Government as a Platform: Letting Others Bridge the GaaP #GOV20

Our government has a tremendous amount of data to manage.  Government agencies also spend a lot of money and time sharing information with the public.  This effort has moved to the internet over the past few years with the creation of web sites, that usually require great effort to update.  A huge amount of money and time can be saved by the government simply sharing data.  We see the improvement in the movement toward Government 2.0 with the creation of web resource http://data.gov

Gov 2.0, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, iPhone Apps, & Mashups

Government 2.0 supporters can plainly see examples from internet giants like Twitter, Google, Yahoo, and Apple.  Twitter has an easy to understand  Application Programing Interface (API), that is well documented and easy to use http://apiwiki.twitter.com/. Others have used “Twitter Data” to create some very amazing things that people use every day.  A ton of people have contributed to Google in many ways, I really like Google Gadgets.  How about “Gov Gadgets“?  Yahoo, the God Father of Social Media has taken advantage of “user generated content” for years.  They have also surfaced interesting “collective intelligence” from everyone’s efforts.  I really like Yahoo Pipes http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/, a simple user interface for creating data mashups.  How about “Gov Pipes“?  How much money and time would Apple need to invest, if they had to create every app in the iPhone App store?  A simple API and delivery method has added unmeasurable value to the Apple iPhone.  How about “Gov Apps“? The internet is packed with successful stories and examples of how users add value.  This holds true for blogging tools too, like WordPress. WordPress Widgets is a simple method of users adding information and value to their blogs.  What about “Gov Widgets“?  A library of “Gov Widgets” would allow people to share important government information with their targeted audience.  When it comes right down to the core needs, it is about the data.  Most users will need a simple API to use the data.  It’s hard to imagine that new government sites will not be created in the future.  I hope future developers will design with SOA in mind.

Government Data and the Invisible Hand

By David Robinson, Harlan Yu, William Zeller, and Edward W. Felten
11 Yale J.L. & Tech. 160

This paper proposes an approach to online government data that leverages both the American tradition of entrepreneurial self-reliance and the remarkable low-cost flexibility of contemporary digital technology. The idea, though it can be implemented in a comfortably incremental fashion, is ultimately transformative. It leads toward an ecosystem of grassroots, unplanned solutions to online civic needs.

Government Data and the Invisible Hand