[@OKFNau] BudgetAus data finally put to use!

Sun Jan 26 00:18:51 UTC 2014

Thanks Silvana, 
I missed this thread on budget data when it was originally posted to data.gov.au https://datagovau.ideascale.com/a/dtd/BudgetAus/19785-26233 but am very happy to see some public support for BudgetAus.
Hopefully the thread can be used to improve understanding between government and people such as myself who use government data (not to mention users).
I've had an offer to help enter budget data on budget night but I still need to know precisely what is going to be published otherwise it makes it very difficult to say anything concrete about what can be accomplished on the night and unfortunately people tend to judge the project by what is available on May 14 despite that to my mind this is a very small aspect of the value of the project.
Budget data is very complex and trying to get it all in and correct on one night when it is broken down to program component level and appropriation type and including all forward funding years, equity injections and other odds and ends is a complex job. 
It has been my observation that a lot of people don't understand the difference between a project like theopenbudget.org and a project like BudgetAus in terms of the scale & complexity of the work and therefore why the needs of my project ought to be given any credibility when certain aspects of the data can be reproduced within a short time-frame by another project. Not that I'm trying to take anything away from The Open Budget team, just correcting any latent perceptions that one project can substitute for the other.
I think this lack of insight has hampered support for what I have done but there are people coming forward now who do appreciate the differences, one of whom I have worked with quite extensively to better understand the complexities of accounting within the budget.
Getting some momentum behind a project like BudgetAus as I now feel is happening is important because without it, the needs and benefits of such a project are very easily ignored and that is a loss to society. 

Rosie Williams BA (Sociology)Founder & Developer InfoAus.net   ABN 90 345 143 783                       Home | Blog  | Twitter | BudgetAus FB | eXpenseAusFB | BudgetAus | eXpenseAus | KnowYourPlace | InfoAus Shop                                          

> From: silfumega at gmail.com
> Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 22:03:04 +1100
> To: okfn-au at lists.okfn.org
> CC: data-driven-journalism at lists.okfn.org
> Subject: Re: [@OKFNau] BudgetAus data finally put to use!
> 
> Hi Rosie,
> just checked the article. Great piece!
> This article is a clear example of some of the many things that can be
> done with open data.
> 
> Keep up the great work!
> Silvana
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 12:48 PM, Silvana Fumega <silfumega at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Sounds great! I'll check it later
> >
> >
> > Sent from my iPhone
> >
> > On 22 Jan 2014, at 5:56 pm, Rosie Williams <budgetaus at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > AusOpinion author Paul Davis @davispg published this article today using
> > graphics he created based on data from BudgetAus (my online searchable
> > database containing the federal budget).
> >
> > I'm really pleased to see the data put to use in addressing news issues as
> > they arise. Paul's article deals with the welfare reforms that were
> > announced in yesterday's media so that is a very fast response indeed!
> >
> > Please find Paul's article at
> > http://ausopinion.com/2014/01/22/is-it-really-a-review/
> >
> > Rosie Williams BA (Sociology)
> > Founder & Developer InfoAus.net
> >    ABN 90 345 143 783
> >                        Home | Blog  | Twitter | BudgetAus FB | eXpenseAusFB
> > | BudgetAus | eXpenseAus | KnowYourPlace | InfoAus Shop
> >
> >
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Silvana Fumega
> PhD Candidate
> University of Tasmania
> Tel:  +61  448486500
> @SilvanavF
> 
> Private Bag 89
> Hobart - TAS 7001
> Australia
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