Access to government data and other information often falls behind expectations due to the government's failure to use advanced technologies to meet the needs of modern day society. In "Hack, Mash, & Peer," Jerry Brito, Senior Research Fellow of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, discusses the shortcomings of government access and technological solutions to create broad access to government records.
The analysis, published May 14 in the Columbia Science and Technology Law Review, shows that many government data sources are essentially inaccessible to the general public. For instance, the government only permits information regarding the financial disclosures of members of Congress to be viewed in paper format at the House or Senate offices in Washington, DC. Even though disclosure of the records is required by law, and even though those records are stored in a searchable electronic database, government denies the general public easy online access to that information.
Other data the government makes available online in centralized locations but publishes in cumbersome formats, which makes it difficult to search and find information. ...
Filling the access gap, private sector third parties have stepped in with "ingenious hacks" to provide the functionality the government has failed to achieve. ...
Often these "hacks" present the government data in a ... format that allows others to combine various data sources in "mashups" that represent new novel tools for reviewing information. ...
Third-party groups seeking to solve the problem of large amounts of information provided in cumbersome formats recently developed the "peer production" or "crowdsourcing" approach. Crowdsourcing is when massive numbers of documents or other information are reviewed en masse by a community of online users. ...
Rather than just relying on third parties to hack, mash, and peer government data, Brito recommends that government encourage the process itself by making data available online in "structured, open, and searchable formats." ...
To accomplish such access to government information, "Hack, Mash, & Peer" recommends that legislation specifically require such disclosure methods. However, if Congress fails to act, agencies should take it upon themselves to provide government information in robust and useable formats.
Posted by
Gavin Baker at 6/04/2008 12:52:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
