Creating jobs "for the people" through Open Government

Apps for Californians was a contest to build the best tools to leverage government data for the public good. Besides creating new ways for citizens to understand their world, it also created new job opportunities and blueprint for the nation.

By John F. Moore, contributor

Image via Wikipedia

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was not talking about Open Government data or job creation when he spoke of, "government of the people, by the people, for the people" in the Gettysburg Address.  However, within the address he provided us with words of wisdom that we must look to once again, words that provide us a formula we can follow for job creation through the changes created by the move to Open Government.

I blogged, not long ago, that the return on investment (ROI) of open government data was job creation.  This article came as a result of listening to Carolyn Lawson, Technology Services Governance Division, State of California, discuss the Apps for Californians contest that took place earlier in 2010.  From this contest 5 winners were selected and 5 companies were created or extended.  Jobs were created.

You may be asking yourself a few questions. More

Posted in: Abraham Lincoln, Application programming interface, Business, California, employment, Gettysburg Address, higher education, ProgrammableWeb, United States

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