

and healthy living. Sponsors could

coach teams, oer resources, and,

ultimately, judge the entrants in

their BigIssue category. Each sponsor

created a page with guidance, access

to data, and other inormation

BigApps teams could use. For

example, Pure Energy Partners

stating in its BigIssues brie, In

NYC, we throw away more than

6.5 million pounds o ood every

day. his could ill up 24 subway

cars. Or, it could be put to better

use as ertilizer and clean energy.

Applicants were then challenged

to get creative about this speciic

problem. In addition, these partner

organizations oten host hack days

leading up to the main competition.Shah says adding in these experts

helps to add a new level o credibility

to BigApps, create buzz and increase

broad-spectrum participation.

he grand prize winner or BigApps

2013 came rom the Healthy

Living BigIssues category. he app,

created by designer Wendy Nguyen,

is called HealthyOut. It helps users

ind a healthy meal when dining

out, anywhere in the city. Nguyen

is a multi-time entrepreneur with

a background in public health and

technology, Her $35,000 grand prize

helped her build the app and its

reach so that within a year it had

become one o the top ive most

downloaded apps in iunes Food

& Drink c ategory, and was being

recommended by nurses, doctors,

and nutritionists. hat response

is just the kind o uptake

BigApps organizers sought by

encouraging participants to

address known issues.

he BigApps team considers the

BigIssues program a success and

plans to continue with it. Well be

addressing new issues in 2014, under

a new mayoral administration, says

Shah. Just how much o an impact

can open data have on the l ives

o New Yorks citizens? Nicklin is

optimistic. He says, It will all tothe background and be a mainstay o

how things get done. Government as

API. It will be so integral in peoples

lives it wont even be noticed, such

as health i nspection inormation

on Yelp when people look or a

restaurant. He adds, We want the

data to be where people need it.

BigApps is a mission-oriented, industry-

agnostic, citywide competition that believes in

the transformative power of technology.

revious page and above) Participants and supporters attend 2013 NYC BigApps awards

remony held at the IAC building in Manhattan.


13/33


HATS APPENING?

Over the last few

months, our

apps team has

been hard at

work developing

a suite of

nancial transparency

pps to help users

nderstand the intricacies

f government budgets and

pending. In this edition

f Whats Appening, we

ok at two apps that are

art of that suite: Socrata

pen Budget and Socratapen Expenditures. These

pps are the culmination of

gnificant user testing and

ave been designed to be

seful to finance experts

nd non-experts alike.

WHY FINANCIAL

TRANSPARENCY MATTERS

Five years ago, any government who

made the choice to join the open data

movement was seen as innovative.

Now, publishing data is the gold

standard o open government, but

it must be more than a line item

that government leaders cross off

their transparency checklist. While

publishing data publicly is a great

start to making the most o the data

collected, its also just the first step.

In order or open data programs to

have significant impact, the smartest

governments publish raw data

and provide ways citizens need to

understand and use that data. Tis

includes visualization tools, APIs

to remix and reuse data in multiple

contexts, and citizen-riendly apps

to engage people in government

processes.

Financial transparency apps

demystiy government finances and

expand the conversation around

budgets and spending. Tese apps

bolster public participation in

governance. Government cannot

call itsel transparent just because it

published a ledger o raw data, as ew

citizens understand how to consume

financial data. Furthermore, many

citizens are hungry to understand

this data. Financial transparency

demonstrates serious commitment

to open government. A citizen

armed with i normation about the

budget is a citizen able to ask the

right questions and understand her

governments priorities.

In evaluating the apps that already

exist or government finances, our

team ound none that truly helped

people understand how budgets and

spending work. We realized that

most apps were not built or everyday

citizens to use. o help government

meet the needs and demands o

its citizens, we set out to build a

suite o financial transparency apps

that examine government finances

rom the citizen perspective. We

created two specific apps to address

transparency benefit citizens? A

citizen armed w ith inormation

about the budget is a citizen

able to ask the right questions

and understand the priorities o

government. Engaged citizens,

journal ists, a nd other s takeholder s

demand this data.

