Recovery.gov has gone live
recovery.gov
recovery.gov
Q: Is the spending data on recovery.gov available in a format (like XML) that developers can use to create mashups and gadgets?
A: Not at this time. But, as new systems are developed to capture the allocations and expenditures under the Act, we plan to make that data available in exportable form.
Open, competitive government is probably a good thing; the fact that different parts of the government are competing to see who can be more open is even better.
"So far the GOP API is useless, most of the methods do not work and the ones that do are still having issues.
I've spoken to the gop.gov team about this and they informed me they were forced to launch before these features were ready.
Most of the data they offer though seems like it'll be member/bill data that is already widely available"
SEC. 1201. TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS. (b) (1) (A)
Each such agency shall notify the public of funds obligated to particular infrastructure investments by posting the notification on the website Recovery.gov.
[Continues from there... details at SEC. 1226. RECOVERY.GOV.]
This site improves accessibility but not transparency. All congressional bills are already readily available... but it's limited to watchdogs and those few that are motivated enough to find and read them.
^ http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/RecoveryBill01-15-09.pdf
EDIT: Formatting.
The words "accountability" and "transparency" (from Recovery.org) do seem to be used much more frequently by the Obama Administration than its predecessor. This makes me think that the wiki just might work.
I don't know how much work needs to be done on a wiki before blowing the kazoos and writing the press releases. What might be the best way to go about building the site? Starting with abbreviations seems like a good idea, as it seems both techies and government people love the acronyms.
Any and all thoughts / ideas / opinions are welcome.
Also, if Obama were really interested in transparency, he would direct the Treasury and Federal Reserve to comply with the FOIA requests made by the media regarding the TARP and the liquidity injections.
Another fun fact, obscured by the headlines, is that "tax relief" includes wealth transfers from taxpayers to non-taxpayers (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/refundablecredit.asp).
* http://www.recovery.gov/modules/pathauto/pathauto.js * http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/impact
(Though Drupal is fully capable of having pretty URLs that would have made that less visible.)
Also, this website could keep a handful of people employed! Yay!
Have you read much about this bill?
The GPO, however, only prints the full code once every six (six!) years. They've got a room full of people reading and double-checking that they're writing exactly what's in the bills. Very archaic. Someone should apply a modern versioning system so the code is in black and the effects of bills are in red (and blue and green, like alexa or Google Trends does graphs, but with text), so the public can see not just the bill, but what the changes look like in real time. It's shouldn't be hard at all.
I'll bet someone could do this with GitHub by this weekend and have a site up by the end of the month.
In a nutshell, Fourth Branch will act exactly as that: The fourth branch of government. The emphasis on publicizing legislation and providing government transparency has lead us to develop this. Unlike anything to date, we are going to utilize proven social networking practices and focus it on legislation and issues that require public input.
We are looking for any and all comments, criticism and feedback to help us develop quickly. Thanks!
Read, instead of infer.
* Tax Relief - includes $15 B for Infrastructure and Science, $61 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $25 B for Education and Training and $22 B for Energy, so total funds are $126 B for Infrastructure and Science, $142 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $78 B for Education and Training, and $65 B for Energy.
So the largest bubble, tax relief, actually includes the other bubbles? Wouldn't the normal expectation that if there is one large bubble marked tax relief that it actually represent tax relief and not science spending? Or is that just an almost transparent attempt to pander to people who want tax cuts? Help me understand this!
Exposing data like thins allows the citizenry to be data driven instead of anecdotal and emotional. I think that's the important break from past governmental practices.
besides, what is the punishment model of our democracy? voting the other party in? yeah, that works.
I vote for a return of the public gallows.
I think once the hard evidence is in we'll see less and less of the party support mechanisms because the corruption can be so easily proven that congress critters will scatter once a little light is shown on their dirty deeds. Then new (possibly younger) data-driven representation will take their place. In my rough back-of-no-envelope estimation, this will take at least a generation.
this could very well be true. I will be watching developments in this area.
http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/frequently-asked-question...
For instance, what if Bernie Madoff is secretly plotting to use a frozen donkey wheel to make us travel through time?
Yeah. That's what I thought.
This information should available on ALL bills at least a week before the bill is voted on by congress. I for one am appalled at how this thing was driven through.
Mix in an API and they'll be rocking.
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