By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data science anayst
    Growing Demand for Data Science & Data Analyst Roles
    6 Min Read
    predictive analytics in dropshipping
    Predictive Analytics Helps New Dropshipping Businesses Thrive
    12 Min Read
    data-driven approach in healthcare
    The Importance of Data-Driven Approaches to Improving Healthcare in Rural Areas
    6 Min Read
    analytics for tax compliance
    Analytics Changes the Calculus of Business Tax Compliance
    8 Min Read
    big data analytics in gaming
    The Role of Big Data Analytics in Gaming
    10 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Making Government Information More Accessible
Share
Notification Show More
Latest News
ai in automotive industry
AI Is Changing the Automotive Industry Forever
Artificial Intelligence
SMEs Use AI-Driven Financial Software for Greater Efficiency
Artificial Intelligence
data security in big data age
6 Reasons to Boost Data Security Plan in the Age of Big Data
Big Data
data science anayst
Growing Demand for Data Science & Data Analyst Roles
Data Science
ai software development
Key Strategies to Develop AI Software Cost-Effectively
Artificial Intelligence
Aa
SmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Uncategorized > Making Government Information More Accessible
Uncategorized

Making Government Information More Accessible

Daniel Tunkelang
Last updated: 2008/12/16 at 4:34 PM
Daniel Tunkelang
3 Min Read
SHARE

A co-worker tipped me off to a public, non-profit service that deserves all the publicity it can get. It’s called Public.Resource.Org, run by technologist and public domain advocate Carl Malamud, and devoted to “making [U.S.] government information more accessible”.

Not sold on the value of this service yet? Consider this example of their good deeds.

Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) is an electronic public acce…

More Read

big data improves

3 Ways Big Data Improves Leadership Within Companies

IT Is Not Analytics. Here’s Why.
Romney Invokes Analytics in Rebuke of Trump
WEF Davos 2016: Top 100 CEO bloggers
In Memoriam: Robin Fray Carey

A co-worker tipped me off to a public, non-profit service that deserves all the publicity it can get. It’s called Public.Resource.Org, run by technologist and public domain advocate Carl Malamud, and devoted to “making [U.S.] government information more accessible”.

Not sold on the value of this service yet? Consider this example of their good deeds.

Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) is an electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case and docket information from Federal Appellate, District and Bankruptcy courts, and the U.S. Party/Case Index via the Internet. These documents are works of the United States government and are in the public domain. But, for reasons that have no place in a 21st century democratic government, PACER charges $0.08 / page to download copies of these records–more than most of us pay for analog photocopying!

Enter the PACER recycling program, run by Public.Resource.Org:

Just upload all your PACER Documents to our recycling bin. Click on the recycle bin and you’ll be presented with a dialogue to choose files to upload. Then, just hit the “Start Upload” button and you’ll hear the sounds of progress as your documents get reinjected into the public domain.

We’ll take the documents, look at them, and then put them onto bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/pacer for future distribution. This is a manual process and you won’t see your documents show up right away. But, over time, we hope to accumulate a significant database of PACER Documents.

They claim to have saved $9,104.08 so far. That’s hardly enough to, say, bail out the auto industry, but it’s a step in the right direction. More importantly, efforts like this instill a culture I wish we could take for granted–namely, that public government documents should be generally available to the citizenry. Like most technologists, I have a libertarian streak, and I’m the first to defend the private sector. But this is a case where the goods themselves belong to the public. No one should profit at the expense of an informed citizenry.

p.s. Perhaps this effort will interest people trying to assemble corpora for information retreival research.

Link to original post

Daniel Tunkelang December 16, 2008
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

ai in automotive industry
AI Is Changing the Automotive Industry Forever
Artificial Intelligence
SMEs Use AI-Driven Financial Software for Greater Efficiency
Artificial Intelligence
data security in big data age
6 Reasons to Boost Data Security Plan in the Age of Big Data
Big Data
data science anayst
Growing Demand for Data Science & Data Analyst Roles
Data Science

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

big data improves
Big DataJobsKnowledge ManagementUncategorized

3 Ways Big Data Improves Leadership Within Companies

6 Min Read
Image
Uncategorized

IT Is Not Analytics. Here’s Why.

7 Min Read

Romney Invokes Analytics in Rebuke of Trump

4 Min Read

WEF Davos 2016: Top 100 CEO bloggers

14 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai in ecommerce
Artificial Intelligence for eCommerce: A Closer Look
Artificial Intelligence
ai is improving the safety of cars
From Bolts to Bots: How AI Is Fortifying the Automotive Industry
Artificial Intelligence

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US

© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.

Removed from reading list

Undo
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?