Government releases reams of free data

news.yahoo.com...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US government released reams of free data on subjects as varied as child car seats and burro populations in an effort to make the workings of government more transparent.
As part of President Barack Obama's "Open Government Directive," the 24 major departments and agencies that make up the federal government had until Friday to release at least three "high-value" data sets.
The raw data released by the various departments and agencies is online and viewable at Data.gov.

many people in our nation, and even across the globe have criticized governments for not being open about the goings on in government office


is this gesture that obama is making his way of trying to make good on his promise, or just quiet down those who criticize him on his so far failed promises during a time when his political party is reeling from a devastating defeat at the polls?

www.data.gov...


the above is the link to the website as i screwed up the link in the 1st post


i have yet to review the information available there, but i find the timing interesting, is this just a way of making it look like hes finally doing something to make good on his promises, or is there actually valuable information throughout this website?

it seems this site may be extremely new and not up and running at "full power" yet i searched a few popular keywords like 9/11, mk ultra, etc and no search results were yeilded


one interesting thing about it is, when searching most things, it just says no results

"No matching records found. Please try your search again or suggest a dataset."



however when searching 9/11 it directs you to this page


www.data.gov...


probably nothing of significance, just interesting that the topic 9/11 seems to be bringing up a different result then the rest of the searches i make


probably just a glitch

About the 9/11 results..

The / screws up the url. Blame bad webmasters

I/like/pizza
www.data.gov...

nophun/rocks
www.data.gov...

reply to post by nophun


lol thats what i figured thanks for the insight

Tried lots of stuff - seatbelts, nuffin,
suicides, nuffin

cattle - well, got a hit, clicked the link:-

Data.gov is temporarily unavailable. We apologize for this inconvenience and assure you that work is underway to correct this problem.

Please check back in 15 minutes and thank you for using Data.gov.

Smoke and mirrors, never going to find anything interesting just a 'lets pretend operation
to prove they are being 'open'

Yeah,
The strangest thing happened when I clicked an internal link inside the link called "nophun rocks." I was looking to learn "dictionary/terminology" being used on website. I clicked the link and without notice of any apps being loaded, I was asked if I wanted to run the application for "dictionary." I'm no super computer guru, but usually don't you have to request a download-prior to running one???
So, without further ado, I believe my computer has been compromised just going to this site, be weary of it, use caution. Or, just plain avoid it...
Did I mention that I'm not so well versed in internet? Any input from someone smarter is appreciated, thanks.

reply to post by loveguy


The "nophun/rocks" page is just loading the results of the keywords nophun/rocks. I just used it as a example because I am a little egotistical.

I can't recreate what you are saying.

What web browser are you using ?
Where did you see "dictionary/terminology"?

I would not worry too much, as Dramey pointed out the site seems to be a work in progress. You likely ran into a glitch of sorts.

SO this is where they put a whole bunch of medial information together, post it on the internet and call it gubment transparency I'd rather watch PSA's on safe sex then to call this usefull information. But the masses will praise their messiah for another "job well done" and more useless knowledge will be called govenment cooperation while they continue to hide all of the real information

Originally posted by nophun
reply to post by loveguy

 

I can't recreate what you are saying.

What web browser are you using ?
Where did you see "dictionary/terminology"?

I would not worry too much, as Dramey pointed out the site seems to be a work in progress. You likely ran into a glitch of sorts.

Hello, I'm using AOL's web browser. On the right-hand side, about midway down. Maybe it is just a glitch, however, I'm too spooked to go back there; without switching to normal internet explorer. Once I do, I'll post the link, thanks for your help.

Originally posted by nophun
About the 9/11 results..

The / screws up the url. Blame bad webmasters

I/like/pizza
www.data.gov...

nophun/rocks
www.data.gov...

I hope this is the one;www.dod.mil...

Your good to go
Sounds like your web browser just did not know how to handle the .doc file.


www.fileinfo.com...

Word processing document created by Microsoft Word, the most popular word processor, which included with all versions of Microsoft Office; may contain formatted text, images, tables, graphs, charts, page formatting, and print settings.

If it ever works as it should, all the "Transparency" that we'll get are the ones that aren't ATS material so to speak. The government wouldn't kick themselves in the nuts now would they.

Originally posted by nophun
Your good to go

Sounds like your web browser just did not know how to handle the .doc file.


www.fileinfo.com...

Word processing document created by Microsoft Word, the most popular word processor, which included with all versions of Microsoft Office; may contain formatted text, images, tables, graphs, charts, page formatting, and print settings.

Thanks!
So what I'm getting from this is that it is asking me if I want to open-up my "word program?" This is my Wifey's computer and if I do something to harm it, she won't cook me dinner; ever again!

reply to post by loveguy


When you hit yes (depending on your operating system) it should open open up with Microsoft Word with no issues.

It may ask you what program you want to open it with (and have a list of programs) just select Microsoft Word or whatever word processor you have.

98% of the time it will be Microsoft Word.
Another one is Open Office.

Anyways I don't think your main source of food is endangered by opening it


If you still worry I can Copy and paste it to Google Docs for you, so you can view it right in your web browser no problem.


[edit on 26-1-2010 by nophun]