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From eGovernment to Transformational Government

Brand Niemann

Semantic Community

December 15, 2010

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My Transformation

• It all began for me when I saw the CIA Country Quick Facts in Folio Views soon after I came into government in 1980.– It created a hierarchical structure for the content.– It marked up unstructured and structured content.– It did advanced search of unstructured and structured

content.– It worked on the Desktop, CD-ROM, and the Web -

author-once and publish-many!– It supported RDF-metadata– I could apply it to many pilots and projects.

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Country Quick Facts

http://www.sdi.gov/lpBin22/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=main-j.htm&2.0

Highlight termand build tableof Unemploymentversus Inflationby Country

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Applied to Many Pilots and Projects

• Guide to Selected National Environmental Statistics in the US Government (EPA Bronze Medal)

• Our Living Resources: A Report to the Nation on the Distribution, Abundance, and Health of U.S. Plants, Animals, and Ecosystems (Special Recognition from DoI Office of the Secretary)

• Annual Statistical Abstract of the US and Fedstats.net (Vice President Gore Hammer Award)

– Fedstats.net was a distributed content network that had content on multiple servers that supported virtual integration and federated search.

• EPA Report on the Environment (Selected by the Editors of Federal Computer Week for the 2006 Power Players Special Report, Brand Niemann champions collaboration: EPA’s data architect does the groundwork to facilitate electronic data exchanges).

• Federal Data Reference Model 2.0 Implementation and Training (Letter of Commendation from the Federal CIO Council Architecture & Infrastructure Committee Co-chairs and my EPA CIO)

• This evolved to the use of the GSA COLAB Wiki (CIM3 Purple Numbers Wiki) and MindTouch Deki Wikis and 2010 Technical Communication Suite for well-defined web addresses, collaboration, and content curation.

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Some Background

• DRM 1.0 for OMB Chief Architect Bob Haycock as a member of the Solutions Architects Working Group (2005-2006).

• DRM 2.0 for EPA CIO Kim Nelson as a member of the DRM 2.0 Team (December 21, 2006).

• DRM 3.0 for Federal CIO Council’s Best Practices Committee as the co-lead for Federal Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (June 18, 2007).

• Improvements to the DRM for the FEA Reference Model Revision Team (January 2009).

• Data.gov design and pilot for the Federal CIO Council’s Governance Subcommittee (April 2009).

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Overview• My Open Government Plan• My Gov 2.0 Platform • Build Your Own Data.gov and EPA Microsite with Semantics and Statistics in the

Cloud• My One EPA Web: Information as Product• Getting to 'the 5 stars of Linked Open Data' for Nanoinformatics• My Social Business Intelligence from Open Government Data• Scientific Data Management for Government Agencies• A Geospatial Platform (that supports both geospatial and statistical visualizations and

Open Data - in process)• Semanticommunity.info Tutorial (2011 Sandbox)• Expertise Location Pilot• From eGovernment to Transformational Government• Wiki Training and KM Careers – Videos• CIO’s Learning Web 2.0 Wikis as Invited Practitioner to Harvard Leadership in a

Networked World Graduate Class• Data.gov Pilots and Suggestions

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My Open Government Plan

http://semanticommunity.info/EPA/Web_2.0_Pilot_Wiki/My_Open_Gov_Plan

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My Gov 2.0 Platform

http://semanticommunity.net/

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Build Your Own Data.gov and EPA Microsite with Semantics and Statistics in the Cloud

http://semanticommunity.info/EPA/EPA_Ontology

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Build Your Own Data.gov and EPA Microsite with Semantics and Statistics in the Cloud

http://semanticommunity.info/EPA/EPA_Environmental_Statistics_Training/Interpretation_of_Environmental_Data

