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Hacking public risk: empowering citizens with environmental data
February 2012
The Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science (PLOTS) and SafeCast are two projects born of disaster: the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf and the Fukushima Diachi nuclear accident after the Japan earthquake. In response, these two groups have developed and deployed low-cost digital tools that people can use to monitor the effects of these disasters and other public risks on their environment.
The Public Laboratory is an open source community that buildings do-it-yourself toolkits that enable citizen-based data gathering, such as the helium-filled balloons and digital cameras they use to generate high-resolution aerial imagery to track the Gulf oil spill. SafeCast has been deploying a radiation sensor network in Japan that empowers everyday people to collect data on radiation levels and access that data to be better informed about radiation impact in their community.
Jeffrey Warren, director of research for PLOTS, and Sean Bonner, director at SafeCast, join the Transparency Policy Project on Monday, February 13th at 11:30am-12:30pm at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation (124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 200-North) to share their experiences in do-it-yourself environmental monitoring.
Fung discusses Hard Truths About Disclosure in NYT's Sunday Review
January 2012
Archon Fung, co-director of the Transparency Policy Project, is quoted in Elisabeth Rosenthal's piece "Hard Truths about Disclosure" in The New York Times Sunday Review (January 21, 2012). Fung emphasizes that effective disclosure is based upon clear, actionable information, stating: I’d like to see an effort toward prioritizing what information is really important and then some effort in providing the data in a way that is simple and effective.
A call to open GPS data for Boston's school buses
January 2012
Francisca Rojas, research director at the Transparency Policy Project (TPP), and David Luberoff, executive director of Harvard's Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, published an op-ed in the Boston Globe titled "Tardy school buses? There's an app for that" on January 10, 2012. Rojas and Luberoff call for Boston's public schools to make information about the location of its buses available to parents, students, teachers and principals as a way to improve the system's problem of late buses. The argument for this "open data" strategy is based on TPP's research findings on the outcomes of public transit agencies' release of bus and train locations to the public.
IDB hosts roundtable on transparency
December 2011
On December 15, 2011, the Inter-American Development Bank hosts a roundtable discussion on Transparency and Integrity as a Condition for Sustainable Development. Discussants review the IDB’s strategic approach to transparency and anticorruption -- which employs the Transparency Policy Project's targeted transparency framework -- and discuss initiatives and progress at the country level in the US, Mexico, Brazil and Chile, including the Open Government Partnership, a global initiative launched in September of 2011 of which several IDB member countries are participants. View the webcast live at 10am EST.
National Academies report on disclosure of food safety data now available
December 2011
The National Research Council has published its report on the disclosure of food safety data: The Potential Consequences of Public Release of Food Safety and Inspection Service Establishment-Specific Data. In the course of its regulatory activities, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) collects large volumes of food safety data from firms that process meat, poultry, and egg products, some of which FSIS aggregates and publishes on its website. This new report responds to an FSIS request to study the implications of publishing disaggregated establishment-specific data. The Transparency Policy Project's David Weil served on the study committee.
National Academies releases report on disclosure of food safety data
November 2011
David Weil served on the National Research Council study committee to produce the report: The Potential Consequences of Public Release of Food Safety and Inspection Service Establishment-Specific Data.
In the course of its regulatory activities, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) collects large volumes of food safety data from firms that process meat, poultry, and egg products, some of which FSIS aggregates and publishes on its website. In response to an FSIS request to study the implications of publishing disaggregated establishment-specific data, the National Research Council is releasing the report The Potential Consequences of Public Release of Food Safety and Inspection Service Establishment-Specific Data. As part of the release, a one-hour public teleconference will be held on November 30 at 10:30 AM via WebEx. In this teleconference, the Chair of the study committee gives a brief overview of the committee’s charge and the findings and conclusions of the committee and then takes questions from teleconference participants. To participate in the teleconference, please follow instructions on the current project website.
Dara O'Rourke on transparency and ethical consumption.
November 2011
The Transparency Policy Project is hosting GoodGuide co-founder Dara O'Rourke on November 28, 2011 at the Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center for Democratic Governance for a discussion of the promise and peril of mobilizing the ethical consumer through greater transparency. By simply downloading an app, consumers can access environmental, social and health impacts of more than 140,000 products. What does this mean for market interactions and for the governance of global supply chains? His talk is titled "Data is Power, or Is It? Mobilizing the Ethical Consumer" and will be held at 124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 200-North at 4pm.
MIT Transportation Showcase
November 2011
David Weil appointed to National Research Council committee
August 2011
The committee looks at the consequences of disclosing data from USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (the enforcement division of the US Dept. of Agriculture in charge of inspecting meat and poultry facilities) on the web and is charged with reviewing the public benefits and potential costs of providing the public with detailed, establishment level information arising from inspections. The National Research Council is part of the National Academy of Sciences.