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{bookmark:url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/21/data-gov-nigel-shadbolt-government}This idea of making public data available has really caught hold. In this country it not only survived the election – but new commitments to transparency and open data have been made. Other countries, regional authorities and individual cities are all making data available. This newspaper has reported on and participated in this data revolution. Data underlies increasing amounts of journalism. The Guardian has argued that open data can rebalance the relationship between those who govern and the citizen. Grand sounding stuff – but how does it work?

It works because people take government data and use it to hold power to account, to re-engineer public services or to create new businesses. This shift is enabling new, disruptive services to spring up. Services like Fix My Street reduce the pain of finding the right telephone number or form to report local problems ranging from dog fouling to broken streetlights. The site Who's Lobbying helps to keep track of who is meeting which UK government ministers; whilst School-o-Scope makes school performance information useable. Spotlight on Spend shows not just how various councils are spending our money but who is in receipt of it. .....{bookmark}