As is obvious to most on HN, requiring an API (as opposed to a CSV file release schedule, etc.) is fairly meaningless, and most definitely not a presidential-caliber dictate. Some agencies' data might be far better suited to publication in a CSV and posted on a web page, for example.
If a president could have a meaningful impact on this sort of thing, it would be in setting a high bar for the quality of information released by agencies. Any sort of requirement of this kind is completely absent from the announcement.
So rather than being about transparency as it's being touted, the announcement is a celebration of high tech obfuscation. Soon the same sort of insulting, opaque, useless information spouted by officials in press conferences will be available via HTTP. This is at best a neutral day for democracy.
Seems like the executive mandate is an "80% now" solution instead of waiting for perfection. At least they're thinking about the dissemination of information.
Seems like, if the President were interested in "now", they would have been working on this for going on 3.5 years, and would be actually publishing some APIs.
I'm going to my apartment now. 3.5 years ago I would not have been going there. Now and 3.5 years ago are not the same thing. He's interested in doing things now, and since neither he nor I can turn back the clock, that's as good as either of us can do.
Just like he's just getting around to planning his re-election campaign "now".
If the President of the United States wants to be impressive -- and I don't know that APIs are where one would start -- he can do better than make announcements.
FYI data.gov launched in May 2009 after being announced by Obama's CIO in March 2009. This isn't a new effort, it's the continuation of ongoing efforts.
Technically, having a bunch of HTTP resources that return data of type text/csv in response to GET requests is a perfectly valid API. It's also easy to build: just put those CSV files in a directory and have Apache serve it up.
How useful this is depends on how clear the data is, how well they document things, how sane their document formats are -- in other words, it depends on things that are much harder to mandate than just "have an API". I'll predict in advance that most of the APIs here will be pretty half-assed.
Technically having a bunch of HTTP resources that return data of type text/html in response to GET requests is a perfectly valid API. Indeed, it's one your web browser uses all the time. There are also plenty of products that let you set up such a system quickly.....
So I guess I agree with you but would even take it further.
Of course, if that API is Stuxnet or Flame-based....
I disagree. Certainly some agencies may have data that ought to be examined holistically via CSV (at least for researchers?), but having data available via API is better than the status quo.
While this might not set a "high bar for the quality of information," the President's effort shows a level of commitment to both technological streamlining of government agencies and to transparency and is, at the very least, a step in the right direction.
I'm not disagreeing with your point, but I wonder if you actually read the memo from the CIO, or are just speaking ex cathedra about the requirements being given?
>As is obvious to most on HN, requiring an API (as opposed to a CSV file release schedule, etc.) is fairly meaningless, and most definitely not a presidential-caliber dictate. Some agencies' data might be far better suited to publication in a CSV and posted on a web page, for example.
And for those cases, the agency can still justify why the CSV is better. There are always ways to get around the rules, see Section 508 rules for handicapped users.
>If a president could have a meaningful impact on this sort of thing, it would be in setting a high bar for the quality of information released by agencies. Any sort of requirement of this kind is completely absent from the announcement.
This is a step in the right direction, once the data is more accessible, the "users" (developers) can request for better data. The /DigitalStrategy page requirement is really good in my opinion and will make things simpler instead of the mishmash of sites buried in menus and behind authentication walls.
>So rather than being about transparency as it's being touted, the announcement is a celebration of high tech obfuscation. Soon the same sort of insulting, opaque, useless information spouted by officials in press conferences will be available via HTTP. This is at best a neutral day for democracy.
Whoever said this was about transparency in government? It's not about transparency per se.This is more about making information easier to access and find. In many cases agencies already have APIs, Webservices, data dumps, but they're really buried. How is making them more visible neutral?
If a president could have a meaningful impact on this sort of thing, it would be in setting a high bar for the quality of information released by agencies. Any sort of requirement of this kind is completely absent from the announcement.
So rather than being about transparency as it's being touted, the announcement is a celebration of high tech obfuscation. Soon the same sort of insulting, opaque, useless information spouted by officials in press conferences will be available via HTTP. This is at best a neutral day for democracy.