Boston has released its Open and Protected Data Policy, aimed at increasing transparency and accountability by opening more City data to the public.
Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, announced “this new policy will make more data available to the public, encourage business to build useful applications with City data, and increase collaboration between the City and the research community.”
“City of Boston recognizes Open Government as a key means for enabling public participation, transparency, collaboration and effective government”, states the policy.
The policy a framework for responsibly sharing data with researchers and other partner organizations, and aims to streamline the release of new datasets.
This policy is intended to guide the City of Boston in:
- defining what data could be made open and which data must be protected
● treating data as a valuable resource;
● making open data available, understandable and relatable for the public
● protecting data that must be kept secure and private according to legislation
● ensuring that the City’s data practices respect the priorities and interests of the whole community
Under the policy, all City agencies are required to publish data sets on Bostons open data portal, licenced under Creative Commons.
Read Boston’s Open Data Policy.