When designing these financial

transparency tools, Socrata worked

closely with the technology and

finance teams at Montgomery

County, Maryland to learn about

government budget and spending

data practices and obtained

eedback rom members o the local

financial transparency. Te first,

Open Budget, allows citizens to

understand everything that goes into

a governments budget. Te second,

Open Expenditures, shows citizens

how the government is spending

unds.

SOCRATA OPEN BUDGET

Open Budget helps citizens and

other stakeholders understand the

operating budget, capital budget,

capital projects, and the priorities

o government. For example, a

citizen curious about public saety

budgeting can drill down into the

unds allocated or Police, Fire, a nd

Rescue and, rom there, get specifics

on the source o those unds. Open

Budget allows users to ollow the

liecycle o the budgeting process.

Budgeting is a multi-phase process

that can be conusing to the average

citizen. Open Budget provides

a snapshot o the budget, where

its been, and whats happening

next. How does this level o budget

community to ensure the mo

objectives o empowering the

with financial data were met

We worked with Socrata to

sure we could educate citizen

about how we budget and sp

we empower them with data

apps are designed to move vi

through the entire budgeting

in an engaging way. All o th

shown in dynamic charts an

interactive. It flows in a way t

makes very complex inorma

easy to understand, says dat

Montgomery Project Manag

Victoria Lewis.

Financial Transparencyfor Smarter Governmentsand CitizensBy Safouen Rabah, Vice President of Product

A citizen armed with information about

the budget is a citizen able to ask the righ

questions and understand the priorities of

government. Engaged citizens, journalists,

and other stakeholders demand this data.


14/33

SMARTER GOVERNMENHOW OPEN DATA IMPROVES GOVERNMENT

OPEN INNOVATION SPRINGOPEN INNOVATION SPRING 2014

HATS APPENING?

OCRATA OPEN EXPENDITURES

overnment spending is another

ea that can be conusing to citizens.

ecause citizens care about where their

oney is spent, conversations around

vernment spending can be volatile,

pecially when spending is unclear.

mart governments committed to

rving citizens have a strong incentive

help taxpayers understand spending.

overnments also have an opportunity

help sophisticated data consumers,

ch as journalists and business

wners, understand the data. Open

xpenditures helps ulfill this mission

y presenting spending data in a

tailed, understandable way.

ith Open Expenditures, citizens

n explore government spending

to where unds are al located. For

example, a user can view the relative

amount spent on park maintenance,

public art, school buses, and more.

Citizens can also explore trends

in spending over time, browse the

data by government vendor to see

which companies are hired by their

government (or example, i their

city hires the same firm or both

road construction and maintenance),

and browse the spending by specific

payment to see the details around

payments to vendors. Tis app also

benefits businesses by offering insight

into how their competitors are serv ing

the government. Ultimately, this app

recognizes that citizens have the r ight

to see how the government spends

their money in a ormat they can

understand, regardless o financial

expertise.

Socratas suite o financial

transparency apps expand the

conversation around budgets and

spending, and will bolster public

participation in governance. Tese

apps are designed to be meaningul to

all audiences, ensuring all stakeholders

will be able to understand where the

money comes rom, how it is allocated,

and where its going. Making these

apps available to citizens demonstrates

a governments commitment to

transparency and openness.

Want to learn more? Visit socrata.com/

products/custom-web-and-mobile-

apps-government-data today.

5 QUESIONS

O ASKWHENCREAINGYOUR OPENDAA POLICYBy Ian Kalin, Director of Open Data

Since the dawn of the Internet, we have seen an evolution of online services

as extensible technology platforms that enable users, application developers,

and other collaborators to create value that extends far beyond the original

offering itself. The same principles that have shaped the consumer web are

now permeating government. Forward-thinking public sector organizations

are catching on to the idea that, to stay relevant and vital, governments mustgo beyond offering a few basic services online. Some have even come to the

realization that they are custodians of an enormously valuable resource: the

data they collect through their day-to-day operations. By opening up this data

for public consumption online, innovative governments are facilitating the same

kind of digital networks that consumer web services have fostered for years.

