It’s been almost a year since San José Mayor Sam Liccardo’s inauguration, and the city has demonstrated its commitment to civic technology in a big way.
By creating new staff positions that focus on data analytics, strategic partnerships, and civic innovation, the mayor and the city have accelerated their ability to modernize, adapt, evolve, and take advantage of the economic opportunities provided by the civic technology sector.
In 2016, the city will launch a new open data portal and an open data policy for the city. Yesterday Vijay Sammeta, San José’s Chief Information Officer, presented a draft of the open data policy to business owners at SPUR’s office in downtown San Jose, seeking feedback directly from local business owners. The group talked about everything from how to best coordinate when big events come to the civic center to real-time road closure information to integrating private data sets (e.g. those within companies or associations like the Downtown Business Association) with the public data of the city.
The business event is just one in a series co-hosted by the city, Microsoft, and key community groups. The overall goal is to build an open data policy and portal that’s informed by the needs and wishes of its future users. Last month, the Code for San Jose brigade took a first look at the policy draft, and on January 7, Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits will host an event for nonprofits to share their data needs and wishes with the city. Spread the word!
https://sanjose-opendata-nonprofit.eventbrite.com
In addition to these public events, San José is soliciting online feedback about its open data strategy via a survey. It’s awesome to see San José develop their open data strategy in such an inclusive and user-focused way!
