(Dec 2011)
The White House statement for an open government (via whitehouse.gov)
Data.gov is breaking out of the box by creating "Data.gov-in-a-box" open-source code for creating an accessible data achieve for any government domestic or foreign. This comes off of the heels of President Obama's Open Government Initiative, letting the public in on government activities. By allowing any government to create a Data.gov, it lets them fill in the blanks specific to their specific country vs. building a whole website infrastructure.
What is Data.gov anyhow? Data.gov is a website that allows the public to access datasets that are held by their Federal Government. Data.gov provides downloadable datasets to build applications, conduct analyses, and perform research. Census data, health and industry reports, impact of various laws or actions to specific areas are just a few of the thousands of datasets. Public participation and collaboration is highly recommended for Data.gov since feedback is the key for improvements. Steve VanRoekel (United States’ federal CIO) expressed the positive outcomes by Data.gov going global, “…that promote transparency, improve citizen engagement, and engage application developers in continuously improving these efforts,"
Chris Musialek (Data.gov developer) created a site called, Github. The site is a database management system and Web app; which will be the key ingredient for Data.gov-in-a-box.
The United Sates and India’s governments partnered up to become the co-developers of the open source version, Data.gov-in-a-box. The two countries are eliminating all the hard work when it comes to the make a Data.gov-like website.
The launch of the project is supposed to start in the beginning of the year, but I am sure when it is available there will be plenty of participations. No takers as of yet, but other governments will for sure be on board for less work, right? It is as effortless as taking someone’s homework and putting your name on top.
Eavesdropper
As a side note: Data.gov is flush with pertinent information on most industries. Market research is overflowing in their coffers. Be sure to comb through their site, you may be inspired.