Great news! Thanks for forwarding Yishay... -- Jonathan Gray
Community Coordinator The Open Knowledge Foundation http://www.okfn.org On Fri, May 8, 2009 at 1:47 PM, Yishay Mor <[email protected]> wrote: > http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/newsroom/news_releases/2009/090507_poi.aspx > > Minister for Digital Engagement Tom Watson today outlined the next steps in > the Government's Power of Information programme. > > In a speech to the NESTA / UNESCO Public Service Media 2009 Conference the > Minister announced plans for an overhaul of Crown Copyright rules that will > make it easier for citizens to re-use Government information, and new > standards that will improve the quality of official websites. > > Tom Watson MP said: > > “Just over a year ago ‘Power of Information’ was simply a 15-page document. > Today it's an integral part of the way the Government does business. We'll > be formally responding to the PoI Taskforce's excellent report shortly, but > I'm delighted to say that some of their recommendations are already taking > form. > > “They say information is power, but only distributed information is truly > empowering. That's why the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) > [External website] has looked again at the restrictions of Crown Copyright, > and now a licence will automatically be granted to anyone wanting to use the > information rather than having to apply beforehand. This will makes things > easier for the kind of innovative individuals who entered Show Us a Better > Way to access the data they need to create brilliant new applications. OPSI > has also shown how Government can publish in a ‘web-friendly’ way rather > than just as PDFs, and I want to see this approach rolled out across > Government. > > “The Central Office of Information [External website] has done outstanding > work in reducing the number of websites and making those that are left more > accessible. Today I'm pleased to announce that COI is launching new > standards on quality to make Government sites as effective and easy to use > as possible.” > > > ___________________________ > Yishay Mor, Researcher, London Knowledge Lab > http://www.lkl.ac.uk/people/mor.html > http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=yishaym%40gmail.com > +44-20-78378888 x5737 > _______________________________________________ okfn-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.okfn.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
