The Open Government Partnership has launched with the hope of making government data more transparent. According to the article, “The idea is to encourage governments to make concrete promises to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. Eight nations (Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom, and the US) have formally endorsed a broadly-worded Open Government Declaration, all of them openly asserting that their goal is to achieve ‘greater prosperity, well-being, and human dignity in our own countries and in an increasingly interconnected world.’”

It adds, “In March 2012, in Brasilia, these eight nations and more than thirty others will deliver their commitments. This is a very zippy schedule in the land of government.  There is a lot to do. And it’s an extraordinarily heterogeneous undertaking. Each country will interpret and implement the Open Government Declaration in its own special way; if this past Tuesday’s meeting is any guide, it’s clear that there will be a huge variety of promises, programs, personalities, and punctuation points on display in 2012.” It is likely that semantic technologies will have a role in many country’s open government plans as it has already in a number of countries around the world.

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Image: Courtesy Open Government Partnership