The drive to make increasing amounts of government-generated data available to citizens has gathered pace in recent years. The movement marks a shift from mere 'access to information' - usually involving an application, which can be turned down - to actually making raw information openly available for people to download, process and use.
Studies suggest this makes governments more transparent and accountable while also holding significant economic value (for example, by providing more detailed market insights). Advocates of open data argue that making officially-held information freely available has the potential to transform government-citizen relations.
In an era when many national institutions - and, in the case of the European Union or world football body FIFA, supra-national institutions - face a crises of legitimacy, a more open exchange of information has the potential to re-charge engagement with a public familiar with the free exchange provided by Twitter and Instagram.
The response from governments has been uneven. President Barack Obama, on his first day in office, signed an executive order stating that all government information that did not need to be kept secret for security reasons, should be made available to the public. An Open Data Initiative has since been established, featuring over 90 000 datasets, from federal, state and city-level governments across the Unites States. Similar initiatives have been launched in the United Kingdom, Singapore, India, New Zealand and Mexico.
However, this should not be enthusiastically over-interpreted as a world-wide trend towards greater transparency. The South African Parliament has recently passed new legislation - the Protection of State information Act - that increases restrictions on a wide range of state-generated information, with harsh penalties for offenders.
A recent survey study by the International Budget Partnership on the relative availability of state budget information found that most countries do not freely disclose even the most basic information about how public funds are spent. It stated that 'only a minority of government's publish significant budget information. Fewer still provide appropriate mechanisms for public participation, and independent oversight mechanisms frequently lack appropriate resources and leverage'. Out of the 100 countries surveyed, 26 provide 'minimal' or no budget information and 77 do not meet basic standards for budget transparency.