Park: Agency Data Should Be Released More Quickly, as 'Beta'

Data transparency continues to be a major focus across government, as agencies open data and leverage third-party developers to create applications. But according to panelists speaking at the ACT-IAC Executive Leadership Conference on Oct. 25, collaboration shouldn't just be around the mashups, but around the data set itself.

"One of the principles of open data is that you don't wait forever before you release it. Just like open source is a collaboration to make software better, open data is a collaboration to make data better," said Todd Park, chief technology officer at Health and Human Services Department.

Soon, HHS will make a health-indicators data warehouse public, but because it includes national, state, local and regional health statistics, "it's actually going to release multiple indicators for the same fundamental measurements," said Park. "We're not waiting to reconcile them, we're going to release the data 'cause we actually want to engage people and have a conversation about what's measured and see what's best."