Michaela Hackner and Sandy Smith, Forum One Communications

For four weeks this summer, we got a crash course in data transparency. Along with 3 colleagues, we volunteered to develop an entry for the Apps for America 2 contest, sponsored by the Sunlight Foundation. Entrants built useful applications incorporating at least one data feed from Data.gov, in an effort to make government data accessible and usable.

Leveraging entrepreneurship and the expertise of geeks, Sunlight hoped this contest would result in useful applications that made sense of government data sets, while simultaneously reinforcing the importance of transparency.

The team conceived "DataMasher" -- a web app that allows users to "mash up" two sets of state data. The result displays in table format as well as visualized on an interactive shaded map of the US. Our entry was not only fun, but useful -- a bonus!

We had visitors from Drupal geeks to James Fallows at the Atlantic stop by DataMasher.org to create a custom data mash-up. Over 1,500 mashups later, and a first prize win in the contest, DataMasher is proving to be a great experiment in data transparency.

Everyone on the team -- and at Forum One -- is committed to data transparency. Why? Because data is powerful! Making your data public and accessible has numerous benefits for the organization, but data transparency itself matters because it:

• facilitates accountability,
• helps people make decisions,
• encourages innovation,
• and keeps systems everywhere running smoothly (from markets to medicines).

With all the great tools available, all of us can be experts!

Why make your data portable?

During this process, we not only learned a thing or two about data, we also deeply internalized the importance of data portability for organizations. You may be reading this article right now thinking, “Yeah, I get it. Data is the next buzz-word after Web 2.0. I’ll pay attention as soon as I get my Facebook and Twitter strategy off the ground.” Right? Wrong. Not only will making your data accessible to others increase your opportunities for funding, it will also further your mission, grow the number of people invested in your work, and make your work and research credible to your existing and future audience base.

Here are the top 5 reasons you should care about data portability:

1. Enhances your mission. Sharing your data with others leverages experts inside and outside the organization to further your work.

2. Builds trust in your field. By making your data available to others, you present your organization as a thought leader and a trusted provider of information and services.

3. Makes your organization more valuable. The community around your issue will learn to count on your research and information. Sharing and encouraging the use of your data reinforces that you're innovation-worthy partner.

4. Ensures the survivability of your work. Your organization might not always be around, but hopefully your work will be. Making your data portable gives your data "life"beyond the funding of your project.

5. Fosters innovation. When others can access and use your data, there is endless potential for innovation - both in your issue area and where your issue meets other issues, and technologically. e.g. DataMasher.

Now that you understand why your organization should make its data portable, let's dig in and see how it's done.

How can I make my data portable?

"Making your data portable" can sound like a big task, but it can be simpler and easier than you think. As with anything, there are a range of options, from the Hyundai up to the Lexus of data:

1. Hyundai: Your old friend Excel is where a lot of data often live. Fortunately, simply choosing Save As... and selecting "Comma Separated Values (CSV)" gives you a file you can put on a web server for other people use.

2. Honda: Online tools like DabbleDB or Google Spreadsheets also allow sharing data and even building simple charts or applications with them. These tools are easy to learn, and you can even create your own visualizations.

3. Lexus: Creating an API (Application Programming Interface). An API is basically a contract between computers. APIs allow programmers to create applications that use your data and ensure they get the freshest copy every time. This elevates you from just somebody with data to a service on which the rest of the community depends.

How can I make my data useful?

When we were building DataMasher, we found lots of data sets that were a straight dump from some ancient statistics program that would have required months of study to use. While that ensures the data can be replicated and builds confidence in the provider, it doesn't help the data get used elsewhere. So what can you do?

• Ensure you have good documentation. There's nothing like putting your data in context and explaining what each row and column mean.
• Use standards where possible. Instead of using that home-built coding system for locations, try using an existing naming convention. Use an international standard for time. If there are standard formats, try to adapt to those.
• Get help designing an API. Just like asking leading questions in a survey can get you useless results, releasing a bad API or an API you can't ever update can lock your data away like the crazy uncle in a Gothic novel. Search for how to design an API or ensure your contractor is thinking about this.

Free your data, and your mind will follow.

Once your data is in the wild, all kinds of things can be done. Visualizations like NationMaster are the first step: a powerful graphic is worth more than a thousand words. You can create mashups like Carma.org by combining data sets or services. This lets people discover new relationships and have a sense of investment in the data as they explore it. You can also put your legacy in the cloud: others can archive your work once your project is over if it's valuable to them, sparing you an ongoing cost. Finally, you can create a warehouse. There's no reason for Data.gov to be alone. Lots of organizations could provide central repositories for data on an issue, which can spur research and action by creative people all over the world.

What's Next?

APIs and visualizations are the future of data on the web. So what can this mean for nonprofits?

• There will be more data available and it will be easier to use for your own work.
• Sustainability will include data. Ensuring data remains available after a project is over should become part of sustainability.
• Making data useful will be an expected part of your work. Because these tools are so engaging, any well-designed project with data should plan for making data useful and creating great tools for empowering others as a part of its strategy.

Finally, a cultural shift is underway. Previously, information was power for those who had it over those who didn't. Now information will be power for those who provide it to those who need it, and the really powerful will make information available to everybody. By taking some of these steps, you can become the power brokers of the future.