The New Economy Web Guide 2013 Under Obama represents the latest world wide web resources for discovering new knowledge and understanding the latest happenings with regards to the New Economy. The world is rapidly changing as transparency, new data and the ability to access data from new and now accessible databases becomes a reality.

Understanding the required new economy analytics, resources and alerts will give you the necessary tools to maintain your current position, improve your position and or discover the new knowledge required to be the leader in your profession.

American Economic Alert – Trade News and Opinions
http://www.americaneconomicalert.org/
AmericanEconomicAlert.org was founded by the U.S. Business and Industry Council Educational Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit research and educational organization dedicated to improving the American people’s awareness of critical public policy issues in such diverse fields as trade, taxation, education, health care, foreign relations, defense, and national security, among others. USBICEF is affiliated with the U.S. Business and Industry Council, a 501(c)(6) non-profit business association. The U.S. Business and Industry Council is a national organization of business owners and executives dedicated to making the U.S. domestic economy the world’s leading engine of economic growth. The USBIC Educational Foundation is its research arm. Only a robust national economy, balanced in capabilities and dynamic in operation, can provide the material base for an American society that is stable at home and secure in the world.

BankTracker – Investigating Reporting Workshop
http://banktracker.investigativereportingworkshop.org/
The unprecedented bet that many banks made on mortgages, real estate development and other real estate-related lending during the middle part of this decade has produced a payoff no one imagined just a few years ago — a huge increase in loan defaults, a soaring number of foreclosures and a plunge in bank profits. And now, an analysis of bank financial statements by the Investigative Reporting Workshop and msnbc.com, sheds new light on just how dangerous conditions have become in many banks across the nation. The analysis is based on reports every bank is required to file each quarter with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the federal agency that protects deposits and is part of the bank regulatory system. The Investigative Reporting Workshop, a project of the School of Communication at American University, intends to address this fundamental issue for democracy in two important ways: a) By conducting significant investigative journalism projects on a national and international scale; and b) By researching and experimenting with new models for creating and delivering investigative projects.

Beige Book – Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District
http://www.federalreserve.gov/FOMC/BeigeBook/2012/
Commonly known as the Beige Book, this report is published eight times per year. Each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its District through reports from Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources. The Beige Book summarizes this information by District and sector. An overall summary of the twelve district reports is prepared by a designated Federal Reserve Bank on a rotating basis.

Benton Foundation – Using Technology and Innovation To Address Our Nation’s Critical Challenges
http://www.benton.org/
The mission of the Benton Foundation is to articulate a public interest vision for the digital age and to demonstrate the value of communications for solving social problems. The Benton Foundation works to ensure that media and telecommunications serve the public interest and enhance our democracy. They pursue this mission by seeking policy solutions that support the values of access, diversity and equity, and by demonstrating the value of media and telecommunications for improving the quality of life for all.

beSpacific – Accurate, focused research on law, technology and knowledge discovery
http://www.bespacific.com/
Blog by Sabrina I. Pacifici published since August 2002 providing accurate, focused research, highlighting primary government documents. Updated daily, it hosts a searchable database of over 31,000 postings on topics including: the financial system, e-government, federal legislation, tech litigation, government documents, international law, privacy, cybercrime and ID theft, KM, legal research, civil liberties. beSpacific was recognized as the Best Law Librarian Blog of 2011 and 2005, Best Overall Legal Blog of 2004; the Best Legal Support Blog of 2005; and was the recipient of the 2006 AALL/West Thomson Excellence in Marketing Award for Best Use of Technology. A must daily read for latest law and technology news.

Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) U.S. Department of Commerce
http://www.bea.gov/index.htm
BEA strives to provide the most timely, relevant and accurate economic data to you, their users, to help promote a better understanding of the U.S. economy. These reliable and consistent measures of economic activity are essential to the informed decision making of policymakers, business leaders and every American household. The success of their statistical programs, in large part, is determined by the trust in the quality of their data. As one of the world’s leading statistical agencies, they are dedicated to staying on the cutting edge of the economy. To help keep you informed on a number of non-statistical issues, their Director’s Page provides a number of useful pieces of information. The 5-year BEA Strategic Plan is available for your review as well as a report card of their successes in meeting the over 200 annual milestones in the Plan. Information on the President’s current budget request for BEA also is available. Congressional testimony related to BEA and its statistical programs will be included to keep you current on important topics being considered by Congress. Finally, other important reports and information can be found to keep you informed on ongoing activities and plans at BEA.

Business Dynamics Statistics, BDS
http://www.ces.census.gov/index.php/bds/bds_home
The new Business Dynamics Statistics are a product of the Center for Economic Studies of the U.S. Census Bureau. The annual series describes establishment-level business dynamics along dimensions absent from similar databases including firm age and firm size. The new data series provides researchers with a tool to gain insight into the dynamics of a changing economy. Business Dynamics Statistics are created from the Longitudinal Business Database (LBD), a confidential database available to researchers throughout the network of Census Research Data Centers. The BDS was developed by the U.S. Census Bureau, and partially funded by the Kauffman Foundation. The BDS is unique in that its source data are longitudinal in nature and permit tracking establishments and firms over time. The public use files are created in an effort to make these data accessible to a broad range of data users. Other efforts currently under way include the creation of a fully synthetic microdata file based on the LBD. The BDS series provides annual statistics for 1976-2005 by firm age and firm size. Annual files are also provided at the state level, for Standard Industrial Classification sectors and for the economy as a whole.

Business Intelligence Resources Subject Tracer™ Information Blog
http://www.BIResources.info/
Business Intelligence Resources Subject Tracer™ Information Blog constantly monitors the Internet for the latest business intelligence resources and sources available and then lists them alphabetically in an ongoing information blog with a direct link to the source.

Census Bureau Economic Briefing Room
http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/briefroom/BriefRm
A overall view of the latest economic indicators presented by the Census Bureau along with Economic Indicator Calendar and Census Bureau Economic Programs.

Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)
http://www.cepr.net/
The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) was established in 1999 to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people’s lives. In order for citizens to effectively exercise their voices in a democracy, they should be informed about the problems and choices that they face. CEPR is committed to presenting issues in an accurate and understandable manner, so that the public is better prepared to choose among the various policy options. Toward this end, CEPR conducts both professional research and public education. The professional research is oriented towards filling important gaps in the understanding of particular economic and social problems, or the impact of specific policies. The public education portion of CEPR’s mission is to present the findings of professional research, both by CEPR and others, in a manner that allows broad segments of the public to know exactly what is at stake in major policy debates. An informed public should be able to choose policies that lead to an improving quality of life, both for people within the United States and around the world.

ChangeTracker – Tracking Change In Washington
http://www.propublica.org/feature/changetracker
ChangeTracker, an experimental new tool that watches pages on a) whitehouse.gov, b) recovery.gov and c) financialstability.gov so you don’t have to. When the White House adds or deletes anything— say a blog post, or executive order … ChangeTracker will let you know. The latest changes are on their page or sign up to get alerts sent to you. Each change links to a page that shows the different versions side-by-side. Text highlighted in red means it was removed, green means it was added.

CitySourced – Mobile Civic Engagement Platform
http://www.citysourced.com/
CitySourced is a real time mobile civic engagement platform. CitySourced provides a free, simple, and intuitive platform empowering residents to identify civic issues (public safety, quality of life, & environmental issues, etc.) and report them to city hall for quick resolution; an opportunity for government to use technology to save time and money plus improve accountability to those they govern; and a positive, collaborative platform for real action. A picture tells a thousand works and CitySourced makes it snap.

ClearSpending – Making Sense of the Federal Checkbook
http://sunlightfoundation.com/clearspending/
They have taken data from other federal reporting systems and compared it with the data found in USASpending.gov across three categories: Consistency, Completeness and Timeliness. How close are the reported dollar amounts to the yearly estimates? How many of the required fields are filled out in each record? And how long did it take the agency to report the money once it was allocated to a project?

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports Repositories
http://archive-it.org/collections/1078
Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a “think tank” that provides research reports to members of Congress on a variety of topics relevant to current political events. However, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) does not provide direct public access to its reports, nor are they released to the public via the Federal Library Depository Program (FDLP). There are several organizations that collect and give access to subsets of published CRS Reports. This collection attempts to bring all CRS Reports together in one place.

DataCatalogs.org – Comprehensive List of Open Data Catalogs Curated By Experts From Around the World
http://datacatalogs.org/
DataCatalogs.org aims to be the most comprehensive list of open data catalogs in the world. It is curated by a group of leading open data experts from around the world – including representatives from local, regional and national governments, international organisations such as the World Bank, and numerous NGOs. The alpha version of DataCatalogs.org was launched at OKCon 2011 in Berlin. They have plenty of useful improvements and features in the pipeline, which will be launched over the coming months. Currently 249 registered data catalogs are available

Data.gov
http://www.Data.gov/
The purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. Although the initial launch of Data.gov provides a limited portion of the rich variety of Federal datasets presently available, they invite you to actively participate in shaping the future of Data.gov by suggesting additional datasets and site enhancements to provide seamless access and use of your Federal data. Data.gov includes a searchable data catalog that includes access to data in two ways: through the “raw” data catalog and using tools. As a priority Open Government Initiative for President Obama’s administration, Data.gov increases the ability of the public to easily find, download, and use datasets that are generated and held by the Federal Government. Data.gov provides descriptions of the Federal datasets (metadata), information about how to access the datasets, and tools that leverage government datasets. The data catalogs will continue to grow as datasets are added. Federal, Executive Branch data are included in the first version of Data.gov.

DataMasher – State Data – Mash It
http://www.datamasher.org/
How do the States Compare? Mash up some government data to find out! The Federal Government produces an immeasurable amount of data each day. DataMasher helps citizens with that data by creating mashups to visualize them in different ways and see how states compare on important issues. Users can combine different data sets in interesting ways and create their own custom rankings of the states.

Debategraph – The Global Debate Map
http://debategraph.org/
Debategraph helps groups collaborate in thinking through complex issues by building and sharing interactive maps of domains of knowledge from multiple perspectives. Their public service goal is to make the best arguments on all sides of any public debate freely available to all and continuously open to challenge and improvement by all. Debategraph is a wwiki debate visualization tool that lets you: a) map the strongest case on any issue that matters to you; b) openly engage and learn from opposing views in a transparent, multi-perspective dialogue; c) create and reshape maps of the conversation as it develops, make new points, rate and filter the arguments; d) keep track of the maps via email and RSS feeds; and, e) share and embed the maps around the web.

Deep Web Research and Discovery Resources
http://www.DeepWebResearch.com/
http://www.DeepWeb.us/
Deep Web Research Subject Tracer™ Information Blog constantly monitors the Internet for the latest deep web resources and sources available and then lists them alphabetically in an ongoing information blog with a direct link to the source. It is divided into the following sections: a) Articles, Papers, Forums, Audios and Videos; b) Cross Database Articles; c) Cross Database Search Services; d) Cross Database Search Tools; e) Peer to Peer, File Sharing, Grid and Matrix Search Engines Presentations; f) Resources – Deep Web Research; g) Resources – Semantic Web Research; and h) Current Subject Tracer™ Information Blogs

DemocracyMap – Database of Government Jurisdictions/Entities, Their Websites, and Elected Officials Contact Information
http://pages.e-democracy.org/DemocracyMap
Plan and build a universal, free, open, shared and continuously updated database of government jurisdictions/entities, their websites, and over time add elected official contact information. In the United States there are approximately 30,000 government jurisdictions. There is no official database of the websites tied to each jurisdiction be it a city, school district, or some relatively obscure special district. Business.Gov, an effort of the Small Business Administration, recently released an API with 8,000 or so city and county websites raising interest across many organizations in how to to cover ALL government organizations. Once collecting and maintaining a directory of all government jurisdiction web addresses and a way to find your jurisdiction by entering a street address or by using a map is addressed, then deepening data collection to elected officials and all government owned or funded websites will be explored.

Economic and Financial Crisis Resources
http://guides.library.msstate.edu/economic_crisis
This guide is a comprehensive resource to the current economic and financial crisis from the Mississippi State University Library LibGuide.

Economic Recovery
http://www.EconomicRecovery.gov/
EconomicRecovery.gov is a resource for the American people to find help to keep their homes, find jobs and protect their savings.

eGovernment Interest Group (eGov IG)
http://www.w3.org/2007/eGov/IG/wiki/Main_Page
The mission of the eGovernment Interest Group (eGov IG) is to explore how to improve access to government through better use of the Web and achieve better government transparency using open Web standards at any government level (local, state, national and multi-national). The eGov IG is designed as a forum to support researchers, developers, solution providers, and users of government services that use the Web as the delivery channel, and enable broader collaboration across eGov practitioners.

eGovMon – Methodology and Software for Quality Evaluation of eGovernment Web Services
http://www.egovmon.no/en/
The eGovMon project is developing methodology and software for quality evaluation of web services, in particular eGovernment services, concerning four areas: a) Accessibility, b) Transparency, c) Efficiency, d) Impact.

Entrepreneurial Resources Subject Tracer™ Information Blog
http://www.EntrepreneurialResources.info/
Entrepreneurial Resources Subject Tracer™ Information Blog constantly monitors the Internet for the latest entrepreneurial resources and sources available and then lists them alphabetically in an ongoing information blog with a direct link to the source.

ET.gov – Emerging Technology
http://et.gov/
The purpose of this site and process is to facilitate the identification, discovery, and formation of communities of practice (CoPs) around emerging technology (ET) components and specifications of interest to government agencies. The process consists of eight stages.

EveryBlock – Geographic Filter Newsfeed of Your Neighborhood
http://www.everyblock.com/
EveryBlock filters an assortment of local news by location so you can keep track of what’s happening on your block, in your neighborhood and all over your city. For a long time, that’s been a tough question to answer. In dense, bustling cities like Chicago, New York and San Francisco, the number of daily media reports, government proceedings and local Internet conversations is staggering. Every day, a wealth of local information is created — officials inspect restaurants, journalists cover fires and Web users post photographs — but who has time to sort through all of that? Their mission at EveryBlock is to solve that problem. They aim to collect all of the news and civic goings-on that have happened recently in your city, and make it simple for you to keep track of news in particular areas. They are a geographic filter — a “news feed” for your neighborhood, or, yes, even your block.

Federal Business Opportunities
https://www.fbo.gov/
Federal Business Opportunities is the United States Government’s one-stop virtual marketplace. Through this single point-of-entry, commercial vendors and government buyers are invited to post, search, monitor, and retrieve opportunities solicited by the entire Federal contracting community.

Federal IT Dashboard
http://it.usaspending.gov/
The IT Dashboard provides the public with an online window into the details of Federal information technology investments and provides users with the ability to track the progress of investments over time. The IT Dashboard displays data received from agency reports to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), including general information on over 7,000 Federal IT investments and detailed data for nearly 800 of those investments that agencies classify as “major.” The performance data used to track the 800 major IT investments is based on milestone information displayed in agency reports to OMB called “Exhibit 300s.” Agency CIOs are responsible for evaluating and updating select data on a monthly basis, which is accomplished through interfaces provided on the website.

Federal Register – Daily Journal of the United States Government
https://www.federalregister.gov/
The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) jointly administer the FederalRegister.gov website. The OFR/GPO partnership is developing an unofficial XML-based edition of the daily Federal Register on this site. In this edition, Federal Register documents are organized and displayed in an easier to read format; they have also added various web tools and user aids designed to help people find material relevant to their interests.

FedSpending.org – A Project of OMB Watch
http://www.fedspending.org/
The purpose of the FedSpending.org database is to give journalists, analysts, government officials, and regular citizens easy access to information on federal spending. Broader access to this information should foster the development of a better informed, active citizenry that has more power to hold elected officials accountable. FedSpending.org is limited to information contained within the FPDS and FAADS government databases (See here for data that is not included on FedSpending.org).

FedThread – Interacting With the Federal Register
http://www.fedthread.org/
FedThread is a new way of interacting with the Federal Register. FedThread gives you:
a) collaborative annotation: Attach a note to any paragraph of the Federal Register; start a conversation; b) advanced search: Search the Federal Register (back to 2000) on full text, by date, agency, or other fields; and c) customized feeds: Turn any search into an RSS or email feed; FedThread notifies you when new items match your search query. The Federal Register tells you what your government is doing, in a lot more detail than you get from the news media. FedThread is possible because of the government’s new XML-format Federal Register, a milestone in technology-based civic engagement that lets citizens create new services that in turn provide value back to government.

Financial Markets and Portfolio Management (FMPM)
http://www.fmpm.org/
The official publication of the Swiss Financial Analysts Association, Financial Markets and Portfolio Management (FMPM) addresses all areas of finance, concentrating on financial markets, portfolio theory and wealth management, asset pricing, risk management, and regulation. The journal serves as a bridge between innovative research and its practical applications. FMPM publishes academic and applied research articles, shorter “Perspectives,” book reviews, and survey articles dedicated to current topics of interest to the financial community.

Financial Sources Subject Tracer™ Information Blog
http://www.FinancialSources.info/
Financial Sources Subject Tracer™ Information Blog constantly monitors the Internet for the latest financial resources and sources available and then lists them alphabetically in an ongoing information blog with a direct link to the source.

FinancialStability.gov – Comprehensive Financial Stability Plan and Related Resources
http://www.FinancialStability.gov/
This site displays all the information related to the comprehensive financial stability plan from the United States Government initially issued on February 10, 2009. This site will be the starting point for transparency of all financial stability resources and sources being developed and implemented by the United States Government Department of Treasury. The Financial Stability Plan Fact Sheet is available by clicking here. [7 pages .pdf 71.5KB]

Find and Compare the Best American Recovery & Investment Act – Find, Compare and Decide
http://recovery-and-reinvestment-act.findthebest.com//
FindTheBest’s American Recovery & Reinvestment Act App organizes grant, loan and contract recipients of the recovery program by several filters including Recipient Name, Project City, Project Name, Project Status, Funding Agency Name, Award Type, Award Amount, Jobs Reportedly Created, Cost/Job and Total ARRA Received. For quick sorting, just click on any category to list recipients by that feature. If you want to sort by city, click on the Project City filter for an alphabetical list of the project cities.

Follow the Unlimited Money – Super PACS
http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/outside-spending/super-pacs/
This resource shows all independent expenditure-only committees–better known as super PACS–that have raised at least $10,000 since the beginning of 2011. Click on the FEC filings links to see the original filings on the Federal Election Commission’s web site. Click on each super PAC’s name in the left column to see breakdowns of their spending, including aggregate amounts spent supporting or opposing individual candidates, and a chronological list of all their individual independent expenditure filings with the Federal Election Commission.

FORA.tv – Videos On People, Issues and Ideas Changing the Planet
http://fora.tv/
FORA.tv helps intelligent, engaged audiences get smart. Their users find, enjoy, and share videos about the people, issues, and ideas changing the world. They gather the web’s largest collection of unmediated video drawn from live events, lectures, and debates going on all the time at the world’s top universities, think tanks and conferences. They present this provocative, big-idea content for anyone to watch, interact with, and share –when, where, and how they want. With their community of savvy users and an extensive, growing library of smart videos, FORA.tv is at the forefront of the ongoing integration – and transformation – of the traditional media, TV, cable, and online industries from mass-market to high-quality, high-value content. FORA.tv was founded in 2005 and is funded by a select group of investors including William R. Hearst III and Adobe Ventures.

GovFresh – Government 2.0
http://govfresh.com/
GovFresh is a live feed of official news from U.S. Government Twitter, YouTube, RSS, Facebook, Flickr accounts and more, all in one place.