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My One EPA Web: Information as Product

http://semanticommunity.info/EPA

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My One EPA Web: Information as Product

http://semanticommunity.info/EPA/EPA_BP_Oil_Spill_Data_Tools

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Getting to 'the 5 stars of Linked Open Data' for Nanoinformatics

http://semanticommunity.info/Nanoinformatics_2010

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My Social Business Intelligence from Open Government Data

http://semanticommunity.info/CIOs_Learning_Web_2.0_Wikis/Social_Business_Intelligence_from_Open_Government_Data

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Scientific Data Management for Government Agencies

http://semanticommunity.info/Scientific_Data_Management_for_Government_Agencies

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A Geospatial Platform

• Use tools like Spotfire that support both geospatial and statistical visualizations and Open Data where you can easily get the into and back out.– See

http://semanticommunity.info/Data.gov/GEOViewer

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Semanticommunity.info Tutorial (2011 Sandbox)

http://semanticommunity.info/

See TutorialSlides atbottom of page

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Expertise Location Pilot

http://semanticommunity.info/Expertise_Location

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Expertise Location Pilot

http://expertlocation.wikispaces.com/

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Expertise Location Pilot

• Note: I created an Expertise Location Pilot at http://semanticommunity.info/Expertise_Location for Jeanne Holm recently, which I copied to this wiki below, and my entire new wiki at http://semanticommunity.info/ contains Expertise information from my 30+ years of Federal Government Services documenting my work at the US EPA, and participation in conferences, meetings, communities of practice, etc. Brand Niemann, bniemann@cox.net

• Also Note: I am not sure if this wiki supports scripts like wiki.toc(page.path) that provide a Table of Contents index at the top of the page and supports embedding the Spotfire file like I have done in my wiki.

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Wiki Training and KM Careers

VideoVideo

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CIO’s Learning Web 2.0 Wikis as Invited Practitioner to Harvard Leadership in a Networked World Graduate Class

http://semanticommunity.info/CIOs_Learning_Web_2.0_Wikis

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From eGovernment to Transformational Government

http://semanticommunity.info/From_E-Government_to_Transformational_Government

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Data.gov

• Built Own Data.gov Semantic from post-DAS Meeting with Jim Hendler, Marion Royal, George Thomas, and Myself.

• White House Visitor Records Online and Twp Updates.– JeanneHolm: Have to say, I'm happy we passed the "Mom test"

on Data.gov from GCN writer Trudy Walsh: http://bit.ly/amQzmk • Built IT Dashboard from Challenge to do it faster,

cheaper, and better.• Completed Data Science and Semantic eScience

Graduate Classes in Response to Discussion with Jim Hendler over what comes after the Semantic Web.

• Built Mashup-of-Mashups in Response to Vivek Kundra’s Challenge to Show the Value of Data Integration.

• Suggestions at Community Dialogue

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Data.gov

http://semanticommunity.info/Data.gov/Build_Data_Catalogs_in_the_Cloud_in_Support_of_Data.gov_and_EPA's_Strategic_Data_Action_Plan

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Data.gov

http://semanticommunity.info/White_House_Visitor_Records_Online_June_25_2010

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Data.gov

http://semanticommunity.info/Whitehouse_Visitor_Records_Online_October_29_2010

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Data.gov

http://semanticommunity.info/Federal_IT_Dashboard

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Data.gov

http://semanticommunity.info/Data_Science_Class_Fall_2010

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Data.gov

http://semanticommunity.info/Semantic_eScience_Class_Fall_2010

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Data.gov

http://semanticommunity.info/Data.gov/Mashup-of-Mashups_Catalog

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Data.gov

http://semanticommunity.info/Data.gov/International_Conference_Agenda_and_Presentors

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Data.gov

• Suggestions:– 1. Built Database of Tweets – What Learned and What Next?– 2. What is the Value Proposition of Open Government Data?– 3. A Practical Application of What George Thomas Is Talking

About.– 4. Created the Same Visualizations with Spotfire.– 5. Praise for Executable English and Suggestion to Apply

Executable English on Spotfire Analytics.– 6. Accessing the Data.gov Catalog Through an Open Interface

and Knowledge Management System.– 7. Thank You for An Excellent Conference and Some

Suggestion for Building Next Conference.– 8. Support for Growing Sustainable CoPs.– 9. Domain Specific Vocabularies.– 10. New Zealand Data Catalog in Spreadsheet.

