Neither open data nor open source in government are political; neither are they neutral.

[bensheldon]

Thanks @carlvlewis for contributing!

Can you please expand a little more on this pattern and how an ideator or practitioner can apply (or avoid) it?

[carlvlewis]

I was very sleepy when writing this! Avoid the pattern of thinking open gov and open data only have merit in anti-corruption and ‘good government.’ Often, civic tech communities of practice, in championing the release of public data, claim the mantle of nonpartisanship and neutrality. But information isn’t a neutral force. Sometimes, it will have political effects. It’s also a terrible riff on Melvin Kranzberg: “Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral.”