Should we write to them gently pointing out that this isn't really "open data" and asking them to remove the NC restriction in favour of e.g. Share-Alike. It seems rather disappointing to have a dataset like this with NC restrictions on it ...
Rufus 2009/4/24 Jonathan Gray <[email protected]>: > Just in case people haven't already seen this... > > (Its a shame data has NC restrictions!) > > J. > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > OpenSecrets.org Goes OpenData > > Award-winning website from the Center for Responsive Politics now > provides 20 years of downloadable money-in-politics data -- for free > > > > MEDIA CONTACT: Massie Ritsch > > Communications Director > > Center for Responsive Politics > > Direct: (202) 354-0111 > > E-mail: [email protected] > > WASHINGTON (April 13, 2009) -- Politicians, prepare yourselves. > Lobbyists, look out. Today the nonpartisan Center for Responsive > Politics is putting 200 million data records from the watchdog group's > archive directly into the hands of citizens, activists, journalists > and anyone else interested in following the money in U.S. politics. > > For the first time in CRP's 26-year history, the nonprofit research > group's most popular data archives are fully and freely downloadable > for non-commercial purposes from the Center's website, OpenSecrets.org > -- a four-time Webby winner for best politics site online. > OpenSecrets.org will remain the go-to independent source for most > users interested in tracking money's political influence and, in fact, > the site has some new general-interest features as of today. (More on > those below.) > > With today's announcement, skilled data-divers can explore the > information that's already aggregated on OpenSecrets.org to its full > depth. Web developers and database experts can grab federal > money-in-politics data that CRP's researchers have standardized and > coded, and mash it up with other data sets. Timelines, charts, maps, > other graphics and mobile applications are just some of the projects > that could result -- all powered by CRP's unparalleled data. > > "Putting our data into more hands will put more eyes on Washington > and, we hope, engage more Americans in their government," CRP > Executive Director Sheila Krumholz said. "We hope that more people > counting cash will lead to more people making change." > > The OpenSecrets OpenData initiative is being generously underwritten > by a three-year $1.2 million grant from Sunlight Foundation, which > supports uses of the Internet to promote greater transparency of > government and the interplay in Washington between money and public > policy. > > "Building on its outstanding and long-earned reputation for accuracy > and integrity, CRP is giving the public the keys to take government > transparency to the next level," said Ellen Miller, Sunlight > Foundation's executive director and co-founder. "This will have a > long-term impact, undoubtedly inspiring many effective and creative > uses of the data by civic hackers, journalists and bloggers." > > Center's Researchers Clean Up, Categorize Government Data > > The following data sets, along with a user guide, resource tables and > other documentation, are now available in CSV format (comma-separated > values, for easy importing) through OpenSecrets.org's Action Center at > http://www.opensecrets.org/action/data.php: > > CAMPAIGN FINANCE: 195 million records dating to the 1989-1990 election > cycle, tracking campaign fundraising and spending by candidates for > federal office, as well as political parties and political action > committees. CRP's researchers add value to Federal Election Commission > data by cleaning up and categorizing contribution records. This allows > for easier totaling by industry and company or organization, to > measure special-interest influence. > LOBBYING: 3.5 million records on federal lobbyists, their clients, > their fees and the issues they reported working on, dating to 1998. > Industry codes have been applied to this data, as well. > PERSONAL FINANCES: Reports from members of Congress and the executive > branch that detail their personal assets, liabilities and transactions > in 2004 through 2007. The reports covering 2008 will become available > to the public in June, and the data will be available for download > once CRP has keyed those reports. > 527 ORGANIZATIONS: Electronically filed financial records beginning in > the 2004 election cycle for the shadowy issue-advocacy groups known as > 527s, which can raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, labor > unions and individuals. > > To download bulk data from OpenSecrets.org, users must register on the > site and agree to prominently credit the Center for Responsive > Politics, along with other terms of service. CRP is making its data > available through a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share > Alike license, which allows users to remix, tweak, build upon and > share the Center's work non-commercially. CRP will continue to offer > its data to commercial users for a negotiable fee. > > OpenSecrets.org also offers a number of APIs (Application Programming > Interfaces) to give users direct access via web programming to data > displayed on OpenSecrets.org. Web developers are already using these > APIs to display OpenSecrets data on their web pages and create mashups > using live, up-to-date data. > > Users can also share CRP data using OpenSecrets.org's widgets, which > can be placed easily on any website or blog. New widgets for the 2010 > election cycle are in development. > > Another New Feature: Enhanced Politician Profiles > > In addition to making its data archives available, today the Center > has enhanced its online campaign finance profiles for members of > Congress. Visitors to OpenSecrets.org now have three options for > viewing the top industries and contributors supporting a particular > lawmaker: 1) money raised by the politician's campaign committee, 2) > money raised by the politician's leadership PAC or 3) money raised by > the campaign and PAC combined. More than 300 members of Congress are > also linked to a political action committee, ostensibly to raise money > to support other members of their party. > > "Campaign committees and leadership PACs are two of the deepest > pockets in a politician's coat," Krumholz said, "so it's important to > watch them together to see who's potentially building the most > influence with a lawmaker." > > OpenSecrets.org's enhanced profiles for members of Congress also now > allow users to download deeper tables of data-aggregated data and > "top" rankings, but not individual records, in a variety of formats > with one easy click. This feature will be integrated into other > sections of OpenSecrets.org in the future. > > Krumholz said, "All these enhancements to OpenSecrets.org are about > one thing: showing more people how money's influence on politics > affects their lives--and empowering them to do something about it." > > # # # > > > > OpenSecrets.org's bulk data is now available for download through the > site's Action Center at > http://www.opensecrets.org/action/data.php. > > ABOUT THE CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS > The Center for Responsive Politics is the nation's premier research > group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and > public policy. For more than 25 years the nonpartisan, nonprofit > Center has aimed to create a more educated voter, an involved > citizenry and a more responsive government. CRP's award-winning > website, OpenSecrets.org, is the most comprehensive resource for > campaign contributions, lobbying data and analysis available anywhere. > For other organizations and news media, CRP's exclusive data powers > their online features tracking money in politics. CRP relies on > support from a combination of foundation grants and individual > contributions. The Center accepts no contributions from businesses, > labor unions or trade associations. > > > > > -- > Jonathan Gray > > Community Coordinator > The Open Knowledge Foundation > http://www.okfn.org > > _______________________________________________ > okfn-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.okfn.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss > _______________________________________________ okfn-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.okfn.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
