I'm ridiculously excited about today's big news in the (admittedly geeky) world of open government and sunshine law: Federal agencies had to release at least three large data sets online today, in compliance with the Obama administration's recently issued Open Government Directive. The data can be found at Data.gov, a new federal website designed to improve public access to government data.
There are hundreds of datasets here. A small taste of what's available:
From the SEC: Public Company Bankruptcy Cases Opened and Monitored for Fiscal Year 2009
From Veterans Affairs: 2009 VHA Facility Quality and Safety Report - Population Quality of Care
From the Department of the Interior: Lightning Caused Fires and Acres from 2001 to 2008
And so on. I'm looking forward to digging around in this huge sandpile for locally relevant stuff. Readers, if you find something interesting, let us know!
The feds are also encouraging state and local governments to build their own easy-access government data repositories. So far, nothing from New York.
We clearly have a long way to go on the road to achieving transparency and accountability in government, from local police departments all the way up to the White House. But efforts like this are a step in the right direction.
