What Happened to Illinois’ Open Data Movement?
Under Governor Pat Quinn, Illinois passed the Open Operating Standards Act (Public Act 98-627) which established policy for the state government's open data portal. Effective in 2014, the act states: "Public data sets that are made available on the Internet by agencies shall be accessible through a single web portal that is linked to data.illinois.gov or any successor website." Illinois thereby formally prioritized open data as a state policy. The main web portal, data.illinois.gov, was established to make accessible state government agencies' numerous datasets in a single location. Several other states in the country have also initiated open-data efforts in recent years. The importance of open data and reproducible research has been described in past IGPA reports but this report focuses on Illinois specifically: What is the current state of Illinois' open data portal? How does Illinois compare to other states? What can be done to improve the data portal?
"The goal was to become a "one stop shop" for data resources, safety initiatives, environmental concerns, transportation issues, and more. Based on the current status of the portal, that vision has not come to fruition"
