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Open Data

By opening up data, and making it sharable and reusable government can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. This theme addresses the policies, technologies, processes that enable the free use, reuse, and redistribution of government data by anyone.

See the Guide to Open Government and the Coronavirus: Open Data »


Introduction and Overview

Open data policies and practices have been core to OGP’s culture since its inception. It is the idea that data should be freely available for everyone to access, use, and re-publish as they wish. These proactive information mechanisms are an essential complement to reactive right to information laws.

They ensure that governments do not become data monopolies. In a well-functioning, democratic society citizens need to know what their government is doing. To do that, they must be able freely to access government data and information and to analyze and share that information with other citizens.


Commitments


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Open Government Partnership