Baltimore Social Media

In the IBM Center for the Business of Government’s report on The Blogging Revolution, David Wyld suggests that social media and Government 2.0 can be an integral piece of citizen engagement. The City of Baltimore recently announced the release of Open Baltimore, an interactive open government portal that is designed to do just that. Baltimore government agencies have been told to provide lists of their data sets within the next 30 days and identify what is currently available to the public.

This process is a progressive first step by a local government to make government more interactive and data more accessible. It was also cost effective. However, the city is still struggling with identifying which information is appropriate to release and which information must remain secure—a tension that will undoubtedly continue. Agencies may also struggle to provide accurate information within the 30-day mandate.