And Data for All... President Obama signs Executive Order to make government-held data more accessible (in machine readable form by default)

The White House Blog - Landmark Steps to Liberate Open Data

Today, as he heads to Austin, Texas, for a Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity Tour, President Obama signed an Executive Order directing historic steps to make government-held data more accessible to the public and to entrepreneurs and others as fuel for innovation and economic growth. The Executive Order declares that information is a valuable resource and strategic asset for the Nation. We couldn’t agree more.

Under the terms of the Executive Order and a new Open Data Policy released today by the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget, all newly generated government data will be required to be made available in open, machine-readable formats, greatly enhancing their accessibility and usefulness, while ensuring privacy and security.

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More information:

• Read the Executive Order (EO) on open data
• Read the new Open Data Policy
• Watch a 2-minute video about the new EO and Policy
• Learn more about the Administration’s open data efforts
• Follow the conversation on Twitter using #opendata
• Visit a new Project Open Data website

We're making a lot more data open to the public [Received Email]

Hi, all --

Earlier today, President Obama signed an Executive Order directing his administration to take historic steps to make government-held data more accessible to the public and to entrepreneurs and others as fuel for innovation and economic growth.

Here's what you need to know:

• The Executive Order declares that information is a valuable resource and strategic asset for the nation.
• Newly generated government data will be required to be made available in open, machine-readable format by default -- enhancing their accessibility and usefulness, and ensuring privacy and security.
• These executive actions will allow entrepreneurs and companies to take advantage of this information -- fueling economic growth in communities across the Nation.

Data, data, data! I love me some data!

Now, to turn it into information, knowledge and maybe even wisdom, that's the hard part.