Government takes on new data services role
Web sites such as Recovery.gov and Data.gov are making federal statistics and information widely meaningful, technology executives say.
Craig Mundie of Microsoft says government needs to figure out how to make data more uniformly available.
New media has given rise to a new government service -- making data accessible, a top Microsoft Corp. official said during a federal technology conference on Wednesday.
"The fundamental role of government is to provide services and they have to be provided in a universal way," said Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft, during the Gov 2.0 Summit in Washington. The event was hosted by O'Reilly Media and TechWeb. Nextgov was a media sponsor.
"There is essentially a new government service and that is the data service . . .government is faced with the problem of how do I make that [data] more uniformly available," said Mundie, who spoke before a ballroom filled with senior government officials, company executives and nonprofit leaders. The Obama administration this spring named Mundie to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Some examples of the new wave of government services are the stimulus-tracking site Recovery.gov , which uses data to encourage accountability, and sites that bring traditionally offline services to the Web, such as the federal homepage USA.gov . The Web page acts like an old-fashioned customer service center that directs citizens to phone numbers, Web sites and bricks-and-mortar buildings where they can get loans, tax forms and other government information. Finally, there are data services that use government information in completely new ways, including Data.gov , a depot of government statistics.
Mundie noted that with televisions, cell phones and personal computers getting cheaper, there is no reason that most citizens will not own the tools to interact with these new government services.
Jack Dangermond, founder and president of California-based ESRI, a large provider of geographic information systems technology, told the audience that location-based, online services will bring as much change to the government as GIS brought to agencies such as the Defense Department.
Social media applications such as the broadcast text-messaging service Twitter are adding another layer to federal maps that in some cases can save lives, observers have noted. Dangermond referenced the recent California wildfires to show how a combination of geographic coordinates and live reports from first responders can be used to update maps instantly for emergency workers. He displayed an online map of the spreading fires overlaid with the sites of nursing homes and hospitals.
"We're not just seeing maps, we're seeing spatial analysis," Dangermond said.
He also mentioned that the Recovery.gov site will allow users to "map through" expenditures to see where and how stimulus funds are being spent. Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, which oversees the site, said during an interview that the mapping features will launch before expenditures are in to let people adjust to the new technology. After the Oct. 11 deadline for submissions from recipients, the maps will detail where projects, such as bridge repairs, are taking place so citizens can see whether money is being spent appropriately.
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