Open Oklahoma County

Governments collect and generate massive amounts of data every day, whether required by statute or to aid in the efficient operation of government services. This data is open and available to all citizens, but it is generally only available in inscrutable spreadsheets and datasets and applying the data in a usable manner is daunting to all but the experienced user. This data is also generally intended for a single use by the collecting government agency, which may not be aware of or concerned with other possible uses (e.g. an extreme and notable example is the famous death map which enabled researchers plotting deaths from disease to trace the origin to a polluted well). Paired with Google Maps apis, the possibilities are almost endless. Libraries are comfortable with the idea that information is not confined to a single use and are already seen as a destination for the information-seeking. The City of Oklahoma City already has a fairly well-developed data portal, but we could form a partnership with Oklahoma County and our member cities which may not have the resources to develop their own data portals. The library system could provide the infrastructure for distribution and partnering with civic hacking groups like Code for OKC could provide the expertise to produce the final product.