Meet the Data Transparency Coalition.
The Washington Post’s Capitol Business blog reports this morning:
A small but growing collection of companies has formed a coalition that will push the federal government to establish a standard system by which agencies categorize their data. …
“Our members understand that if the government identified its data elements in consistent ways, there would be vast new opportunities for the tools that they are building,” Executive Director Hudson Hollister said.
Early supporters include Microsoft and data analysis and management firms Level One Technologies, Teradata, and BrightScope. I’m on their Board of Advisors. One of their early priorities will be to pass H.R. 2146, the DATA Act.
Cato has worked extensively on government transparency, beginning with our December 2008 policy forum entitled, “Just Give Us the Data! Prospects for Putting Government Information to Revolutionary New Uses.”
We have modeled much of the data that the government should be publishing in standardized formats (much more cheaply than CBO has estimated it would cost) and graded the quality of current data publication in the areas of congressional process and budgeting, appropriating, and spending. Expect improvements to come with this new organization joining other efforts.
Follow the coalition’s founder and executive director on Twitter @hudsonhollister, and you can Like their Facebook page, as well, to get updates that way.
