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.
All in Data Access
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.
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.
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.
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.
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”?
What Makes a Government Program "Transparent"?
What makes a government program “transparent”? I’ve been thinking about this while researching my framework for transparency program planning and assessment. Here are criteria to use when designing, modifying, or assessing a program’s “transparency”:
A Framework for Transparency Program Planning and Assessment
I support the practice of transparency for government programs. People need to know and understand how their tax dollars are spent. At the same time, transparency is not an end in itself.
The "Open Movement" Continues: Big Pharma Company Opens Up Access to Clinical Trial Data
I was serious when I suggested it would be to Apple’s advantage to open up to the public on how it is repairing its Maps app problem.
What Does "Open Access" Mean, Really?
Having devoted part of my career to electronic publishing systems for scientific and technical publishing I’ve tried to follow the “Open Access” movement, but I have never quite understood what “Open Access” means.
Back in February 2009 in Challenges Facing Recovery.gov and the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board I wrote the following about making Federal stimulus spending data more accessible and “transparent” to the public:
According to Defpro.news, a recent analysis by the United States Government Accountability Office has found that many reports of recent contract awards by Defense Department contract officers to the DoD’s Office of Public Affairs are incomplete. Quoting from the report,
According to the FederalTimes.com report 5 teams to tackle Gates call to improve efficiency, five Pentagon teams will focus on identification of Pentagon cost savings based on affordability, incentives, contract terms, metrics, and service contracts
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established a Transparency Task Force. One of its first public facing activities is the creation of the FDA Transparency Blog.
ARRA's Oversight and Information Technology Initiatives
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009 (ARRA), passed by Congress and signed by the President, is now available online. The text below is an attempt to summarize sections of the law that do the following:
Challenges Facing Recovery.gov and the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board
There’s a strong possibility that how the public sees and experiences the programs reported through Recovery.gov will have just as much potential for driving economic improvement as the programs themselves.
Craig Thomler’s Make government data freely available neatly lays out, from an Australian’s perspective, a discussion of how the public can benefit if government agencies make raw data available for access by individuals and organizations who then analyze or present that data in a useful way. These points are from Thomler’s conclusions:
Are the Privacy Cyberwars Already Here?
In my daily perusal of my Megite news feed, I ran across these two articles: * Ask.com Unveils Search Privacy Tool: Users Control Their Search Data
* Scheme to Destroy Your Competition with RivalMap