The Dawn of a New Era for Government Information. The Data Coalition's CEO Nick Hart, Ph.D., writes that we are in the midst of an exciting time for data policy in the United States. There are few points in history when government’s policymakers have been so enthused by the topic of data – and in a promising way. Whether you come from the open data, evidence, science, evaluation, statistics, or privacy community, there are many encouraging activities underway inside government to make data more accessible and useful. Read Nick's latest Data Coalition blog for more.
An Executive Perspective on Open Data and Evidence-Based Policymaking. "In a time of seemingly insurmountable partisanship, Congress was able to come together around the issue of evidence-based policy and pass the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking (Evidence Act) that makes some dramatic changes to our ability to learn from data and evidence in our quest for better policy. The need for standardized and accessible data is crucial, but also critical is the need to inject more evidence-based policy into our system of legislation and regulation." For more, read the full guest blog from Ben Harris, former Chief Economist and Economic Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden.
Data Coalition Supports Bipartisan AI Bill. On Wednesday, May 8, Senators Rob Portman (OH-R), Brian Schatz (HI-D), Cory Gardner (CO-R), and Kamala Harris (CA-D) reintroduced the bipartisan Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Government Act (S.1363). The Data Coalition CEO Nick Hart, Ph.D. applauded the proposal. For more information, read the section-by-section summary of the bill and the Senators' joint press release. A companion bill was introduced in the House of Representatives (H.R. 2575) on the same day by Congressmen Jerry McNerney (CA-09-D) and Mark Meadows (NC-11-R).
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OMB: Evidence Act Guidance in ‘Very Last Stages’ of Clearance Process. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Chief Statistician Nancy Potok said the Evidence Act guidance has reached the “very last stages” of the clearance process. Potok gave an overview of what chief financial officers (CFO) and public information officers should expect from rolling out the legislation at an Association of Government Accountants (AGA) conference. “One of the things that the Evidence Act really emphasizes throughout is the use of really high-quality information to make decisions in agencies. So that means finding the information, making sure it’s fit for the use you want to put it to, and then actually being able to use it to feed into the decision-making process,” said Potok. [Federal News Network | Data Coalition's Nick Hart, Ph.D. quoted]
Fiscal Service Welcomes New Commissioner. On Tuesday, May 13, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service) announced the appointment of Tim Gribben as the next commissioner. Mr. Gribben comes to the Fiscal Service from the Small Business Administration (SBA), where he served as the CFO and was responsible for all aspects of SBA's financial management, performance management and program evaluation. [Fiscal Service]
The House Gives Data Standardization Another Go. Congress is offering up another bite at the data standards apple, introducing H.R.1530 (2017-2018): Financial Transparency Act. The bill's purpose is “to amend securities, commodities, and banking laws to make the information reported to financial regulatory agencies electronically searchable, to enable RegTech applications, and for other purposes.” Required for this are data standards so that technology can be consistently applied to related data sets across multiple U.S. regulators. [The Hill]
Lawmakers Reintroduce Bill To Prioritize AI Adoption in Government. A bipartisan group of legislators in both chambers have reintroduced a bill to speed up AI adoption in the federal government. Senators Portman, Schatz, Gardner, and Harris introduced the AI in Government Act with the aim of getting more AI technical experts in government. [Nextgov | Data Coalition's Nick Hart, Ph.D. quoted]
Can Blockchain Revolutionize Public Finance? Blockchain is one of those technologies that has been in search of more problems to solve and business use cases. Bitcoin is the most successful use case to date for that technology; however, this emerging technology has the potential to revolutionize public finance, specifically on federal grants and contracts. Once the federal agency awards a grant to a recipient and the recipient executes the award, the sponsor agreement relationship begins. Unfortunately, the amount of paperwork does not stop and only gets more difficult to track. [Medium]
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Xero Appoints New President of the Americas. On Thursday, May 16, Xero announced the appointment of Tony Ward as President of the Americas, responsible for leading Xero’s business in the United States and Canada. Tony brings to the role 20 years’ senior leadership experience at some of the largest global tech companies including Microsoft, LinkedIn, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey, and Spark. “It is great to have someone with Tony’s technology sales and product marketing knowledge and experience join the Xero Leadership Team and lead our America’s business through the next period of growth,” said Xero CEO Steve Vamos. [Xero]
SAP Paves the Path to Create Outcome-Based Intelligent Enterprises with Experience Management (XM). SAP has rolled out ten new offerings that combine experience data (X-data) with operational data (O-data) to measure and improve the four core experiences of business — customer, employee, product, and brand. The rollout of this system sets a new standard in enterprise software. “We want everyone to remember their Xs and Os,” said SAP CEO Bill McDermott at the company’s 30th annual SAPPHIRE NOW conference. “Experience Management is the new frontier for the world’s best-run businesses. I have never seen SAP more fired up to help our customers be a driving force for growth, innovation, and optimism.” [SAP]
New Initiative Will Help NCAN Members (and the Field) Better Understand Program Outcomes. The National College Access Network (NCAN) is undertaking a new project to help up to 50 of its member organizations better understand their program outcomes, identify effective practices, and contribute to the knowledge base of what works in the college access and success field. NCAN will partner with Mission Measurement and its Impact Genome Project to increase the use of data to inform positive social change in the education sector. “The Impact Genome Project democratizes access to evidence and brings together the knowledge of practitioners and researchers so they can better learn from each other,” says Dr. Heather King, director of education research at Mission Measurement. “Once we get everyone speaking the same language in terms of outcomes, we can create concrete strategies for collective impact.” [Mission Measurement via NCAN]
The White Box Data Revolution. For the past 50 years, we have lived in a world dominated by “Black Box data” – data that is opaque, not well-defined, uses proprietary identifiers, and has poor data-quality feedback loops. This is rapidly changing – and nowhere more so than in the field of company data – as it is replaced by data fit for use in the modern world: so-called White Box data. In a new whitepaper, OpenCorporates explores this seismic shift, what White Box data means, the myriad benefits of it, how it is being used by some large companies, and how its importance will increase in the future, especially in company data. [OpenCorporates]
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Qlik Analytics Summit for Federal. On Thursday, June 6, Qlik will host its 5th Annual Analytics Summit for Federal, which will bring together data experts and enthusiasts who are leading with data to transform the way agencies access, analyze, and share data. Attendees will hear first-hand how organizations are using analytics to support their mission and discover how to share informative stories.
When: Thursday, June 6, from 8:15 a.m. - 4:15 p.m. EDT
Where: Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, D.C. 20004
Cost: Free
Registration: https://go.qlik.com/Federal-Summit-2019
Assessing Federal Blockchain Initiatives. On Monday, June 10, the Data Foundation and Booz Allen Hamilton will host a launch event to explore the findings of their newly published research report titled “Assessing Federal Blockchain Initiatives.” During the report launch event, attendees will hear from federal agency officials and private sector technology leaders on how the federal government has been adopting emerging technologies, specifically blockchain applications. The event will feature interviewees of the report who will answer questions such as: when blockchain is appropriate in government? What uses will provide substantial benefits to government and society?
When: Monday, June 10, from 8:00 - 9:30 a.m. EDT
Where: Booz Allen Hamilton Innovation Center, 901 15th Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20005
Cost: $0 - 35
Event Webpage: https://www.datafoundation.org/events-list/report-launch-assessing-federal-blockchain-initiatives
Registration: https://report-launch-federal-blockchain-initiatives.eventbrite.com
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