Raw Data and Public Records for All!

President Obama's new chief information officer, Vivek Kundra, wants to make nearly every scrap of government-generated information available to the general public through the Data.gov Web portal. Named less than four months ago as the first-ever CIO appointed by the White House, Kundra wants Data.gov to develop into a clearinghouse for searching through the federal government's more than 24,000 websites.

The 34-year-old CIO, formerly the chief technology officer for the city of Washington, D.C., discussed his ambitious plans in an interview with Wired News. To give an example of how this data can be leveraged, the article explains how an entrepreneur in the capitol city used the newly accessible government data to create an application called Stumble Safely, which helps users determine the safest way to walk home when they're three sheets to the wind.

Who says government data is boring?

First, at the behest of the President, Kundra plans to release data associated with health care, energy and education — the three-legged stool of reform being advanced by the administration. Health care data would come from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and the Census Bureau. This information, he points out in the interview, could be leveraged into applications that track the spread of diseases.

At one point, Wired reporter Nicholas Thompson asks Kundra whether this online access will only benefit the geekiest of our citizens. His reply is decidedly non-committal, but he makes an interesting point about making actual facts available to everyone:

Wired: Do you worry that all this data will come out and benefit only the few elite or tech-savvy groups that know how to use it?

Kundra: Some people would say that historically there has already been asymmetrical access to the government. The key is to have debates and analysis and discussions that are fact-based. And for everyone to have access to that raw data, the raw facts. I would go back to 1776 and the model of the public square. Democratizing data enables comparative analysis of the services the government provides and the investments it makes, leading to a better government.

Regardless of political persuasion, everyone who has nothing to hide should be able back such an endeavor. It will be fascinating to see what happens once the veil is lifted.