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Suggestion 1• Twitter handles• Posted on Wed, 2010-11-17 07:41 by Jeanne Holm• Amazing work by the IOGDC folks on Twitter. At last count, 974 tweets using #IOGDC and still

one more day to go. At the request of some of the participants, I'm starting a thread here with some of the Twitter handles and people behind them (part 1...I'll get more up later). Please add more as you know them... @usdatagov (The Data.gov Team) @digiphile (Alex Howard) @bethnoveck (Beth Noveck) @derekwillis (Derek Willis) @cjoh (Clay Johnson) @jahendler (Jim Hendler) @jeanneholm (Jeanne Holm) @kmerritt (Kevin Merritt) @justgrimes (Justin Grimes) @craignewmark (Craig Newmark) @druidsmith (Dave Smith) @marcalt (Marc Alt) @gwynnek (Gwynne Kostin) @danmelton (Dan Melton) @olyerickson @harlanyu (Harlan Yu) @martenhogeweg (Marten Hogeweg) @Kendall (Kendall Clark) @ibmcognos @sanchezjb (Joe Sanchez) @tonyshaw (Tony Shaw) @tednguyen (Ted Nguyen) @adrielhampton (Adriel Hampton) @govfresh @healthpolicygrp @munigov20 @pbroviak (Pam Broviak) @troyschneider (Troy Schneider) @lewisshepherd (Lewis Shepherd) @chrisheuer (Chris Heuer) @gohsuket (Gohsuke Takana) @heatherlagarde (Heather LaGarde) @rickmurphy (Rick Murphy) @mindofandre (Andre Blackman) @hadleybeeman (Hadley Beeman) @scilib (Richard Ackerman) @patrickbeeson (Patrick Beeson) @crisiscamp @govwiki @bact @ctg_ualbany @mhausenblas (Michael Hausenblas) @debategraph @decisionstats (Ajay Ohri) @tvol (Timothy Vollmer) @iand (Ian Davis) @sesuncedu (Simon Spero) @sarahebourne (Sarah Bourne) @infil00p (Joe Bowser) @epatientdave (Dave DeBronkart) @edsu (Ed Summers) @kidehen (Kingsley Uyi Idehen) @asterix (Miraj Khaled) @dhgisme (Danielle Gould) @dfletcher @BernHyland (Bernadette Hyland) @ahier (Brian Ahier) @Crisismappers @kevinmarks (Kevin Marks) @ed (Ed Shazade) @cairnsim (Ian Cairns) @mattmansfield (Matt Mansfield) @opengov @paolaponticelli (Paola Ponticelli) @ifrnandez (Isabel Fdez-Penuelas) @annoula64 (Ann Markstrom) @atweber (Andrew Weber)

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Twitter: Results for #IOGDC

http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23IOGDC

29 not 974

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Twitter: @usdatagov

512

http://twitter.com/#!/usdatagov

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Twitter: Spreadsheet Database

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Suggestion 2• Data.gov Mashup-of-Mashups Catalog• Submitted by Brand Niemann on Tue, 2010-11-16 10:35 • Best practices - who’s doing what?• What is the Value Proposition of Open Government Data?

