States responding to federal transparency initiatives with parallel efforts

President Barack Obama’s Jan. 21 inaugural promise to lead the most transparent administration in history has had a major impact on federal information technology, which has led to new developments in data reporting at the state level. Spurred by federal requirements to report Recovery Act spending, states have followed suit, creating new reporting technologies and new transparency experiments.

Data reporting on stimulus spending has received a great deal of attention at the federal level. The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (Recovery Act) was the largest emergency federal spending bill in American history, and the executive branch moved quickly to distribute the funds to states. The administration and states moved equally quickly to establish reporting tools to track the spending. In October, states and other recipients began to electronically file details of the spending. Those recipient reports are already available for public review at Recovery.gov or on the Recovery Act tab of OMB Watch’s FedSpending.org.

Going beyond stimulus reporting, however, several states have started to experiment with using online tools to increase public access to a broader range of data. Most recently, the state of Massachusetts launched a wiki-based online data catalogue that includes education, health, population, environmental, energy, and transportation data in addition to economic and financial information. Although much of the data included is spotty, citizens can create accounts and receive updates on any datasets they designate of interest to them. Massachusetts also joins other states, such as California, Michigan, and Utah, in focusing on releasing more state-based databases to the public.

State efforts have been supported and encouraged by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). In September, NASCIO published a report,Guidance for Opening the Doors to State Data, that sets out a standard of principles to be considered by states and localities for the democratization of data. These principles attempt to set standard guidelines of civic engagement, data quality, security, and regulation that should be considered in creating data portals.

Localities have also gotten involved in the effort to release data in XML, XLS, CSV, and RSS formats. The City of San Francisco has also launched DataSF, which has similar types of public works and demographic data that the state of Massachusetts is attempting to put online, but is focused on the San Francisco metropolitan area. The city allows the data to be downloaded and even has iPhone mobile applications. Using free and open-source technology, the public is able to provide feedback by voting and commenting on datasets. The City of New York has also begun to release these types of data but in a more formal system that does not enable user feedback other than through a contact form.

The new data and tools have invigorated grassroots use of data. The Sunlight Foundation is using the month of December to host a blog series that spotlights citizen efforts to advance state and local transparency. Called the “24 Days of Local Sunlight,” the series has so far made mention of local watchdog efforts in Missouri, Tennessee, and Kansas.

While the release of full databases is certainly a leap forward, most of the general public remains unable to use the information without some sort of user interface that helps people understand what they are looking at and why the data is important. It is critical that all branches of government offer some sort of dashboard for the presentation of data so that it is accessible by all, even users with little to no technical knowledge.

To fill this gap, the federal Office of Science and Technology Policy plans to launch an Open Government Innovation Gallery in the near future. Developers offering new tools to the public will be able to showcase their work in the gallery. Another initiative by Intellitics, Inc., ParticipateDB, has already begun and does a similar thing. ParticipateDB, however, is only in a closed-alpha stage and is focused on a broader spectrum of open-data initiatives, including international efforts.

Individuals interested in federal data user interfaces should go to Apps.gov. To locate raw data available in your state, see Data.gov.

Copyright 2009 OMB Watch