Google Palimpsest: critical step toward transparent gov!

Yikes! I’ve been Twittering and sending e-mails about Google Research’s new Palimpsest service (which hasn’t been formally announced, but which Wired wrote about recently, citing sources within Google), but just realized I hadn’t blogged about it!

Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa — ’cause this is big!

IMHO, this could be the critical link in achieving the dream I discussed in my November “Transparent Government” speech (and accompanying Federal Computer Week op-ed), of actively involving the general public in public policy discussions, program evaluation, etc. through a combination of:

Palimpsest, as Wired previews it, doesn’t include that “transparent government” component, but it sure looks as if it has a parallel vision, and, most important, all the tools and proper attitude:

“.. [Palimsest] will soon provide a home for terabytes of open-source scientific datasets. The storage will be free to scientists and access to the data will be free for all. … Building on the company’s acquisition of the data visualization technology, Trendalyzer, from the oft-lauded, TED presenting Gapminder team, Google will also be offering algorithms for the examination and probing of the information. The new site will have YouTube-style annotating and commenting features.

“The storage would fill a major need for scientists who want to openly share their data, and would allow citizen scientists access to an unprecedented amount of data to explore.”

Perhaps the most important aspect of Palimpsest in terms of my vision is the role of the Trendalyzer tools.

Let’s pause for a minute to check out this presentation at TED by Trendalyzer’s Hans Rosling in order to fully appreciate what Trendalyzer brings to the table in terms of making dry statistics come alive!
Here’s what Marissa Mayer, who holds the critical post as Google’s vp for search products and user experience, blogged last March when they acquired Trendalyzer:

“‘… we are excited to announce that we have acquired Gapminder’s Trendalyzer software, and we welcome the Trendalyzer team to Google. Trendalyzer generates moving graphics and other novel effects in the display of facts, figures, and statistics in presentations. In its nimble hands, Trendalyzer views development data—such as regional income distribution or trends in global health—as literally a world of opportunity. Like Google, Gapminder strives to make information more useful, and Trendalyzer will improve any function or application in which data might be better visualized.

“‘Gathering data and creating useful statistics is an arduous job that often goes unrecognized. We hope to provide the resources necessary to bring such work to its deserved wider audience by improving and expanding Trendalyzer and making it freely available to any and all users capable of thinking outside the X and Y axes.’” (my emphasis!)

There are already a number of excellent data visualization sites that have cropped up over the past year or so. In addition to my personal favorite, IBM’s Many Eyes (I like its ease of use, community building features, and wide variety of visualization options), there are:

All of them are helpful, and have a variety of great features — check ‘em out, and take ‘em for a spin!

Having said that, there’s nothing like the mindshare a Google offering creates to dramatically increase interest in a field (just think how map-based mashups took off after Google released its Maps API in June, 2005: from zero to a skazillion in little over two years!). In addition to the huge impact of Google Map mashups, and acquiring Trendalyzer, Google already has a public foot in the data visualization water with the December release of their chart API (although, unless I’m missing something, there don’t seem to have been too many charts generated so far using it. Just wait).

Bottom line: it seems to me Google already has the key components as well as the mindset needed to make “public data” a popular Web 2.0 activity that will benefit the public, corporations, and government agencies, especially in some of the emerging areas such as homeland security and pandemic management that concern me.

It’s just a question of putting the pieces together and using its clout to enroll government agencies. Neat!

NB: in case you’re wondering….

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