At issue is whether the public will have the tools, skills, wherewithal, and resources to locate, understand, and make use of the data. If not, the division between the “haves” and “have nots” will be exacerbated, no matter how many data files are offered for download.
All in Transparency
Matching Technological Literacy with Delivery of Government Services
Is the “open government” movement’s emphasis on technology creating two classes of citizens based on technological literacy?
On Defining the "Maturity" of Open Data Programs
Making government program data more “open” should be the responsibility of the program that is responsible for generating the data. The cost of doing so should also be part of the budget of that program.
Who wants to give over free access to every scrap of online behavior to a single company that “can’t be relied upon” to maintain the key value-generators of their infrastructure, especially since so much of their product offerings are subsidized through advertising sales?
Learning from the World Bank’s “Big Data” Exploration Weekend
If you’re serious about data analysis there’s probably no substitute for getting “down and dirty” with real, live, messy data. Sometimes you just have to sift through the numbers with your “bare hands” if you really want to extract meaning from descriptive statistics, predictive models, and fancy visualizations.
How Will We Know When "Sequestration" Hurts Us?
Given availability of data on government programs from sources as diverse as Performance.gov, Data.gov, Sunlight Foundation, and the State of the USA project, where can we go for impartial reporting on the impacts sequestration will have on the US economy?
Transparently Speaking, Are Bad Data Better than No Data At All?
I’ve been researching government program transparency and the hype surrounding “big data.” Given OMB’s recent statement of support for improving access to accurate Federal spending data I’ve also been giving some thought to what improved access might actually mean, based on my own experience with data conversion and consolidation projects.
Developing Digital Strategies for Web-based Public Access to Government Performance Data
On January 29, 2013 I was privileged to attend a meeting of the Government Performance Coalition at George Washington University in Washington DC. During that meeting Shelley Metzenbaum, OMB Associate Director for Performance and Personnel, discussed the “performance improvement” pages of the Performance.gov website.
In Forrester’s Top 15 Emerging Technologies To Watch: Now to 2018, Brian Hopkins provides a peek at the results of an online survey conducted in 2012 to answer a question about what respondents feel the most “disruptive” technologies will be.
I chuckled when I first read the title of John Weathington’s recent TechRepublic article, Recouping your big date investment in one year. Nevertheless, this short article provides useful food for thought about the importance of effective project management.
It’s no secret that mobile technologies are disrupting traditional IT management approaches. Industry analysts such as Gartner acknowledge this. But what’s the link between the public’s increasing use of mobile technologies and the governments agencies at all levels are making their programs — and their data — more open and accessible?
Our ability to store and provide access to vast amounts of information is growing. We need to focus on how such information is to be used most efficiently and most effectively.
At the same time, through careful planning and design we must avoid the expense of developing and supporting systems and websites that people do not or cannot use. In these times of fiscal austerity such an outcome would be inexcusable.
Why I'm Uneasy about "Big Data" and Government Programs
I appreciate that scaling, discoverability, and innovation are all potentially enhanced when the size, variety, quality and number of data sets surrounding a particular process or function are aggregated and exposed. Jewels can become visible. Inconsistencies can be identified and resolved. Impacts can be tracked.
Panel Discussion: Transparency and the Obama Administration
On Monday Dec. 3, 2012 at the invitation of Hudson Hollister of the Data Transparency Coalition I attended the “Transparency and the Obama Administration” panel discussion on Capitol Hill in Washington DC sponsored by the Congressional Transparency Caucus.
In some ways, you might say that Google is just as secretive as Apple when it comes to customer data.
Better Org Charts Will Improve Government Agency Transparency and Accountability
Making sure that a meaningful org chart is available, precisely because it is a public statement about responsibility, might just be one of the simplest and most direct methods we have for promoting government program transparency and accountability.
What does it mean to say that something is “transparent”?
That’s easy; you can see through it, like a window let you see through a wall and into — or out of — a room.
What does it mean for a government program to be “transparent”?
Forget “Best Practices.” Think “Best People” Instead.
A major assumption is that “practices” needing improvement will actually stand still long enough to be measured, modeled, compared, then improved. That may not be a good assumption to make.
Data Cleanup, Big Data, Standards, and Program Transparency
Mary Shacklett’s 10 Roadblocks to Implementing Big Data Analytics will be familiar to anyone experienced with large data conversion or database construction projects: