Posted November 12th, 2010 by Greg Elin - Chief Data Officer
FCC Open Developer Day attracted about 100 web developers and other technology professionals to our headquarters building in Washington. We spent a day learning about open data sets and APIs, brainstorming together about how they could be combined to benefit citizens with new apps, and starting coding projects toward those goals.
One focus of FCC Open Developer Day was accessible technology. By facilitating the use of fully-accessible technologies - in line with the FCC’s support for our Accessibility and Innovation Initiative - the FCC is promoting innovation and collaborative problem-solving in the field. One exciting fact: FCC Open Developer Day marked the first time many developers in attendance sat and chatted as a group with others using assistive technologies.
The most valuable take-away from this first foray was the opportunity to build the FCC developer community. The momentum from this event will hopefully help bring the popular activity of Developer Day and "hack-a-thons" to the a federal agency. We were grateful, and a bit surprised, at the number of people who came in from out of town to this event. It was incredibly exciting to the see the Commission Meeting Room, usually set up for formal hearings and presentations, organized in tables for eight people and laptops plugged into power strips.
Here are some cool things we got from having the event:
One day is too short to get much hacking done, so we are planning to do more developer days to make them a regular activity at the FCC.
P.S. Eager to participate in a gov-related developer day? December 4 is International Open Data Hackathon. FCC will be there. Will you?
(This is cross-posted on Blogband. Please leave your comments there.)
Posted in Reform - Redesign , Events , Open Government , Data , Developer , Api , AccessibilityPosted November 4th, 2010 by Greg Elin - Chief Data Officer
Ed. Note: Visit the Open Developer Day wiki for more info.
This coming Monday the commission will play host to a one-of-a-kind event in federal government. We’re calling on coders, programmers and developers of all stripes to join us at FCC headquarters for our first ever Open Developer Day. This will be a rare opportunity for developers in the public and private sectors to join forces. Out of this gathering will come innovations, collaborations, and continued open government partnership.
Central to Monday’s event will be three tracks weaving their way through the day. Equipped with our laptops and the fellowship of sharp friends we’ll be working through accessibility solutions and open APIs; and we’ll host a Free Develop, an open-ended developer free-for-all. FCC tech minds and leadership will open the event, situating our Developer Day within the larger open government movement.
Programmers from the Yahoo! Developer Network will be on hand to demo their tools and provide guidance. They will give an overview of YQL, their query language which allows developers to “access and shape data across the Internet through one simple language, eliminating the need to learn how to call different APIs.” We will also see a demonstration of their YUI Library, a set of “utilities and controls … for building richly interactive web applications.”
An undertone, pervading a significant strand of the discussion, will be the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. In signing the act last month, President Obama said the act “will make it easier for people who are deaf, blind or live with a visual impairment to do what many of us take for granted… It sets new standards so that Americans with disabilities can take advantage of the technology our economy depends on.”
The full day event will start at 9:00am and take place in Washington, DC at FCC headquarters. All developers are welcome free of charge. Bring a laptop and RSVP soon. If you’re not in the DC area and are unable to make it down here, we will be live streaming portions of the day. You can also join the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #fccdevday. To email questions write to livequestions [at] fcc [dot] gov. You can participate by visiting Accessible Event, and entering the event code 005202376. For any TTY issues please contact Pam Gregory (pam.gregory [at] fcc [dot] gov).
Start getting excited for Monday. We’ll see you there.
Posted in Open Government , Office Of Managing Director , Developer , Accessibility
Posted October 28th, 2010 by Greg Elin - Chief Data Officer
The goal of Open Developer Day is to further innovation in accessible technologies and foster citizen participation in open government.
Open Developer Day will be a public, single-day event that prioritizes accessibility goals, though other web solutions are also of interest. The event will feature guest engineers from the Yahoo! Developer Network and Yahoo!’s Accessibility teamLab and will have a component addressing the requirements and opportunities in the new "Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act."
Think of Open Developer Day as a digital barn raising where software developers learn new tools and volunteer their skills to prototype and build new web applications together.
Engineers from the Yahoo! Accessibility team Lab and Yahoo! Developer Network will be providing technical instruction for some of their technologies that support working with web-based information and their ongoing work in accessibility.
A priority area is the development of a web application that will serve as a clearing-house of information on accessible information and communication technologies (ICT). The FCC is mandated to create this clearinghouse by a new law called the "Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act," which President Obama signed on October 8, 2010. The clearinghouse is intended to make it as easy as possible for people with disabilities, families, and support professionals to find information about accessible technologies.
