After publishing data sets from Kent on child health, we have been looking from inspiration on how to present and reuse such information. A wonderful example of using data visualisations to tell a story of global demographic trends has been compiled by Hans Rosling’s excellent Gapminder organisation here. Using national statistics on child mortality andRead… Read more »
We have recently published a number of data sets regarding children’s health, such as infant mortality rates and the incidence of childhood obesity. This will be of interest to many citizens and health care professionals who live in the county. And for those who want to put such information in context, you can see anRead… Read more »
Councils are using demographic research information to target sections of the population to encourage them to access their services online. Many local authorities are using research tools to compile and analyse statistical information about their community. A report such as this one published on Kent County Council’s website contains a wealth of information that canRead… Read more »
This article was originally published on opensource.com. It’s HOT in Haiti, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, and other nations around the world. Why? Because Kate Chapman, the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), and many volunteers are improving local economies and creating an open map of the world. At SouthEast LinuxFest, held earlier this year, I learned about HumanitarianRead… Read more »
My book, “Data Dynamite: how liberating information will transform our world,” is in print! Because I argue in the book that liberating data can have the same transformative effect that Martin Luther had translating the Bible into vernacular German and printing it instead of copying it, I ended the book with my variation on Luther’sRead… Read more »
A story of war, loss–and data: Talking to my 90-year-old father-in-law Joseph today, who survived WWII by fleeing the Nazis invading Poland and ended up as a Soviet soldier driving trucks in Siberia, a far cry from his childhood of daily Hebrew school, doting siblings, and three dogs.. After the war, when Joseph returned toRead… Read more »
Harry Hatry, a pioneer in the performance measurement field, recently predicted that “performance data in the future will be able to be processed continuously and in real time,” and that “managers and their staffs will be able to obtain such information easily and quickly, no matter where the managers are. The information will come fromRead… Read more »
On June 17, Governor Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 701 into law, which requires each state agency to post high-value data sets online. This was a great victory for transparency and open government, putting into statute the requirement for all state agencies to post “raw data in open standard format that allows the public toRead… Read more »
Vivek Kundra leaving the White House rings one more bell that the Open Government soiree is over. And like all poorly planned parties, it should be. But, that doesn’t mean that he didn’t leave us one lovely party favor. Let’s be honest. The combination of the very nebulous idea of “Open Government” and the institutionalizationRead… Read more »
This is a collection of links that I’ve come across recently related to technology, transparency, and government. Not all of them came out this past week, but they haven’t been included in former Friday posts like this. Know of any that should be included? Add them to the comments below! “Illinois, New York City moveRead… Read more »