Open Data en El Salvador

En el marco de la adhesión de El Salvador en la Alianza para el Gobierno Abierto (Open Government Partnership) en el 2011, la Dirección de Innovación Tecnológica e Informática de la Presidencia de El Salvador (ITIGES) ha lanzado el Portal de Datos Abiertos (http://datos.egob.sv/) en alineamiento a los principios de colaboración y cooperación establecidos en la Alianza y bajo imagen país de Gobierno Electrónico “eGOBsv”.

El Portal cumple con las funciones de recoger datos y registros administrativos públicos en formato CSV para su libre, abierta y fácil utilización y reutilización por terceros.  El Portal está cambiando progresivamente de acuerdo a las demandas de información y se prevé que adquiera características de desagregación de datos, colaboración entre desarrolladores, entre otras.

Bajo este enfoque, lae strategia de Datos Abiertos busca alinear los esfuerzos técnicos y organizacionales de ITIGES y las instituciones de gobierno para proveer a los interesados de datos gubernamentales bajo un formato abierto, de libre acceso, reusable, redistribuible y sin restricciones y disponibles en el Portal.

eGOBsv: Portal de Datos Abiertos de El Salvador

eGOBsv: Eje de trabajo Datos Abiertos / ITIGES

Road to Planetary Synapse

KW Foundation is a Family nonprofit that researches and develops knowledge management within a democratic and inclusive digital society.

We created a conceptual and technological scenario that can align efforts to enable it to any citizen. So, he can generate value from open data and web services.

Our most important assumption is that “the final frontier is the planetary synapses”.

Please see this conceptual video:  and, if you like rock:

What would we need to generate a synapse planetary and take the next step in human sustainable evolution?

Developing Latin America 2012

The second edition of Developing Latin America 2012, a regional hackathon lasting 36 hours in which 8 countries - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay - participated , was held yesterday. The participating countries remained in constant connection via websites and livestreaming throughout the event.  The applications resulting from the hackathon are now available on the  DAL2012 website. Winning applications have already been announced for some of the countries.

Developing Latin America is distinct in that it uses open data as the main source of data for the applications, with the objective of generating innovative solutions to the social problems shared by many countries in the region.  Some of the issues highlighted  this year were health , childhood, transport and environmental, among others, with each country selecting the three issues most relevant for their specific context.

Open 311

3-1-1 is a number well known in some cities of the United States and Canada, where citizens can notify the authorities about situations that are not urgent like non working traffic lights, illegal burning, roadway problems, etc. The goal is to leave the number 9-1-1 for those emergencies that really need immediate attention.

Open 311 “provides open channels of communication for issues that concern public space and public services. Using a mobile device or a computer, someone can enter information (ideally with a photo) about a problem at a given location. This report is then routed to the relevant authority to address the problem. What’s different from a traditional 311 report is that this information is available for anyone to see and it allows anyone to contribute more information. By enabling collaboration on these issues, the open model makes it easier to collect and organize more information about important problems. By making the information public, it provides transparency and accountability for those responsible for the problem. Transparency also ensures that everyone’s voice is heard and in-turn encourages more participation”.

Learn more

Brazilian Open Data Portal

A data repository, the dados.gov.br portal aggregates 82 pubic datasets formerly scattered across the Internet. Launched by the Ministry of Planning, the project design also had extensive contributions from society. Moreover, the website also enables people to suggest new data for opening, to participate in Open Data events and to keep up-to-date with the portal’s development initiatives.

Users can also check out a few applications developed by communities using data available through the portal. One of the applications is the so-called “Basômetro“, a tool that enables measuring parliamentary support to the government and monitoring members of parliament’s stances on legislation votes.
Another application available on the website pinpoints the work accidents between 2002 and 2009 in the map of Brazil. Users are able to view accidents by municipality and by type.

The dados.gov is part of the National Infrastructure of Open Data (INDA), which is a project aimed at setting forth technical standards for Open Data, promoting qualification and sharing public information using open formats and free software.

Cases: Apps for Democracy

The idea was born in 2008, due to DC’s government willing to ensure that both society, governments and businesses could make good use of DC.gov’s Data Catalog (that provides, for example, public information on poverty and crime indicators, in an open format).

Therefore, a competition was created to award the best applications developed based on data from the Catalog. The first contest cost Washington DC U$50,000 and produced 47 iPhone, Facebook and web applications with an estimated value in excess of U$2,600,000 to the city.

The application iLive.at won a gold medal for providing crime, safety and demographic information for those looking for a place in DC.

Another award-winning project was Park It DC, which allows users to check a specific area in the district for parking information.

Learn more about the project and check out the video at: