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Governance |
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governance.md |
Project Open Data, a new White House resource, is an online collection of code, best practices, and case studies developed to help agencies adopt the framework presented in the memorandum on “Managing Government Information as an Asset to Promote Interoperability and Openness.” Project Open Data will evolve over time as a community resource to facilitate adoption of open data practices. To facilitate collaboration across the Federal Government and in partnership with public developers, the Project is published on the developer social network GitHub.
As the Project founder, the White House is dedicated to maximizing openness, participation, and collaboration while ensuring the integrity of the resources hosted within the Project. This page provides information on ways to participate in the Project and how the White House will govern it.
Anyone – Federal employees, contractors, developers, the general public – can view and contribute to Project Open Data. (Set up a GitHub user account to get started). Ultimately, the goal is for users to contribute to the project by suggesting changes to code/content (making “pull requests”). However, there are many ways to participate:
- Browse. Look around at the different resources available.
- Clone. Copy code/content to your local machine. There is no official record in Project Open Data, and others cannot see what you do with the code/content.
- Fork. Copy code/content to your own repo in GitHub, and make modifications there. Record of the fork is seen in Project Open Data, and others can see the code/content, but it now resides outsides the Project.
- Comment. Comment on the code/content in Project Open Data using the issue tracker function. Others can see your suggested changes in a public log on Project Open Data. A moderator must accept, modify, or reject the comment in that public log.
- Contribute. Suggest changes to the code/content in Project Open Data by making a pull request. Others can see your suggested changes in a public log on Project Open Data. A moderator must accept, modify, or reject the suggested change in that public log before it becomes a part of the official code/content.
In GitHub parlance, Project Open Data is actually a collection of different little-p “projects” housed in individual repositories, or “repos.” Each individual project repo will be managed as an open source project – i.e., users can make pull requests (suggest changes), and a repo manager will adjudicate the pull requests (accept, modify, or reject) in a public log according to a communicated release cycle (e.g., once a week, every other month). Information on the repo manager and release cycle for updates will be available in each repo’s documentation file. A program management office (PMO) in the General Services Administration (GSA) may be delegated management of individual technical repos on behalf of the White House, as well as provide daily technical oversight and user support for the Project.
Given that the breadth of Project Open Data supports both technical and policy work, there will be slightly different governance processes for each subject.
- Technical (e.g., source code and applications) and Content (e.g., best practices) – Technical repositories will be maintained by appropriate White House Officials with in the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, with support from technical staff at GSA (i.e., the Technical Review Committee). All comments and proposed changes from the public or other Federal employees will be reviewed regularly by the Technical Review Committee, at intervals not to exceed every other week. As needed, additional stakeholders will be involved in review processes based on needed subject matter expertise.
- Policy (e.g., common core metadata schema) – governance held closely by the White House. While federal employees and members of the public may submit comment and proposed change, changes to the official version (the “master branch” in GitHub terms) will be made in accordance with a publicly communicated schedule in consultation with a set of advisory groups that include relevant subject matter experts from across the Federal government. Information on the repo manager and release cycle for updates (including the role of the advisory groups) will be available in each repo’s documentation file. At the onset, this category will include semi-annual review.
What problem does this solve?
Technology moves much faster than policy ever could. Often when writing policy for technology, agencies are stuck with outdated methods as soon as they publish new policies.
How does it solve that problem?
This Project is meant to be a living document so that collaboration in the open data ecosystem is fostered and the continual update of technology pieces that affect update can happen on a more rapid pace.
Who can participate in Project Open Data?
Anyone – Federal employees, contractors, developers, the general public – can view and contribute to Project Open Data.
Who is in charge of Project Open Data?
Ultimately? You. While the White House founded and continues to oversee the project, Project Open Data is a collaborative work — commonly known as "open source" — and is supported by the efforts of an entire community. See the "how to contribute" section above to learn more.
At the onset, the General Services Administration is here to provide daily oversight and support, but over time, it is our vision that contributors both inside and outside of government can be empowered to take on additional leadership roles.
Can I use the project's content or source code elsewhere?
The project as originally published constitutes a work of the United States Government and is not subject to domestic copyright protection under 17 USC § 105. Subsequent contributions by members of the public, however, retain their original copyright.
In order to better facilitate collaboration, the content of this project is licensed under the Creative Commons 3.0 License, and the underlying source code used to format and display that content is licensed under the MIT License.
How can I contribute?
This project constitutes a collaborative work ("open source"). Federal employees and members of the public are encouraged to improve the project by contributing. This can be done by contributing to ongoing discussions or by simply clicking the “improve this content” button at the top of each page and submitting a proposed improvement.
Are my interactions to this project subject to any special privacy considerations?
Comments, pull requests and any other messages received through this repository may be subject to the Presidential Records Act and may be archived. Learn more at http://WhiteHouse.gov/privacy.