The FCC will also be interested in other innovative ways that public APIs may be used to add value to the fcc.gov and broadband.gov web sites. The choice of intellectual property licensing is being left to each developer for code contributions made.
Any developer may participate, without charge. Each participant is expected to bring his or her own laptop computer, and to comply with security guidelines.
To RSVP for Open Developer Day, click here.
We hope to see you soon!
Posted in Developer , AccessibilityPosted August 9th, 2010 by Greg Elin - Chief Data Officer
Resources: reboot.fcc.gov/data/review
If you've given any thought about data at the FCC and filing comments on the opening round of the FCC's Data Innovation Initiative – the Public Notices of Data Reviews released by the Media, Wireline Competition and Wireless Telecommunications Bureaus - this blog post is for you. Initial comments are due this Friday, August 13.
Though the scope of the Public Notices is significant and welcomes comments on any or all of 340 data sets across three bureaus, filing comments does not have to be a major project. You can make a difference with as little as 15 minutes of effort. The following Top Ten Things You Should Know explains why.
1. You don't have to make your filing a multi-day effort. The conversation is just starting. If you only have 15 minutes, use that time to layout the big concerns. This stage doesn't have to be a research project. Simply share with us what you already know needs attention and rethinking. Think of your comments as writing a quick email to a colleague about your long standing concerns about FCC data. And if you are working on more substantive analysis and comments of how to improve FCC data, please keep at it. This filing is perfect timing.
2. Don't feel you need to comment on every data collection. Comment on the ones you know and are important to you. Treat the data collection list as a helpful guide and don't think you need to comment on all collections. Ignore the list if you want. (Identifying data sets by OMB Paperwork Reduction Act approvals is just one lens onto Commission data; use it to the extent it is helpful.) We offer the spreadsheets of the data collections in each Bureau for transparency sake and as a handy reference. We expect people to file comments about the data and data filings with which they are already familiar. But we also want to make it easier for others reading such comments to learn about the data set being discussed and to provide thoughtful replies. The data collection list exists as a guide and reference, not a threshold or checklist for participation.
3. Share high level thoughts on FCC current data and future data practices. The Public Notices are clear that we are seeking comments on all aspects of how we collect, manage, analyze, and share data. High level comments about the forest may be even more important at this stage than specific comments about individual trees. What data collection techniques are standard now that might have been cutting edge even a few years ago? What issues, or solutions, cut across multiple data sets?
4. Repeat yourself. File anew data-related comments you filed before. It's OK, even encouraged, to re-file comments or link to comments on data issues you've previously filed. Why? Because we are doing a "zero-based review" of all agency data, we are putting everything on the table for review, even data sets that have been reviewed recently, as if we were starting from scratch. The Paperwork Reduction Act requires agencies to review and seek re-approval of a data set at least every three years to keep data current to changes in technology and the market. In addition to those periodic reviews, we are trying a larger, agency wide review to pursue macro-level changes across multiple data collections. Another reason to be comfortable re-filing data-related comments are the new resources the FCC has committed to tuning our data for the digital 21st century including Chief Data Officers in the three Bureaus posting the Public Notices, a Chief Data Officer for the agency and our first-ever Geographic Information Officer.
5. File more than one comment. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good (or even the just in case). Start your bullet list of points right now as you are reading this blog post and file some quick comments and make yourself a participant in this conversation. Feel free to file comments today and later this week as you think about them.
6. File comments that help us prioritize. We are reviewing, for purposes of improving, all data collected and used by the Media Bureau, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, and the Wireline Competition Bureau. Particularly useful are comments helping prioritize what data and data practices to revise first.
7. Apart from the underlying data sets, the Public Notices are identical in the three Bureaus. File on the Notice that seems most relevant. Our Electronic Comment Filing System also supports filing one comment across multiple proceedings.
8. Share links to existing articles, papers, blog posts. A good filing would be one that lists existing articles, research papers, and blog posts discussing ways the FCC could collect, use, and disseminate data. Coordinate a list with a few colleagues. Keep the list manageable for us, between 10 and 20 links. You can also attach whole documents with your filing. Provide a paragraph or two of context for the list describing what themes in the linked material are most applicable.
