How Government Can Overcome the ‘Bad Story’ Fear and Open Up Its Data

How does a city make its data more accessible if the people who have the data are afraid to release it?

That’s been a problem in many places when it comes to opening up data and making it usable for government, residents, nonprofits and the private sector — some people are simply afraid that the data will make them look bad.

“It’s not always about the big stuff," Englert said, "and the more people see those little stories, the more they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, well I have a little story too. Let me tell you about this little thing we did, and now … the clerk’s office is using a more transparent FOIA system and they’ve saved 10 work-hours a week because now they’re using open data.’"

by Ben Miller

Full Story: http://www.govtech.com/civic/How-to-Overcome-the-Bad-Story-Fear-and-Open-Up-Your-Data.html