Website Seeks To Make Government Data Easier to Sift Through

            This New York Times article discusses a new project called Data USA that focuses on the visualization of government data. In the past, federal governments have digitized and posted their records on the Internet. However, these records can be difficult to access or comprehend for someone who does not specialize in information technology. Data USA was created to remedy this issue and make government information more readily available to the general public.

            The developers of Data USA created it as a website that presents data as graphs, charts and written summaries. Users can enter criteria into a search field that will then display the requested statistics. On the homepage it also features a changing selection of data results to give users an idea of its capabilities. Its software code is also open source, which means that it is possible for developers to build off of it with additional data.  

            One of the most important points that the article emphasizes is how accessible and convenient Data USA is. Mainly, it is something that is free and can be accessed by anyone from any computer. It is one of the first websites designed to make such a large quantity of government data available. The developers of this project definitely succeeded in their goal of making government data available to a wider audience. Another important point is the importance of the data visualization to this project. Previously, government records were available but difficult to understand because of their format. The visualizations of Data USA are what make it so successful and easy for individuals to obtain relevant information from. Lastly, the article emphasizes that this new approach to data analysis will most likely become increasingly common. Computer science professionals and other officials have described Data USA as “very informative and aesthetically pleasing.” Its creative approach is unique and appealing to the public.

            Something that the article could have gone more into depth about is how businesses or individuals will actually put this data to use. Additionally, it did not discuss the upkeep of Data USA. Deloitte funded the development of the project, but will they continue funding as the website is launched? Seeing as the website is free it will have to generate revenue from somewhere in order to continue to thrive. The article also does not touch on privacy issues. It explained that the site is programmed to make assumptions about the user and program them into its software but did not explain about how this could be seen as a possible threat to privacy.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/05/technology/datausa-government-data.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FDeloitte-Touche-Tohmatsu-Ltd&action=click&contentCollection=business&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection