newspeak

From the website, optimism:

Open Data is a new public resource that is transforming communities and nations across the world.  It is driving innovation, investment, and job growth; revolutionizing transportation, health, education, and agriculture, civic engagement, IT innovation, and government transformation.

via The Africa Open Data Conference – Africa Open Data (New York, NY) – Meetup.

Promising…. but I think the reality of “open data” is that it’s a nice idea and would be good to have, as well as be able to use. But so far, it seems to me that we have only the claim of openness in the service of those who would most profit from its making. And those are the usual. But: There are ways to ensure that the idea of information that qualifies as “open data” can be acquired, stored, used in ways that are friendly and not inimical to democratic ambitions.