Search Concepts

Posted by Search Concepts on May 31st, 2010 View Comments
Posted in Miscellaneous |

Ever since the dawn of the Internet era, many web developers and tech companies have envisioned a world where people from all over the globe can communicate and be connected as one. Since then, a lot of innovations have happened. From the start-up social networking sites, blog sites, video upload and download sites, all the way up to what we have right now, the Internet has come a long way and is on the right direction to succeed on its earlier vision.

Despite this, many experts say that the potential of the Internet has just been barely tapped. As day goes by, more and more ideas are hitting the Internet. This trend gives users more and more options in the way that they go about their lives.

Open Data Apps for Government Usage

The implementation of open data applications in the world’s governments may be the most ambitious goal yet. In many cases, governments take care of everything that their citizens will need. Most of the time, citizens are in the background of anything that their governments are doing. This means that they are not really informed about the details of their government’s works and that they are made to take their government’s word for everything.

The use of open data apps by governments aims to address all of these. It aims to make citizens informed and empower them to participate in the way that they run their country. Open Data is not really new but it has been often overlooked since its entire impact is not really felt strongly yet. Many analysts say that we are only in the dawn of the open data app era.

Open Data Apps are apps specifically made for the public that enables them to have access to public info kept by their governments. Some of these apps deliver information about public finances, taxes, new city projects, and many more.

“Open data apps are becoming ever-more effective, but insofar as they have actually had a dramatic ‘effect’ on the systems that most influence our lives, we still have a long way to go,” remarks Jake Brewer, Sunlight Foundation’s engagement director.

Usefulness of Open Data Apps in Public Governance

As has been mentioned, the purpose of these open data apps is to make the public informed and aware of the things that are constantly happening around them. Apps that would help them get updated on how their local government is managing their funds, where their tax money goes and others are important.

Projects like the aptly-named Apps for Democracy have recently begun to gain popularity. Media attention following these apps are said to be just the beginning of a more informed and open worldwide community.

The Open Data Apps basically bring a lot of good to the public. An immediate effect of the “open government” is it makes governments transparent and accountable. It is a fact that most people want their governments to be always accountable and transparent. They want to make sure that everything is being addressed and that no problems are left unsolved. Most people air their grievances to their governments but most of the time to no avail.

Open Data Apps will enable the public to be in the know about the progress their governments are making. This will also make it easier for them to report their problems, submit suggestions and help their governments in addressing the issues of their communities.

Issues with Open Data Implementation

A lot more issues needs to be addressed to be able to make significant progress towards achieving the “open government.” One of these is the improvement of overall application access. Most apps made by developers are targeted for specific brand users alone. For example, most apps are intended and can be used by iPhone users. This brings us to the fact that not everyone in the United States or any other country is using an iPhone. Many people have zero access to these applications.

The SeeClickFix app has been wildly successful but some other open data apps do not reach their full potential as their designers envisioned. Another pressing problem is the fact that developing these apps costs a lot and small web developers simply cannot shoulder everything. This is why some apps have to do with mediocre software, far from the ones that their developers have envisioned.

Nowhere to go but up

Despite all these pressing problems, one cannot deny the fact that Open Data Apps are already here. They have arrived and are continuously making progress in making governance more public. Blueprint Research and Design president Lucy Bernholz says that the best apps are those that are built not only by a team of developers but also with the help of community users themselves. She adds that aside from airing public grievances, it is also important that the government have access to what its citizens need solved.

The significant progress of Open Data Apps will surely make governance easier and make lives better. Web developers should work hand-in-hand with the public and the government itself to make that the “open government” comes to fruition. Governments should open up to the idea and work it out with developers so that their citizens would be informed and always in-the-know of everything that is happening to their communities.

Tags: Open Data Applications

This entry was posted on Monday, May 31st, 2010 at 11:06 pm and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.