Thanks to a pointer from the ever-aware Julian Todd we’re heartened to see these pledges being made at the Conservative Party Conference in the UK:
- Use open source software as much as possible
- Publish on a website details of all government spending over £25,000. [ed: great news for Where Does My Money Go]
- Allow the public to comment on all legislation before it is debated in depth by MPs and peers.
- Publish online 20 of the most socially useful government datasets within 12 months of a General Election.
- All government contacts over £10,000 being tendered by the government would also be online.
- Fewer mega-projects; a rigid insistence on open standards and inter-operability; a level playing field for open source software and for smaller suppliers.
Interested in having a say what those “20 most socially useful government datasets” should be? You can actually do so right now, courtesy of the Office of Public Sector Information’s data unlocking service.
OPSI has been quietly offering the public the chance to make and vote on unlocking requests over the last six months. So if you have a moment head over and make a request or vote on an existing one.
Rufus Pollock is Founder and President of Open Knowledge.
