A very good case for open data is made by David Eaves on his personal website. David recounts a story where a consultant who was hired to analyze charitable giving in Toronto stumbled upon something he didn’t expect; donations to illegal charities were rampant in the Toronto area and had gone un-noticed by the Canada [...]

Today the World Bank opened up its large repository of international data for everyone. According to the World Bank, they have opened up more than 2,000 indicators to be downloaded in various formats including Excel, CSV, XML, and SDMX. Among the databases currently available are: World Development Indicators African Development Indicators Education Statistics Additionally, the [...]

Maya Sen from the Social Science Statistics blog points out that some municipal governments in the USA are increasing transparency by releasing municipal data on topics such as crime, restaurant inspections, among others. Obviously, the movement of data out from behind the walls of our elected officials is something that I see to be very [...]