What government data do you want to see?
Two open-government groups launched a Web site today that asks the public what government information it wants most to be made more available and electronically accessible. The findings will be submitted to Congress and the administration.
The “Show Us the Data: The Most Wanted Federal Government Documents” project asks people to nominate which information collected or created by the government they feel should be available electronically at no charge. People are asked to vote on the nominations. The project is being run by the Center for Democracy and Technology and OpenTheGovernment.org.
As of 4:16 p.m. on Feb. 11, reports by the Congressional Research Service were leading the balloting with 26 votes, followed by 15 votes for information on what companies did with money they received in government bailouts.
Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment.org, said the groups planned to give the results of the voting to Congress and the administration. The voting will continue through March 9.
The groups said the initiative followed up on President Barack Obama's call for agencies to make information available to the public.
“The idea is to get information first available and findable … and then available in a way people can use to grab the data to do something with it,” said McDermott.
About the Author
Ben Bain is a reporter for Federal Computer Week.