http://www.govloop.com/forum/topics/...ue-proposition Posted by Alexander B. Howard on November 13, 2010 at 2:51pm in Gov20 On Tuesday, I'll be speaking on a panel at the first International Data Summit in Washington, D.C. The topic of our panel is the same as the title for this discussion. Before I pull on my suit and head for the microphone, I'd like to hear what's on your mind. What do you think?: My Answer: http://www.semanticuniverse.com/arti...vsemantic.html What are the best resources to read? My Answer: http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/06/wha...a-science.html Which countries, states or cities are leading the way in open government data? What does that mean? My Answers: See at http://semanticommunity.net/ first Spotfire: Build Data Catalogs in the Cloud in Support of Data.gov and EPA's Strategic Data Action Plan and the next Spotfire: Build Your Own Data.gov Mashup-of-Mashups Catalog - see http://federaldata.wik.is/Data.gov_Mashup-of-Mashups_Catalog How do you measure success in this space? My Answer: http://inkdroid.org/journal/2010/06/...n-linked-data/ for example Getting to 'the 5 stars of Linked Open Data' for Nanoinformatics at http://semanticommunity.wik.is/Nanoinformatics_2010 What are the barriers to open government data for agencies, municipalities and states? My Answers: Some data must be downloaded and unzipped before it can be accessed which does not lend itself to dynamic mashups (reuse) and interoperability with other catalogs. Some data itself is essentially a brute-force serialization of data tables into XML and RDF without any metadata and is very difficult to use.

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Suggestion 3

• A Practical Application of What George Is Talking About• Posted on Tue, 2010-11-16 10:40 by Brand Niemann• http://federaldata.wik.is/Data.gov_Mashup-of-

Mashups_Catalog• A Practical Application of What George Is Talking About:

Update• Posted on Sat, 2010-11-27 08:05 by Brand Niemann• See now

http://semanticommunity.info/Data.gov/Mashup-of-Mashups_Catalog

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Suggestion 4• Creating Value Added Functionality and Applications Through Mashups• Submitted by Aftab Datta on Mon, 2010-11-15 15:29 • Exploring semantic technologies• Using semantic web and linked-data, you can create applications like "White House

Visitor Search" http://data-gov.tw.rpi.edu/wiki/Demo:_White_House_Visitor_Search or "CASTNET", "Clean Air Status and Trends Network" http://www.epa.gov/castnet/

• Comments• Created the Same Visualizations with Spotfire• Posted on Thu, 2010-11-25 03:57 by Brand Niemann• See

http://semanticommunity.info/White_House_Visitor_Records_Online,_June_25,_2010, http://semanticommunity.info/Whitehouse_Visitor_Records_Online,_October_29,_2010, and http://semanticommunity.info/EPA/EPA_CASTNET. Plus many more at http://semanticommunity.net and My Data Science Library in the Cloud at http://ondemand.spotfire.com/public/library.aspx?folder=Users/FAMIEVL-91915/public P.S. I have suggested that URL's in these comments be executable links so you don't have to cut and past all of these URLs.

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Suggestion 5• Praise for Executable English and Suggestion for Comments• Posted on Wed, 2010-11-24 05:27 by Brand Niemann• Adrian, Great suggestion and example! I have done something similar at

http://semanticommunity.net/. Please see if you can extract the data from Spotfire and do the same thing as you did with the DoE data. You can click on the down arrow in the Spotfire Data Table banners to download the data tables as CSV and run your Executable English on them. I look forward to seeing how this works. First I have the Mashup-of-Mashups Catalog which is a federation of the Apps and second the Build Your Own Data.gov which is a federation of the Catalogs. Note: Jeanne, It would be nice if one could execute the links in these comments to easy see what is being referred to rather than having to cut and paste the URL.

• Title TypeCommunityCurrent StateEdit Executable English on Spotfire Analytics at http://semanticommunity.net/

• See if Executable English can operate on the CSV downloads from Spotfire at http://semanticommunity.net/ See Image Thumbnail with drop down box for Two Export Options.

