Governments around California and across the nation are releasing vast troves of public data, making government more transparent than ever before. As the open government movement gains momentum, advocates argue that open data has the potential to help governments do much more than increase transparency and accountability.

At CA Fwd’s recent Long Beach Regional Data Forum, we spoke with Abhi Nemani, L.A.’s Chief Data Officer, about how governments can generate more value from the data they’re already releasing. Watch the video to hear Nemani explain how governments can realize the promise of Open Data.

This Wednesday in Fresno, Nemani will share his experience with L.A.’s open data efforts at the next regional data forum, a free workshop on civic data in local government hosted at the University of California, Merced’s Small Business Development Center, organized by CA Fwd and the Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley.