[OpenSpending] Country Obligations (was: Re: spendingdata.org: Developing a standard for transaction-level spending data)

Tue Jul 10 11:09:00 UTC 2012

Hi Friedrich,

exactly that is the most challenging point! It is really a problem to get the story out that huge amount of data. I see no fits-all-solution yet. It seems that we still have a gap between technical experts on the one and the journalists that could tell the story on the other side. I have no clue yet about how to solve this problem. It seems to me as if they are speaking different languages or maybe have different expectations?

Cheers,
Ole

________________________________________
Von: openspending-bounces at lists.okfn.org [openspending-bounces at lists.okfn.org] im Auftrag von Friedrich Lindenberg [friedrich.lindenberg at okfn.org]
Gesendet: Dienstag, 10. Juli 2012 12:57
An: OpenSpending Discussion List
Betreff: [OpenSpending] Country Obligations (was: Re: spendingdata.org: Developing a standard for transaction-level spending data)

On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 12:52 PM,
<Ole.Wintermann at bertelsmann-stiftung.de> wrote:
> Yes, the NYT example is the one we want to further improve in that way that the user can configurate the data on his own. So that he could choose the countries he wants to analyze. We also want to implement other indicators (migrants, FDI). I just want to be sure that there is no such a model that already exists.

That's interesting. What would be the core of the application:
sovereign debt, import/export, bank debt, ... ? I suppose it would be
tremendously hard to make an application that just contains bulk
economic data and can still generate story-telling visualizations like
the one by the NY Times.

Cheers,

 - Friedrich

> Cheers,
> Ole
>
> ________________________________________
> Von: openspending-bounces at lists.okfn.org [openspending-bounces at lists.okfn.org] im Auftrag von Friedrich Lindenberg [friedrich.lindenberg at okfn.org]
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 10. Juli 2012 12:45
> An: OpenSpending Discussion List
> Betreff: Re: [OpenSpending] spendingdata.org: Developing a standard for transaction-level spending data
>
> Hi Ole,
>
> as for obligations between countries, I don't know of anyone outside
> the big players who does data-driven tracking of that, but I really
> liked the visualization the NYT did a while back:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/10/23/sunday-review/an-overview-of-the-euro-crisis.html
>
> As for financial transfers, I think IATI is by far the most
> interesting data you can find, even though it only covers development
> as a mechanism. We wrote up a note about it's use in OpenSpending
> here: http://openspending.org/resources/iati/index.html and I'd also
> recommend you have a look at AidInfo Labs: http://www.aidinfolabs.org/
>
> Cheers,
>
>  - Friedrich
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 12:35 PM,
> <Ole.Wintermann at bertelsmann-stiftung.de> wrote:
>> It looks great and is an opportunity for me to ask if there exist any platforms who describe and show the financial transfers and obligations between different countries?
>>
>> We are looking for such models of visualization for one of our projects.
>>
>> Best
>> Ole
>>
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> Von: openspending-bounces at lists.okfn.org [openspending-bounces at lists.okfn.org] im Auftrag von simon.rogers at guardian.co.uk [simon.rogers at guardian.co.uk]
>> Gesendet: Dienstag, 10. Juli 2012 12:32
>> An: openspending at lists.okfn.org
>> Betreff: Re: [OpenSpending] spendingdata.org: Developing a standard for transaction-level spending data
>>
>> This is great - we could solicit opinions on the Datablog too, if that
>> would help.
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Mark Brough [mailto:mark.brough at publishwhatyoufund.org]
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 11:11 AM
>> To: OpenSpending Discussion List <openspending at lists.okfn.org>
>> Subject: Re: [OpenSpending] spendingdata.org: Developing a standard for
>> transaction-level spending data
>>
>> This is really exciting - looking forward to contributing however I can.
>>
>> Mark
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: openspending-bounces at lists.okfn.org
>> [mailto:openspending-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of Friedrich
>> Lindenberg
>> Sent: 09 July 2012 22:01
>> To: openspending
>> Subject: [OpenSpending] spendingdata.org: Developing a standard for
>> transaction-level spending data
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> we've been considering the idea of creating a reference format for
>> spending data for a while now. It's a good idea: what if many governments
>> - on different levels - were to release their spending in a uniform,
>> compatible format? Governments would have it easier to figure out how to
>> their publish data. Techies like us could begin to build tools for
>> analyzing the data that truly scale. NGOs and think tanks could easily see
>> what's in the data, without having to embark on a technology project
>> first. Eventually, the data could even become comparable across different
>> environments, raising many interesting questions.
>>
>> We'd like to invite you to brainstorm with us: how would a simple,
>> pragmatic standard for spending data look? Through the recent GIFT report,
>> we've surveyed lots of similar initiatives [1] and collected some rough
>> ideas. Building on this, we're now looking for your support in
>> contributing your ideas against this straw man:
>>
>> http://openspending.org/resources/standard/index.html
>>
>> It's by far not concrete enough to actually build a validator ("rough
>> consensus and running code"), but with all of your help I'm hoping that
>> we'll get there quickly. If we can build support for such an idea, we can
>> convince some of those countries who have already opened up their data to
>> use better formats to do it; while giving concrete guidance to those who
>> are only now starting to share their spending data.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>>  - Friedrich
>>
>> [1] http://openspending.org/resources/gift/index.html
>>
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