The era of government as a platform is here, and open data is the catalyst.

ur suite of financial transparency apps demonstrate clearly many aspects of

overnment finances. For example, citizens can easily understand the difference

tween capital budget vs. operating budget, and can see itemized lis ts of

overnment expenditures.
http://www.socrata.com/products/custom-web-and-mobile-apps-government-datahttp://www.socrata.com/products/custom-web-and-mobile-apps-government-datahttp://www.socrata.com/products/custom-web-and-mobile-apps-government-datahttp://www.socrata.com/products/custom-web-and-mobile-apps-government-datahttp://www.socrata.com/products/custom-web-and-mobile-apps-government-datahttp://www.socrata.com/products/custom-web-and-mobile-apps-government-data


15/33


SMARTER GOVEMARTER GOVERNMENT

Policymakers seeking to

rame a transparency

and innovation program

within a government ofen

ave questions. As active participants

the era o open government, we

ar their questions all the time. A

mmon question is, What should

nclude in my open data policy? as

How do I know i my draf open

ata policy is good? Tese are great

uestions with complicated answers,

en or seasoned advocates who have

en through the trenches o policy

eation. Tere is no single way toeate an open data policy. Imagine

u are an architect and someone

mes to you and asks you to design

em the perect house. You, the

vvy architect, will ask: What size

ouse do you need? Do you have any

ildren? Can you afford a ancy

ome downtown? Open data policy

orks in a similar way. Te definition

what is actually best depends on

ho you are, what you do, a nd what

u are trying to achieve. With this

ntext in mind, here are five key

uestions to consider when crafing

open data policy.

WHAT IS YOUR ROLE WITHIN

HE ORGANIZATION?

pen data policies usually come

om legislators, elected officials,

government managers. Each

these stakeholders can choose

om our buckets o open data

olicy types, including new laws,

on-binding resolutions, executive

ders, and internal regulations

memorandums. Every bucket is

not available to each stakeholder.

Government managers cannot

pass new laws by themselves. Still,

others have more than a ew options

at their disposal. Elected officials

can ofen issue executive orders,

memos, and non-binding resolutions.

Additionally, your seniority within

your organization influences your

ability to create impact with all types

o tools. A memo rom a President

can go urther than a resolution rom

a secondary advisory council. (Not

that a President is necessarily more

connected than a town council. Inthis context, they are just different

in terms o scope.) Answering this

question can help you determine

which o the tools are available

to you.

2. HOW DO YOU CHOOSE

BETWEEN THE POLICY MODELS?

Each model has strengths and

weaknesses. Laws can be the most

difficult to create, but they tend to

have the greatest impact, particularly

in terms o their ability to allocate

public unds. Non-binding resolutions

tend to have the least impact on

government operations, or public

benefit or that matter, but they are

relatively quick and easy to create.

Executive orders ofen have the power

o law, and recent experiences (e.g.

Te White House and New York

State) demonstrate that they can be

extraordinarily detailed in terms o

how public agencies should work

together. Tereore, executive orders

are ofen the most impactul. Te

big drawback to executive orders

is they tend to disappear when an

administration ends. Tis is why

many executive orders are ofen

codified into ull-fledged laws once

an elected official reaches a twilight

period. Internal memos can be

effective, particularly when issued

by a senior leader and paired with a

previously issued executive order or

law. Internal memos can also apply

to the smaller government office

trying to get started with open data

and wants to make sure basic levels

o privacy are protected in those

early experiments. Tese tools havetheir own merits and should be

considered based on the objectives

and constraints.

