Data.gov To Launch In May

An anonymous reader writes "In late May, Data.gov will launch, in what US CIO Vivek Kundra calls an attempt to ensure that all government data 'that is not restricted for national security reasons can be made public' through data feeds. This appears to be a tremendous expansion on (and an official form of) third-party products like the Sunlight Labs API. Of course, it is still a far cry from 'open sourcing' the actual decision-making processes of government. Wired has launched a wiki for calling attention to datasets that should be shared as part of the Data.gov plan, and an article on O'Reilly discusses the importance of making this information easily accessible."

Comments

Vivek did a good job with this in DC

[ZX-3]

This will also be an extension of what Vivek Kundra implemented in DC:
http://data.octo.dc.gov/

Open source goverment, no thanks!

[BitZtream]

Of course, it is still a far cry from 'open sourcing' the actual decision-making processes of government.

If this results in the same performance expectations as OSS projects, I'll take the current government of ANY country on Earth over an OSS one any day.

For every successful OSS project, I'd say there are at least 10,000 pitiful ones, thanks to their management. Compare that with the current way goverment works on the planet and I'd say that for all their problems, the current systems used to form goverments are all, with out any doubt in my mind, far better performers than the average OSS project.

Why would we want to make things WORSE for pretty much everyone, in the off chance that we happen to get lucky enough to get the right people on it to make it successful. The successful OSS projects that you can think of are exceptions to the rule, not the norm. While they are great and all, I'm not personally willing to play those odds. Its not like playing the lottery where you have as a 1 in 14 million chance of winning a few million dollars, but you're only out 1 if you don't win. While it would be fabulous if we did it and it worked, the risk involved if we fail alone makes it not worth attempting in my mind, add in the odds of it working and its almost worth shooting you just so no one else gets this crazy idea in their head. Obviously a little late now, but I think you get my point.

Re:Don't give a rat's ass

[Ihmhi]

Yes you can, it's called Dual Citizenship and is possible with many nations. I think the whole "Obama is really this guy with a different name and he's not an American citizen" smacks of cheap tactics on whatever side didn't want him elected.

Is it possible? Yes. Any chance in hell of proving it to the point that he'll be removed from office? No.