Caroline Burle recently discussed open data for development in Latin America on the W3C blog. She writes, “Sharing governmental information in open, accessible and structured formats can substantially increase transparency and accountability in public policy design and implementation. Furthermore, it enables broad social engagement in the process. Hence, opening data and acknowledging the demands of the population that arise from this is essential to promoting social equality and effective public administration.”

She goes on, “This theme has been discussed since the 8 Principles of Open Government Data were published and it has increased its importance in government, civil society and developers´ communities. Many debates regarding open data have been held in many conferences and workshops around the world for the past five years. W3C Government Linked Data (GLD) Working Group and W3C eGovernment Interest Group gather experts about this theme and have been developing important documents about it. W3C Brazil Office has been actively engaged in these discussions and has developed the project Open Data for Development (OD4D) in Latin America and the Caribbean in partnership with, the European Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), within the scope of the Observatory for the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean (OSILAC) and the International Development and Research Center of Canada (IDRC).”

Read more here.

Image: Courtesy Flickr/ Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the BPL