Derek Willis, with whom I was lucky enough to work with at the Center for Public Integrity, critiques the recent Show Us The Data effort (full disclosure: Sunlight was involved in building the site, and I helped a good deal with the conceptualization). He offers eight solid suggestions for data sets that should be publicly available — and didn’t make the cut for the Show Us The Data site. No arguments here with his wish list, and there’s some really good suggestions there.

In defense of Show Us The Data, voting was open to the general public, many of whom might not know about things like the super secret House Appropriations Committee earmark database, and it did ask for people’s most wanted data and documents (sadly, Show Us The Data Or Documents, Whichever You Prefer made for an unwieldy title).

In any case, check out Derek’s list, and add your own suggestions.