Open data executive order is the best thing Obama’s done this month

Slate reports Open data executive order is the best thing Obama’s done this month "Last week, the White House released an executive order that makes ‘open and machine readable’ the new default for the release of government information. Although people who care about open data were generally quite excited, the news barely made an impression on the general public. But it should: This is perhaps the biggest step forward to date in making government data—that information your tax dollars pay for—accessible for citizens, entrepreneurs, politicians, and others."

• Mandating that when an agency procures a new computer or system that collects data, those data must be exportable. That won't address digitizing existing government documents and data but will create a default setting going forward.
• Planning to relaunch data.gov in a format compatible with dozens of other open-data platforms around the world.
• Requiring agencies to catalog what data they have. Understanding what you have is fundamental to managing information as an asset, although an open data policy that requires creating and maintaining an enterprise data inventory won't be without cost. Creating a public list of agency data assets based upon audits is one of the most important aspects of the new open data policy.