9. We already know where we are, so let's talk about where we need to go and how to get there. Pointing out the obviously wrong is always welcomed. Just please recognize there are real reasons the FCC might not be collecting data that to you seems a no brainer and possible statutory reasons we are collecting data that may no longer seem relevant. Like any organization, at any given moment the FCC is juggling new ideas, legacy systems, and resources. Accept there are real challenges associated with modifying data practices and help us overcome those challenges. Don't simply tell us we are doing X when we should be doing Y. Instead, share with us workable road maps to get from X to Y. We know our forms could be easier; share examples of easier to use forms and screens. We know duplication exists in our data; tell us which duplications are easiest and best to address first. We know we want more transparency in our data; offer recommendations about which data sets are most valuable to publish first what formats and techniques make the data most useful. If we should be using RDF and taxonomies, what three steps do you recommend to get started? Do we do one sector at a time, or focus on just a few attributes across the breadth of FCC data? If we should be collecting data in XML, what standards or other trends should we be aligning with? If we need to share collected data better, who are the experts and what are the techniques that can help us enable data sharing while addressing legitimate privacy and proprietary concerns? If a data collection requires significant effort to gather, what is a better way to gather the information?
10. Finally, tell us what things we doing well with data at the FCC that we can build further upon. More than 40 specific databases searches are available on FCC.gov. We offer dozens of data sets for bulk download. Improvements recently made our Electronic Comment Filing System easier to search and use. We know there’s more work to do. That's why we are doing a zero-based data review. But building upon what we are already doing well speeds change. What existing assets can we extend to provide a strong foundation for further improvements?
There you have it. Ten Things You Should Know that should making filing comments on the Data Review Public Notices by the end of this week a snap. So stop fretting at the seeming enormity of improving data at the FCC or worrying you do not have time to file comments on the Public Notices this week. Detailed recommendations on our data collections, high level points, and even quick listings of things to change are all encouraged. In the time it takes to watch a couple Seinfeld reruns you could help improve data at the FCC.
Never filed before? You can file using the ECFS Standard form. Just enter the appropriate proceeding number (10-103, 10-131, or 10-132) and complete the form. To see already filed comments, follow these links: MB Docket No. 10-103 comments; WC Docket No. 10-132 comments; WT Docket No 10-131 comments.
Posted in Reform - Data , Office Of Managing Director , DataPosted July 16th, 2010 by Greg Elin - Chief Data Officer
For Comment: Media Bureau MB Docket No. 10-103; Wireline Competition WC Docket No. 10-132; Wireless Telecommunication Bureau WT Docket No 10-131.
Resources: reboot.fcc.gov/data/review
Posted June 30th, 2010 by Greg Elin - Chief Data Officer
Along with Public Notices, we are also publicly announcing a cross-agency data team of Chief Data Officers in the bureaus, a Geographic Information Officer, and a Chief Data Officer for the agency to ensure a better connection between data and sound analysis in policy processes.
These actions are part of the FCC’s Data Innovation Initiative publicly launched yesterday. They are the next steps of a journey that began last fall with the Commission’s first-ever, agency-wide inventory identifying hundreds of distinct data sets. The Public Notices initiate an iterative process examining all the FCC’s current and future data requirements, starting with these three Bureaus.
Yesterday’s Public Notices invite you to join us on this journey for the next 45 days as we openly and transparently look closer at, and seek your comments on, nearly 340 data sets managed by the Media, Wireline Competition, and Wireless Telecommunications Bureaus and consider future needs. Each of the three Bureaus has compiled a working inventory of their respective data collections to make it easier for everyone—not just those who file information year in and year out—to provide us with comments and insights on innovating how the agency collects, uses, analyzes, and shares information.
Introducing the FCC’s New Data Team
To help clear away the Agency’s data cruft and keep it cleared away, the Commission has put together a cross-agency data consisting of newly created positions of Chief Data Officers in each Bureau, starting with these three Bureaus. They are: Robert Alderfer, Chief Data Officer, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, who joined the FCC from OMB; Kris Monteith, Deputy Chief and Chief Data Officer, Media Bureau, who brings years of FCC experience to the team; and Steven Rosenberg, Chief Data Officer, Wireline Competition Bureau who was previously part of the National Broadband Plan team. Also part of the data team will be Michael Byrne, Geographic Information Officer, Office of Strategic Planning, joining the FCC from the GIS office for the State of California. Mr. Byrne is the FCC’s first Geographic Information Officer and is responsible for creating a National Broadband Map in partnership with NTIA. Rounding out the team will be Andrew Martin, Chief Information Officer for the FCC, who brings his experience in Auctions and running FCC IT; and finally, me, Greg Elin, Associate Managing Director New Media and Chief Data Officer for the agency. I came to the FCC from United Cerebral Palsy and prior to that at the Sunlight Foundation where I worked on open government data. The FCC has a long tradition working with and disseminating data both in reports and in structured, machine-readable formats, a tradition all of us on the team are looking forward to building upon with your help.
