This Week in Open Government | October 19, 2012

  • Open Parliament launched a new email alert feature. Now, whenever something happens in Parliament that matches your interests, an email will be sent to you directly from the website. You can sign up today to try this new feature.

  • The City of San Francisco has appointed a Chief Data Officer. According to the press release, the new CDO will “be responsible for sharing City data with the public, facilitating the sharing of information between City departments, and analyzing how data sets can be used to improve city decision making.” Hopefully, this will encourage other cities around the world to step up their commitment to open data.

  • The Guardian has written a piece about the one year anniversary of the Open Government Partnership, noting that, although the occasion deserves celebration, there is still much work to be done with respect to citizen participation.

  • Code for America has launched a new kind of app contest, that focuses on the re-use of existing civic engagement tools, rather than on creating new apps from scratch. Participants have until next month’s presidential election to re-deploy one of four successful online apps. Everyone can be a winner, as all participants can earn rewards including free hosting for their app. Bring on the Code for American Brigade!