US Open Government plans were released today. As part of this process, federal agencies are beginning to release data sets publicly in ways they never have before. Some substantial and thought-provoking blog posts over the last few weeks have discussed how government can do open data well.
There are significant cultural and social sticking points that have yet to be addressed in releasing data openly. A discussion with a colleague from NASA last week confirmed how far away most agencies are from the luxury of considering the innovative ideas for data set management available to them. Here's why:
Continue readingAgency Plans and Data
As I wrote earlier today, Sunlight is going to be particularly focused on data transparency in the new Open Government... View Article
Continue readingVice President Biden issues new memo on Recovery Act reporting
Yesterday, Vice President Biden announced a new memorandum seeking to tighten reporting of stimulus dollars spent under the American Recovery... View Article
Continue readingLIVE: HHS Announces Open Government Plan
The Department of Health and Human Services will be announcing their Open Government plan live via video at 1:30PM ET.... View Article
Continue readingAnticipating Agency Plans
Today is April 7th, one of the major deadlines set in the Open Government Directive. It’s a big day for... View Article
Continue readingUpper Big Branch Mine Had Most Serious Citations Among Massey-owned W. Va. Mines
The Upper Big Branch Mine that suffered the most serious mining disaster since 1984 on Monday has received the most... View Article
Continue readingOther dangerous mines? Federal data can’t tell you
Monday’s explosion that killed 25 miners at Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia came at a mine that had been flagged by inspectors for a series of violations – 3000 since 1995 and more than 500 in 2009 alone.
How does that compare to other mines? Because of the way the federal government releases the data, we can't say.
Data on safety inspections is published in the Department of Labor’s Mine
Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) Web site, where users can find information
on mine safety, inspections and violations. But getting to it is the hard part ...
IBM introduces Many Bills
IBM Research recently released Many Bills, a new companion project to their wildly successful Many Eyes visualization tool set. Many... View Article
Continue readingNew Gov’t Contractor Integrity Database Will Be Off-Limits to Public
For the first time, the government will centralize information detailing whether a contractor was terminated, disbarred or suspended from a federal contract or grant, in addition to any civil or criminal convictions linked to contracting work. The FAPIIS database will track any administrative agreements that a vendor signed to avoid getting suspended or disbarred, and will show “determinations of non-responsibility,” when a contractor showed a lack of integrity or poor performance.
The database information is off-limits to the public. Contractors, federal officials and Congress members are the only ones who can access it.
“There’s certain information that should be ...
Top 20 Recipients of Finance Campaign Contributions in the Senate
Since the 1990 election cycle, the finance, insurance and real estate sector (FIRE) has donated over $2.3 billion to federal... View Article
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