Signs of Progress on Government 2.0

Tim O’Reilly framed the discussion with a question: “What if government regulation wasn’t all 19th century stacks of paper, but operated with the efficiency of Google search?” The question is at the heart of Government 2.0, the effort to use data and technology to transform government into a platform for innovation.

Fortunately, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra and his deputy, Chris Vein, were on stage with O’Reilly at the Strata Summit held Tuesday in New York, and they came bearing hopeful news.

“I would argue that we’re on the cusp of a data revolution in government,” said Chopra, citing the release unprecedented amount of federal spending data on Data.gov, which now houses 389,919 datasets and 1,073 government apps. The web site (hosted on the Verizon/Terremark cloud computing service) also offers 236 applications developed by citizens...