Posts Tagged: open government

Google: Solving Big Data – Sharing Technology and the Value

One of the many challenges involved in architecting “Big Data” solutions is in just moving the stuff around. Sometimes it makes sense to move the work to the Data (instead of the other way around). This assumes that your Data is already in a form that is amenable to heavy-duty analytics. More typically, you’re lookingRead… Read more »

Five Tips for The Trip (Downtown) to Government Finances

In yesterday’s online training, “Full Disclosure: How Governments Can Best Display Financial Transparency to the Public,” audience members visited the City of Chattanooga – virtually of course – to get a glimpse into the City’s brand new Open Budget Application – launched only three days ago as a subset of their already welcomed Open DataRead… Read more »

“Bureaucracy” – Iron Cage to Social Network

I hate word “bureaucracy” because it degrades public sector workers at all levels. For many reasons, countless pejorative metaphors, theories, and political actions about public sector workers have decorated the iron cage. Public sector staff can weave webs supporting real collaboration, see contacts outside the hierarchy and rules; they seek out connections with people who… Read more »

Geospatial Data is Different — Yes, and No

After millennia, now most people are drawn to “GPS,” or “Google Maps,” and rely on navigation to drive, to hike, to find a restaurant, to catch fish, and more. Such interest and dependence on geospatial information systems’ data creates a neologism of “a Google Map” or a “GPS Map,” but neither are maps as weRead… Read more »

Reflections of a Digital Government Customer

Australia is following the UK and the USA’s digital government lead: the citizen experience is rightly being placed front and centre in “a relentless focus on the needs of the user”. The newly released Digital Service Standard & Design Guide now provide the criteria that Australian Government digital services will meet as they embark on… Read more »

The Next Generation of Open Data

These days, it seems like people are obsessed with numbers. It’s often thought that numbers and statistics are the most powerful source of data. With hard numbers, you can create visuals and graphs to prove your point. No one can dispute your hard data claims. Right? However, there’s a strong argument for moving away fromRead… Read more »

Government Secrets Bared!

Just how easy is it to get government agencies to bare their secrets? The Center for Effective Government recently came out with its yearly scorecard assessing the fifteen government agencies on their adherence to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Sean Moulton, Director of Open Government Policy at the Center for Effective Government, spoke withRead… Read more »

Just How Popular Are .Gov Websites? Very, Very Popular

The world can now peek under the dashboard of U.S. government websites—an analytics dashboard, that is. A new site, analytics.usa.gov, shows a live, aggregate view of the Google Analytics data for many federal government websites. The site also links to the open source datasets that run behind the analytics dashboard, should you be in a tinkering mood. The most impressiveRead… Read more »