“We can turn on the hydrants of
data, and that’s great for developers
and great for a lot of companies, but
for the average person on the street, it
impacts them when they see an appli-
cation that is of utility to them,” says
Shadbolt, who cites the example of a
transit app that tells commuters when
the next bus will arrive. “So I have infor-
mation that has delivered an immedi-
ate decision-making benefit, and that’s
what people understand. It’s data
that’s turned into information that,
in turn, becomes knowledge because
you’re using it to take an action. It’s a
classic computer science view.”
Outreach remains a challenge, how-
ever, and critics often charge that Gov
2.0 empowers the already empowered,
such as the tech-savvy people who do
not need to be convinced that open
data can improve government. Yet
data advocates try to engage under-
served populations.

“There’s sometimes the percep-
tion that if you do a mobile app, you’re
hitting the wealthier members of the
community,” says Code for America’s
Pahlka. “But mobile is an incredibly
important strategy if you’re looking at
low-income communities.”
Pahlka cites a study by New York
City’s Department of Social Services,
which found that more than 80% of
the people who visited its facilities
were regular cellphone users, and that
35% of them owned smartphones.
SMS-based apps are another way to
broaden accessibility and adoption as
are targeted outreach campaigns. “It’s
not about a broad advertising cam-
paign for users that are already in the
know,” says Pahlka. “It’s about part-
nering with cities to reach the people
who need these services. If you’re tar-
geting users of social services, adver-
tise to them in the department during
the transactions.”
In spite of the progress that has
been made, changing government cul-
ture also remains a challenge. Due to
procurement processes and well-estab-
lished power structures, the efficient
release and management of data can
be difficult. “The instinct to protect
data generally comes from a place of
public service,” asserts Pahlka. “What
we try to do is illustrate that things
have changed, and that the benefits
outweigh the risks.”

Data.gov.uk now
offers more than
5,400 datasets,
including detailed
crime statistics,
government
spending data,
and health indicators
like hospital
infection rates.

In Boston, Code for America’s fellows tried in vain to persuade the city to release data collected by public school buses’ GPS devices. When winter hit and multiple snowstorms stranded many school buses, concerned parents overloaded schools with phone calls asking about their children. “And the fellows said, ‘It’s not hard for us to write an app that puts this data on the Web so parents can look it up themselves,’” says Pahlka. “Sometimes it’s not enough to explain why you want the data. You have to make it work for the people in the system.”

 

Further Reading Howard, A. Gov 2.0 goes local, O’Reilly Radar, Oct. 15, 2010. Lohr, S. The age of big data, The New York Times, Feb. 11, 2012.

Say, M. Government plans open data push, The Guardian, nov. 28, 2011. Sterne, R. Data-driven innovation: how open government is transforming new York City, O’Reilly Strata Conference, new York, n Y, Sept. 22–3, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=nGyCLMwIld0.

Van Buskirk, E.
Sneak peek: Obama administration’s
redesigned Data.gov, Wired Epicenter, May
19, 2010.

Leah hoffmann is a technology writer based in brooklyn, ny.

© 2012 aCM 0001-0782/12/06 $10.00

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ACM heLPs LAunCh TuRinG AWARD LAuReATes foRuM

aCM is entering into an agreement with the Klaus tschira foundation and the heidelberg Institute for theoretical studies to join and support a new event focused on winners of the abel prize, the fields Medal, and the aCM turing award. the event is being modeled after the annual meeting of nobel laureates in lindau, Germany. for more than 60 years, the lindau meeting has brought nobel laureates into close contact with young researchers from all over the world.

The ACM-supported
meeting will adopt the
Lindau format, but will focus
on the highest scientific
awards in mathematics and
computer science. The event
will be called the Heidelberg
Laureates Forum: Abel-,
Fields- and Turing Laureates
Meet the Next Generation. “In
addition to the opportunity
for interaction between young
researchers in computer
science and distinguished
Abel, Fields, and Turing
laureates, such an annual
event will also help raise
public awareness of the ACM
Turing Award—particularly
in Europe,” says ACM CEO
John White. “We are quite
excited about this new event,
particularly the dimension that
aims to support the careers of
young researchers in computer
science by bringing them in
direct contact with winners of
the ACM Turing Award.”
The thematic focus of the
Heidelberg Laureates Forum
will alternate each year between
mathematics and computer
science, but all recipients
of the Abel Prize, Fields Medal,
and Turing Award will be
invited to attend. The first
meeting will take place in
September 2013, and the second
is planned for September 2014.

the meeting will be supported by a newly established foundation, the abel-fields-turing foundation. aCM will serve on the Board of this new foundation and help shape the program each year.

—Jack Rosenberger