A quote from Tim Day of Teradata, from a piece supporting
the DATA Act: “Significant gains for improved insights and reduced costs
are being realized today by leading companies and advanced governments that
have replaced inaccessible documents with searchable data. A critical first
step in the direction for visionary and pragmatic leadership is to organize
data by adopting data standards, such as common identifier codes and languages,
across the whole enterprise. The US government has not done this for its
spending data - because none of the agencies in charge of pieces of the puzzle
- not Treasury, not Census, not the GSA, not even the White House - have the
authority to impose data standards across the whole government.”
The phrase that stands out for me here is “the authority to
impose”. Many organizations and communities have created and implemented
effective data standards with no authority except that which they granted
themselves. They have used initiative. Creativity. Commitment. Common sense. If there's a mess, you clear it up. You don't need permission.
Agencies need to get together, and get on.
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