3. HOW DETAILED SHOULD I

GET AND DO I NEED TO FIND A

BUDGET?

Generally speaking, the longer it takes

to issue a policy, the less valuable it

is to include highly granular details.

echnology moves aster than

regulations. Tat said, good open

data policies should not shy away

rom technical details i they want

the overall program to be effective.

Interoperability and standards are

a major aspect o what makes these

policies successul. Consider the San

Francisco open data policy, which

includes guidance or common

metadata and the use o Application

Programming Interaces (APIs).

Without having to specifically walk

through technical conditions like

cardinality or JSON syntax, the

leaders o the open data program can

leverage those overarching guidelines

to better integrate data catalogs

between city departments. Once

you get to this stage o open data

policy development, the question

o money isnt ar behind. All open

data policies, when well executed,

lead to cost savings, eiciency

improvements or governments, and

even job creation. In a perect world,

open data policies would pay or

themselves without any type o new

investment. But the reality is that

government procurement systems

do not recognize cost savings the

way the commercial sector does.hereore, in order to spur aster

activity and strengthen the level o

support or open data, it is highly

recommended that some modest

amount o inancial allocation be

included in the policy, as long as it

does not cause an extensive delay or

even a blockage o the overall policy.

4. WHAT ARE THE BASELINE

CHARACTERISTICS OF AN OPEN

DATA POLICY?

Every open data policy should

include or be inluenced by the

ollowing elements:

High-level term deinitions like

Data is and Chie Privacy

Oicer shall be

Statement on governments

responsibility to empower their

citizens

he need to embrace best

practices rom other sectors,

such as leveraging new

technology to deliver improved

government services

Open data is rooted in American

history (or at least some local,

earlier transparency policy)

Open data programs must protect

individual privacy, confidentiality

and security

For an example of a sample resolution

or assistance in creating your own open

data policy, download Socratas Open

Data Companion Kit.

5. WHAT IF I WANT TO BE

AMBITIOUS?

Bravo! Its difficult enough to get new

policies issued, so you might as well

include the bigger items i you are going

to go down this path. Here are some o

the major items we recommend, based

on what leading government leaders

have already delivered:

Have an open by deault policy

oundation that builds on existing

policies like privacy protection

and reedom o inormation. Use

detailed definitions: Open data

includes Oversight authority

is

Create comprehensive, internal

inventories, and then public

catalogs online. Include ongoing

volume and quality updates.

Include common core metadata

and use unique identifiers or

datasets.

Create an oversight auth

with established ownersh

Who needs to do what a

can hold them accounta

Mandate the release o n

online in machine-reada

human readable ormats

minimal license restricti

use and on a single, auth

portal.

Mandate systems or pri

data release and perorm

against a public and ambtimeline.

Focus on the citizen-cus

and include a ramework

public eedback.

Provides some level o u

or resources to actually

this stu done. With or

without public unding,

to leverage public-privat

partnerships.

Integrate with My Data

Big Data programs.

Successul and impactul op

data policy isnt created in a

or in a vacuum. By asking th

questions beore you begin, y

can determine the best cour

action or creating your own

data policy. O course, in ad

these ive questions, you mig

up with even more question

are resources available to he

We at Socrata would love to

get going.


16/33

OPEN INNOVATION SPRI NG 2014

panning the East Bay region

f the San Francisco Bay area

California, Alameda County

oasts a population of more

an 1.5 million residents, which

uts the County on par with

hiladelphia, Pennsylvania and

st under Houston, exas. Te

ze of Alameda County isnt what

akes it remarkable, however.

Whats most remarkable about

lameda County is its success

engaging with its citizens in a

ay that makes this large county

el more like a small town. Few

ommunities are as involved with

eir local government as the

sidents of Alameda County.

o, what is the C ountys secret to

ommunity collaboration?

ALAMEDA

COUNTYTHE GOLD STANDARD INCOMMUNITY COLLABORATIONy Alida Moore

OPEN INNOVATION SPRING

SMARTER GOVE

Alameda County has

long had a commitment

to collaboration,

partnerships, and

community involvement, so much

so that it has become an integral

part o our culture, says Susan S.

Muranishi, County Administrator.

Tis commitment means the County

is constantly asking itsel, How can

we better serve our citizens? How can

we leverage technology to improve

services to our residents? How can we

engage our youth? Tese questions

led Muranishi and Chie Ino

Officer/Registrar o Voters i

Dupuis to explore the world o

data. Our policy makers wer

interested in data sharing, M

explains. Weve been talking

or a long time. As the doors o

up, we realized we had a trem

goldmine in the orm o inor

we could make available to th

public in a user-riendly orm

quickly publish that data and

accessible to citizens, Murani

Dupuis launched Alameda Co


17/33



ccessul Data Sharing Initiative.

upuis pushed the effort orward.

We knew open data was a key area

e needed to explore. It was being

earheaded at the ederal level by

e White House and we wanted to

t involved at the local level, he

ys. We started a committee around

pen data and data sharing amongst

County departments. We came

Socrata to tilt up our open data

ortal. Muranishi was impressed

y Dupuis ability to win leadership

uy-in. im was able to determine

ow to get value out o our datauickly. He convened department

ads and made it a priority to

lp them understand why we were

opting this open data model. It

asnt perceived as a threat because

ople can understand that the data

already available; lets just make

easier and more accessible to our

nstituents and our community as

ell, Muranishi says.

Te community as a whole needed a

ay to share the data. Te selection

the right portal was important, as

ell as the tools the portal provides.

ameda County has more than

0 datasets available on its Socrata

ortal, including crime statistics,

staurant inspection data, and

en a bedbug dataset. Te portal

ows users to filter down to find

ore inormation on what is most

teresting to them, says Dupuis. A

ogger took the restaurant inspection

ata, filtered down to the aco Bell

ataset, and eatured that inormation

a blog post, sharing it with the

mmunity. Tis is something we

the County might not have had

the time or bandwidth to do, so we

ocus on delivering the data to the

community to examine in a way that

is interesting to them. Muranishi

echoes the enthusiasm or the data

portal and explains how it led to the

idea that would revolutionize the

ways in which the County interacts

with its citizens. Te way the portal

was set up opened our eyes to how

we could use it, she says. We had all

this data that was o interest to our

citizens. We examined the priorities

or our open data initiative and our

next step was clear: it was time to run

our first hackathon.

APPS CHALLENGES

Each Apps Challenge is a one-

day hackathon where teams

are ormed to create apps rom

Alameda County data. Dupuis and

his team invite participation rom

residents o all skill levels and age

groups, include proessional and

novice developers, high school and

college students, senior citizens,

and anyone with a passion or civic

engagement, regardless o technical

background. Afer a brie overview

and a couple o keynote addresses

rom the sponsoring board member

and a County representative, the

attendees orm teams based on interest

specified as part o the registration

process, as well as a brie idea pitch

session. Te first Apps Challenge was

phenomenally successul. Te event

was held at Castro Valley Library

in late 2012 and had more than

120 participants. It was a learning

experience or us, says Dupuis.

Te outcome was tremendous. We

had about 25 app ideas at the end o

the day. Te winning app was AC

BookIt!, a clever mobile app that

allows users to use their smartphones

to scan the UPC code on any book to

find out i that book was available in

the Alameda County library system.

Users can connect their library card

to the app and, i the book is available,

the app will reserve it and give driving

directions to the library branch

holding it. Tey were able to create

this app in a day and its now available

or download in the iunes app

store, says Dupuis proudly. A team

o students rom Castro Valley High

School (CVHS) developed the second

place app, ACPR Finder. Tey took

our park data and created a website

that allows you to filter different

criteria, Dupuis explains. Do you

want to walk your dog? Have a fire

pit? Play volleyball? Teir app filters

your interests and locates the best park

and provides driving directions. Te

Apps Challenges allow the Co

promote its open data. But mo

that, they provide a venue to m

youth o the community and

them what their government d

while inviting them to apply t

skills to benefit the entire com

Dupuis and his team held the

Apps Challenge in the spring

and the third in the beginning

May 2014.

RETHINK AC

In todays world o technologyhackathons are a popular way

innovation. Whats unique abo

Alameda County is the dedica

collaborate not only with resid

but also with C ounty employe

Muranishi and Dupuis saw th

o the Apps Challenges, they k

could leverage that ormula wi

the walls o the County. It jus

sense to do the same thing int

(Top) Tim Dupuis welcomes participants to an acApps challenge. (Bottom) Tim

Dupuis poses with the winners of the challenge after presenting the prize check

of $3,000.

Socrata Product Lead Clint Tseng presents at an apps challenge. Many Socr

developers, engineers, and other team members travel all over the country

support local hackathons and events.

The first Apps Challenge was phenomenally

successful. The event was held at Castro Valley

Library in late 2012 and had more than 120

participants.


18/33


MARTER GOVERNMENT

ALL ABOUT THE YOUTH

One common driver o the

programs in Alameda County is the

commitment to youth engagement.

From the YLA and Apps Challenges,

to a program called New Beginnings

that ocuses on job training or youth

in the oster care system, the County

is dedicated to teaching young citizens

how to be civic engagement superstars.

Its natural or us to involve our youth

in open data because they are tech-

savvy, says Muranishi. Many know

how to code and they are all quite

creative. We have plans to connect

with other groups, such as Black Girls

o government, including it as

part o both the Youth and Adult

Leadership Academies. Te Youth

and Adult Leadership Academies are

programs that give county residents

o all ages the opportunity to learn

about and discuss County programs

and services. Te Youth Leadership

Academy (YLA) in particular also

helps develop leadership skills and

meet other students throughout

the County. It is an award-winning

program. Both academies now

conclude with a mini-hackathon

session in which participants are

given a flipchart and 45 minutes to

create an app idea on which they give

a three-minute presentation. eams

have even been known to create mobile

screen mockups to include in their

presentations.

their own operating needs, she says.

Eighteen app ideas came out o the

event. Te County has already begun

developing one, a calendar mobile

app that gives public employees a

central location to learn about County

events. Employees originally had to

go to specific areas o the website to

find events. Tis app allows them to

see all events in one place, improving

efficiency. What I liked with the

internal event is that it allowed a

dialogue between employees and

department heads to share ideas, says

Dupuis. It gave us the opportunity to

encourage and recognize the creativity

and energy our employees have around

their work.

Muranishi and Dupuis have brought

the hackathon model to other areas

ys Muranishi. We have more than

000 employees -- what better way to

t people engaged across departments

d see what their ideas are? For

ethink AC, we ocus on collaboration

d invite people rom different

partments to work together. Te

ent is limited to 100 people and

e first one happened in September

13, with attendees representing a

oad cross-section o all departments.

ethink AC is run just like the Apps

hallenges. Muranishi remarks on the

fferent perspective County employees

e able to bring to the table. Weve

en ocused on government efficiency

d transparency. Our employees came

p with abulous ideas because t hey

ork within the government, know the

ormation clients and constituents

e looking or, and understand

Alameda County has been awarded an

recognized by several organizations for

its innovation and dedication to civic

engagement.

AWARDS

2013 Driving Digital Government Coun

Government

Center for Digital Government

2013Merit Award Recipient for Alameda

Data Sharing Initiative

California State Association of Counties (CSA

2013Best of the Web Award 1st Place,

Portal Category

Center for Digital Government

RECOGNITION

2013 Spotlight on Large Urban Counties

Leadership in Action - Technology

National Association of Counties (NACO Larg

County Caucus (LUCC)

2014 Public CIO Magazine, A Visual Tour

Winning Website

Government Technology

2013 Apps Challenges and Citizen Engag

Silicon Valley Leadership Group

(Opposite page) A group of students

presents an app idea to the audience of

the Apps Challenge. (This page) Apps

Challenge attendees work on their

app idea.


