The FCC got an update Monday from the developers of...
The FCC got an update Monday from the developers of many federal agency websites and how they're trying to become more user friendly. The update came as the FCC hosted a .gov developer “meet-up.” The session also featured updates from…
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such federal websites as USASearch, USA.gov and Data.gov. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski noted in recorded remarks that government use of broadband was a key focus of 2010’s National Broadband Plan. “You represent the right trend, and in many ways, the cutting edge in government data, finding new and novel ways to deliver greater transparency and greater openness,” Genachowski said. “It can change the way citizens engage with their government, increasing access to information and revolutionizing the way people interact with each other.” Federal Chief Information Officer Steve VanRoekel said too many government websites have followed the same pattern. “In year one, you're gung ho, you're getting stuff done, you're writing specs,” he said. “In year two, the expectation of funding maybe falls through, or Congress doesn’t allocate you funding that you thought you were going to get, or someone on the leadership team spins out.” In the end, five-year, $50 million projects become 10-year, $100 million projects, VanRoekel said. “By the end of it, we have so many examples of those solutions just being thrown out in favor of just starting from scratch because it’s cheaper to do so at the end of the day because the technology is outdated or laws have changed.” Joel Gurin, senior consumer advisor at the FCC and the chairman of the White House Task Force on Smart Disclosure, said much of the data collected by the government could be useful to consumers. “What we're really focusing on is figuring out how to select and present government data sets and other data sets that will be of particular use to consumers trying to make choices in complex markets,” Gurin said. Such data can help consumers choose everything from a cellphone plan to a mortgage, he said. “You really do have to make data available in ways that can be sorted and used by consumers either directly or, more likely, after it’s been presented to them by a third party,” he said. For example, a single wireless carrier may offer as many as a thousand different plans “by the time you look at all the different permutations of fees, rates, limits, handsets, etc.,” he said. Of the thousands of data sets available on Data.gov, “probably a few hundred” are “relevant to this kind of use,” Gurin said. “We're now working to see if there are ways that we can bring those together and highlight them,” he said.