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Wichita Joins National Open Data Initiative

Sunlightfoundation.com
A graphic from the What Works Cities Initiative showing the 12 new cities, including Wichita, to join.

Wichita has been selected as one of 12 new cities to participate in a national initiative to enhance the distribution and use of data.

The goal of the Bloomberg Philanthropies' What Works Cities Initiative is to establish and improve open data practices, making information more accessible to the community: for example, with a searchable app or easily accessible list of local crime statistics, or a simple chart that demonstrates how and where the City of Wichita is spending money.

Staff from Bloomberg Philanthropies will be in Wichita for about four months helping city officials determine which data sets make the most sense to put out to the public.

Mike Mayta with the city's IT department says Wichitans should be able to see tangible results of the project in October of this year. He says the initiative, which comes at no cost to the city or taxpayers, is a continuation of the open data policy the city started drafting earlier this year.

Topeka and Kansas City were also selected to join the initiative this year. A total of 39 cities across 25 states now participate in the What Works Cities Initiative. The program started in April of last year. 

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