[Durham INC] Durham Hires Open Data Consultant

[PublicAffairs]

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City of Durham
Durham County

Joint News Release

For Immediate Release:  January 23, 2015

News Media Contacts:
Amy Blalock
Sr. Public Affairs Specialist, City of Durham
(919) 560-4123, ext. 11253
Amy.Blalock at DurhamNC.gov<mailto:Amy.Blalock at DurhamNC.gov>

Dawn Dudley
Sr. Public Information Specialist, Durham County
(919) 560-0008
ddudley at dconc.gov<mailto:ddudley at dconc.gov>

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Share! Durham hires open data consultant for summer 2015 website launch; http://bit.ly/15kD0SK


Durham Hires Open Data Consultant
Joint Effort Now Underway to Push Creative Use of Public Data While Furthering Transparency

DURHAM, N.C. - With open data in Durham just months away from becoming a reality, the City of Durham and Durham County Government have hired an open data consultant to help lead the way.

Returning to Durham after managing Raleigh's award-winning open data initiative, Jason Hare will manage the open data efforts for the City and County as part of this new local government partnership, with plans now underway for a joint work plan and project framework building toward a projected website launch date of summer 2015.

Hare is currently the director of Open Data for BaleFire Global, where he plays a key role in developing the company's reputation as a provider of public sector open data business services. He is also a speaker and thought leader on open data and civil society. Hare has been developing for the Web and distributed applications for 20 years. While under Hare's leadership, Open Raleigh won two Public Technology Institute (PTI) awards in 2013 and 2014, and a Best of the Web award from Digital Cities in 2013. In 2013, Hare also became an Open Data Institute (ODI) member and founded the ODI Node in North Carolina.

According to Hare, civic tech should be accessible for everyone regardless of their background or education. "Being involved in open data and civic hacking only requires the willingness to engage," said Hare. "Certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other forms of control. It's exciting that the City and County have formed this open data partnership to lay the groundwork for businesses, non-profits, journalists, universities and residents to access and use the wealth of public data available between these two government organizations."

Passionate about open data, Hare also formerly worked for Durham Public Schools managing over 70 websites for the district between 2005 and 2012. Since then, Hare has led municipal, state, national and international efforts to open government data. From North Carolina to New Jersey to Colorado, then to Ireland, Colombia and beyond, Hare has campaigned for data usability and resident engagement with "data as infrastructure."

"Jason's experience is important in helping us realize an Open Data effort that directly benefits our citizens and surrounding communities," said Chief Information Officer Greg Marrow with the County's Information Services and Technology Department. "Sustainability is paramount, and this will be enabled by doing everything we can to empower the communities through rich data and high usability."

Hare learned to program in SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, which is used to evaluate numerical data for completing complex data manipulation and analysis) in undergraduate and graduate school. He has a bachelor's degree in Anthropology from Washington State University, and took graduate courses at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia that focused on spatial data analysis in regard to archaeological remains.

For more information about Durham's open data partnership, contact Chief Information Officer Kerry Goode with the City's Technology Solutions Department at (919) 560-4122, ext. 33248 or by email at Kerry.Goode at DurhamNC.gov<mailto:Kerry.Goode at DurhamNC.gov>, or Chief Information Officer Greg Marrow with the County's Information Services and Technology Department at (919) 560-7003 or by email at gmarrow at dconc.gov<mailto:gmarrow at dconc.gov>.

About the City of Durham
The more than 2,400 employees of the City of Durham are dedicated to the service of the city's residents - to provide quality services to make Durham a great place to live, work and play. Guided by the City's Strategic Plan, 25 departments work to ensure the health, safety and welfare of residents and visitors. Services range from building inspections and code enforcement, to providing emergency services, to trash and waste collection, to constructing and maintaining streets, to providing essential water and sewer services. To learn more, visit http://durhamnc.gov, like http://Facebook.com/CityofDurhamNC, follow http://Twitter.com/CityofDurhamNC, or watch Durham Television Network (Time Warner Cable channel 8, 97-5 and AT&T U-verse channel 99) and http://YouTube.com/CityofDurhamNC.

About Durham County
Durham County is one of the fastest growing counties in North Carolina and in the nation. The economic diversity of the county ranges from agricultural communities to the internationally known Research Triangle Park, home to more than 50 major research and development organizations. Durham County's population grew from about 180,000 in 1990, to more than 280,000 in 2013. To learn more, visit http://dconc.gov.

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