Survey: More Than Half of Feds Want to Unleash As Much Data As Possible

Federal employees are open to sharing a whole lot more data with the public.

According to a new study by Socrata, 56 percent of federal employees report their agency’s goal is to “make as much of their data open as possible,” while 83 percent of respondents aim to make the “most important, useful data” open to the public and citizenry at large.

Seattle-based Socrata and EMC Research compiled the study from 506 surveys of employees within various levels of government.

The aim of the study was “to capture the state of open data advancements at every level of government and identify the outcomes the initiatives are creating,” said Eric Eden, Socrata's chief marketing officer, in a statement. 

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“The benchmark study uncovered the power of open data in bolstering economies and creating efficiency within government,” he said. “Expanding commitment and investment from government entities spanning federal, state and local are very promising signs that more communities will benefit from open data in the near-term.”

More important, 60 percent of respondents stated they wanted open data efforts to “go beyond basic sharing,” where data can further impact mission and economic development.

Other key findings included an openness to invest more heavily in open data efforts and strong correlations between open data, improved agency efficiency and economic development.