I heard David Lebryk of the U.S. Department of Treasury speak on Data Act implementation this morning at the Johns Hopkins/REI Systems Government Analytics Breakfast Forum in Washington DC.
Data Program Governance and the Success of Shared Digital Services
If the tip of the data management “spear” is analyzing data in new and interesting ways to help solve important problems, someone still has to manufacture the spear, carry it, and train throwers to hit the target.
Who Gets Credit for Open Data?
The lack of easily accessible source and context information might eventually become a problem. Public programs ultimately have to depend on public funding. If the public doesn’t know the data they rely on are coming from public sources – which they pay for with their taxes — how can they be expected to make intelligent decisions about which programs to fund?
Here's Hoping for No More Wasted Space
I love reading stuff like Robert Krulwich’s “A Baby Hangs Between Life and Death in Space.”
The landscape is changing. It’s getting more complex. We need guidance. This show is one of the best ways to make sense of what is still a very confusing situation – and it’s entertaining as well as informative.
Managing Open Transportation Data at the U.S. Department of Transportation
Such challenges are not unique to the Federal Government. All large organizations desiring to take a more strategic position in how data — the lifeblood of organization processes — are managed and released will have to address such governance issues.
Flickr MAGIC VIEW Automagically Organizes Your Photos
Recently I discovered Flickr’s “Magic View” software that displays your collection according to automatically assigned categories.
Dashboarding Open Data Program Governance
A key feature of the Project Open Data effort being managed by OMB and OSTP is that so much of it is being conducted in the open using accessible resources such as shared documentation, a defined metadata schema, and use of GitHub for capturing comments and issues. Agencies that want to involve private sector vendors in their open date efforts should consider the use and management of such tools as a required part of program governance and oversight (as long as sufficient staff and resources are provided to manage such efforts, of course).
Pushing for standardization of such regulatory information will greatly enhance public access and transparency — as long as effective governance and sufficient resources are made available to support the process and the systems that provide public access.
Risk, Uncertainty, and Managing Big Data Projects
Anyone who practices project management for a living will recognize this list. It’s certainly not unique to big data analytics project. It is however reasonable to ask whether “big data” projects are unique in some way that exacerbates the probability of failure.
Interim Report on the Generalizability of the NOAA Big Data Project’s Management Model
It’s good to see the Federal government and private sector working together to create value from data that might not be realized were its use restricted only to specifically funded and legislated programs.
Moving to the Cloud: Business as Usual or Opportunity for Change?
Sometimes it makes sense to consider open data programs and cloud infrastructure transformation at the same time.
Who Cares About Digital Government Services?
People also have different channel preferences depending on whether they are alone or with others, are on the road or at home, or are seeking a quick bit of information, performing an infrequent transaction, or are doing serious or complex research with significant health or financial consequences.
Do People Really Understand What “Open Data” Means?
Ultimately the most important issue has to come down to deciding what level of data literacy citizens need. As the production and consumption of goods and services become more data-dependent in both developed and developing countries, it is reasonable to ask how much understanding of data and data related decisions people really need. I’ve referred to this elsewhere as data management literacy. Maybe we also need to consider data consumption literacy. After all, if people don’t understand or appreciate the services we’re providing, no amount of standardization, interoperability, or transparency is going to make any difference.
NOAA’s Big Data Project Comes Into Focus
What’s different about this newly announced NOAA program is not just the potential “big data” scope of the program but the way in which private sector cloud vendors are involved as intermediaries not only to the public but also to potential data vendors and resellers.
Is Your Organization Ready for the Third Age of Open Data?
Because of this my advice to anyone contemplating an open data program is to start not with what data are available but with what programs are trying to accomplish, then work on how open data can contribute to the success of those programs.
Is Making the CFPB’s Consumer Complaint Database More "Open" Good Or Bad?
Realistically it’s also impossible to control what people say online about companies. Just type the name of any large company into the Google search engine followed by the word “sucks” and you’ll see what I mean.
Scoring Apple’s March 9 Product Announcements for Creation, Consumption, and Engagement
I am pleased that Apple is devoting money and talent to the development of such products that support creation, consumption, and engagement. In previous generations such resources might have been devoted to the creation of weapons of mass destruction.
USAID’s “Frequently Asked Questions” and the Management of Open Data Programs
By itself, just documenting a process is never enough. Also needed is a sufficiently-resourced governance structure that supports program management in how systems and processes are changed and in how they operate.