19/33

Open data promises to put public information to work,

mostly through apps for easier parking, permitting,healthcare access, and more. What does all of this

convenience mean for those working in government?

In many government agencies, embracing open data

has led to the automation of processes that once

consumed thousands of staff hours and millions of tax

dollars. The following is a quick tour of some of the

processes replaced by open data. By Bridget Quigg

6PROCESSESREPLACEDBY OPENDATA



ode, echbridge, and others working

th youth to help develop job skills

d training. o urther this mission,

e County has a strong internship

ogram. Recent summer interns were

und via the first Apps Challenge.

Te team o CVHS students who

eated the ACPR Finder app enjoyed

e process o learning about what

appens at the county level so much

at they became interns. We have

huttle bus or our employees that

rves the public as well, says Dupuis.

Originally, the shuttle schedule was

ne sheet o paper. Te interns were

sked with creating a mobile riendly

ebsite o that schedule paper. Tey

ent above and beyond with this

oject. Tey tied it in with Google

aps Street View and with the Google

uting system so users can figure out

eir exact route. It combined a multi-

obile system. Dupuis and his team

ork closely with interns, teaching

em good coding practice, how

create an enterprise system, and

en how to market their ideas, share

sion, and get department buy-in. As

result o his internship, one o the

uth declared his major as computer

ience. His work with the County had

impact on his entire education and

ture career, says Dupuis.

1.BUDGET REPORTING

Raleigh, North Carolina know

citizens will ask or inormatio

how tax dollars are spent. Ta

you can go to its open data po

data.raleighnc.gov, and find b

data in dynamic spreadsheets

current and past fiscal years. T

also offers 140 visualizations o

data, addressing typical quest

requests or inormation rom

And, these charts and graphs

automatically updated each ti

budget numbers change.

[Open data is] a productivity

us so we dont have to have a h

being at the end o every ques

every request or in ormation

Gail Roper, Chie Inormation

Community Relations Officer

Raleigh. It benefits the taxpay

LIGHTNING FAST INNOVATION

People ofen assume it takes years to

see this amount o success rom an

open data program. Alameda County

proves that innovation, dedication,

and collaboration drive success, not

years. Te County launched its open

data portal in July o 2012, just under

two years ago. In that short amount

o time, the hard work o Muranishi,

Dupuis, and team has driven the

entire County orward, setting it apart

as a leading innovator and thought-

leader within the United States. Te

Countys success is on par with New

York City and Chicago and has earned

recognition, accolades, and numerous

awards. [See sidebar]Dupuis has been

recognized by the Caliornia County

Inormation Services Directors

Association (CCISDA). He and his

team have developed a white paper

on how to run a successul hackathon

and Dupuis has been asked to present

at the next CCISDA conerence. o

demonstrate his knowledge, Dupuis

will be running a mini-hackathon at

the conerence. For now, Muranishi

and Dupuis remained ocused

on learning more about how new

technologies can serve County

residents. Teyve learned the ropes

o social media, leveraging Facebook

or event promotion, witter or live-

tweeting hackathons, and Pinterest

to curate all the ideas that are born o

these events. Dupuis even has Google

Glass and is already identiying ways

in which wearable tech will impact

the landscape o government work.

o anyone newer to the open data

movement, or just beginning to lay

the groundwork o an open data

initiative, Alameda County serves

as the gold standard o how to be

phenomenally effective in a very

short amount o time. In the spirit ocollaboration, Muranishi and Dupuis

share their advice to those who are

taking their first steps into open data.

Its a matter o being committed

and open to innovation