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Suggestion 6

• Accessing the Data.gov Catalog Through an Open Interface and KMS

• Posted on Thu, 2010-11-25 03:51 by Brand Niemann• I agree that one should be able to access the Data.gov

(and all data catalogs) through an open interface and that is why I have used Spotfire to accomplish that at http://semanticommunity.net/ where you can click on the down arrow on the right hand side of any Data Table banner and get 'Export Table' to download the data table in CSV. I have also worked to organize EPA's information in a knowledge management system at http://semanticommunity.info/EPA.

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Suggestion 7

• Thank You for An Excellent Conference and Some Suggestions

• Posted on Thu, 2010-11-25 04:04 by Brand Niemann• Thank you for an excellent conference and posting the

slides so quickly. I look forward to seeing the summary. I would suggest a forum where every attendee and virtual participant could post what there are going to do next as a result of this conference, one thing they learned from their interactions, etc. This would generate collaborations going forward and content for the next conference.

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Suggestion 8

• Support for Growing Sustainable CoPs

• Posted on Thu, 2010-11-25 03:37 by Brand Niemann

• I appreciate what Lucas has done with his excellent workshops and would also like to help. Brand

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Suggestion 9• US needs vs. W3C/International topics• Submitted by jahendler on Fri, 2010-11-19 00:52 • Domain Specific Vocabularies• it is clear that domain specific vocabularies are needed in many areas of on line

government. The US data.gov community needs to play in international efforts, but also needs to develop US specific "metadata" standards (or vocabularies, ontologies, or whatever you wish to call them) if we are to be able to create the linking of Federal, State, Municipal and Tribal datasets. I will take a /stab/ at starting this discussion by saying the incredible diversity of the kinds of data found across open government data sites requires that we make it possible to find, and share, vocabularies that already exist as a way of jumpstarting this process. I call on data.gov, as I did at the recent International Open Government Data Conference, to create a place where agencies can put already existing vocabularies that are in machine-readable form. These vocabularies, with just the simple sort of metadata that the raw datasets have, would already be an incredible resource, and would lead to considerable savings via the reuse, rather than re-development, of vocabularies. -- Jim Hendler

• Start the Process of Posting URL-Referenced D-S Vocabularies• I agree and want to start the process of posting URL-referenced Domain Specific

Vocabularies. Please see http://semanticommunity.info/The_Water_Wiki/California_Water_Plan - - Brand Niemann

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Suggestion 9• @Brand and Back @George• Wow, thanks for the detailed response and generous offer! EPA Staff have invited me

to listen in on some of the Data.gov PMO's SemWeb / Linked Data team calls and I have, as well as participate in EPA's Strategic Data Action Plan and Data Publishing Project. The result of that is my Build Data Catalogs in the Cloud in Support of Data.gov and EPA's Strategic Data Action Plan at http://semanticommunity.net/ as well as my Build EPA’s Synaptica in the Cloud: An Enterprise Vocabulary Catalog for Data.gov/semantic at http://semanticommunity.info/EPA/EPA_Synaptica.

• I have co-lead the Federal Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP) from 2002-2007 and now participate regularly in OASIS, W3C, RPI Data Science and Semantic eScience and Harvard Leadership in a Networked World Graduate Classes, and other groups. Mills Davis and I are restarting (by popular demand) the SICoP with the launch of Semanticommunity.info: Community Infrastructure Sandbox for 2011-Getting to 'the 5 stars of Linked Open Data' and we would welcome your participation again at http://semanticommunity.info/.

• My email is bniemann@cox.net and I welcome the opportunity to participate. I have submitted 10 suggestions to the Data.gov Open Data Forum and sent emails recently to Jeanne Holm and Sonny Bhagowalia offering to help.

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Suggestion 10

http://prezi.com/xsomibrppnpj/licensing-of-government-data-a-look-at-nzgoal/

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Suggestion 10

http://prezi.com/xgdxwcny-5fi/international-open-government-data-conference-issues-and-lessons-learned-copy-for-web/

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Suggestion 10

http://www.data.govt.nz/

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Suggestion 10

http://www.data.govt.nz/catalog/

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