Google Public Data shows governments a potential trick or two

If governments haven't got it regarding the potential power of technology to utilise their information for public purposes in readily accessible formats, it's Google to the rescue with the launch in the US last week of Google Public Data. Here is the Washington Post take. Meanwhile in the context of Federal Freedom of Information reforms here we are still talking about "documents" taking lots of words in the proposed new legislation to define what we mean. The world has moved on from paper-based documents, with just a polite gesture on the side to digital records. So should we. On a related topic here is a recent post about issues in googling government information.