Empowering the Public Through Open Data: Findings & Recommendations for City Leaders in Los Angeles County

Over the past year the Civic Tech USC research team here at the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) has been investigating what cities in Los Angeles County are doing to make their government data easily accessible to the public. Cities already collect vast troves of information, such as crime stats, budgets/financial expenditures, code…

Open Data LA workshop connects community leaders and city officials

City governments around the world have started to release public data sets (called "open data") that can help communities and businesses address issues in areas such as transportation, healthcare, and economic development. CCLP's Open Data LA team partnered with the City of Pasadena to host a workshop on October 25 for city officials, application developers, thought leaders, and interested citizens to form new connections and discuss the future of open data. Titled Beyond Hackathons: What's Next for Open Data in Pasadena?, the workshop focused on several discussion questions, including:……

USC Open Data LA initiative promotes public access to government data throughout Los Angeles County

Launched by USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) in partnership with the USC Price School of Public Policy, the USC Open Data LA initiative aims to promote transparency and civic engagement in Los Angeles, beginning with a survey to assess the state of publicly available city data in each of L.A. County's 88 cities. "Open data is a new aspect of journalism in the public interest," said Dana Chinn, CCLP faculty fellow and USC Annenberg project lead. "It's a worldwide movement, but we're going to focus on how open data initiatives can address the unique needs of……