GovLuv – Connects Government Representatives and Citzens Via Twitter
http://govluv.org/
GovLuv is a project of Act.ly and the Open Forum Foundation. It is a website that connects government representatives and citizens using the magical power of Twitter. It aggregates what representatives are tweeting with what everyone else is tweeting to them, and about them. They aim to make the myriad interwoven conversations that are already happening in the political space on Twitter both useful and discernable.

govpulse – The Federal Register At Your Fingertips
http://www.govpulse.us/
Each day agencies release hundreds of proposed rules and regulations, meeting notices, final rules, and changes to existing rules in the form of the Federal Register. However in their current format they are difficult to find and to process in meaningful ways. GovPulse was built to address this problem and open the doors of government to the people they work for. By making such documents as the Federal Register searchable, more accessible and easier to digest, GovPulse seeks to encourage every citizen to become more involved in the workings of their government and make their voice heard on the things that matter to them, from the smallest to the largest issues.

GovTrack.us – Tracking the U.S. Congress
http://www.govtrack.us/
GovTrack.us is an independent tool to help the public research and track the activities in the U.S. Congress, promoting government transparency and civic education through novel uses of technology. You’ll find here the status of U.S. federal legislation, voting records in the Senate and House of Representatives, and information on Members of Congress, as well as congressional committees and the Congressional Record. The site is a research tool, but also a (totally free) tracking service. Pick up Trackers throughout the site to make a personalized feed or get email updates.

GovTwit – The Government Twitter Directory
http://govtwit.com/
This website hosts the world’s largest list of government agencies on Twitter, tracking state/local, federal, contractors, media, academics, non-profits and government outside of the U.S.

GPO’s Federal Digital System Search (FDsys)
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/home.action
GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys) provides public access to Government information submitted by Congress and Federal agencies and preserved as technology changes. GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys) is an advanced digital system that will enable GPO to manage Government information from all three branches of the U.S. Government. FDsys is available as a public beta during migration of information from GPO Access. The migration of information from GPO Access into FDsys will be complete in 2009, until this time GPO Access will contain all content.

Grant Resources Subject Tracer™ Information Blog
http://www.GrantResources.info/
Grant Resources Subject Tracer™ Information Blog constantly monitors the Internet for the latest grant resources and sources available and then lists them alphabetically in an ongoing information blog with a direct link to the source.

i360Gov – Federal Government News
http://www.i360gov.com/
i360Gov provides government business and technology leaders with important federal government news and analysis regarding government’s largest and most important initiatives in an interactive, online environment. Comprised of six topic-specific news channels each functioning as its own web site, the i360Gov network delivers daily federal government news and analysis pertaining to the following topics: a) Policy and Business, b) Information Technology, c) State and Local Government, d) Defense/Intelligence, e) Healthcare Poicy and IT, and f) Energy Policy and Technology.

Influence Explorer
http://influenceexplorer.com/
Influence Explorer is a project of Sunlight Labs, the technology arm of the Sunlight Foundation. Our data is provided by the Center for Responsive Politics, the National Institute for Money in State Politics, Taxpayers for Common Sense, the Project On Government Oversight, the EPA and USASpending.gov. For more information on how we use this data, see our campaign finance, lobbying, lobbyist bundling, earmarks, federal spending and EPA ECHO methodology pages. Influence Explorer provides an overview of campaign finance, lobbying, earmark, contractor misconduct and federal spending data. To search the underlying records or download the data in bulk, visit the Data section of Influence Explorer.

International Monetary Fund Alerts
https://www.imf.org/external/cntpst/index.aspx
Sign up to receive free e-mail notices when new series and/or country items are posted on the IMF website.

Internet Alerts
http://www.InternetAlerts.info/
InternetAlerts.info is a Subject Tracer™ Information Blog from The Virtual Private Library. It is designed to bring together the latest resources and sources on an ongoing basis from the Internet covering alerts.

Intrapreneurial Resources Subject Tracer™ Information Blog
http://www.IntrapreneurialResources.info/
Intrapreneurial Resources Subject Tracer™ Information Blog constantly monitors the Internet for the latest intrapreneurial resources and sources available and then lists them alphabetically in an ongoing information blog with a direct link to the source.

LegiStorm – Transparency’s Sidekick
http://www.legistorm.com/
LegiStorm helps bring transparency to the U.S. Congress by disseminating public documents and nonpartisan information over the web. Based on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, LegiStorm’s first information product was a database of congressional staff salaries but we have now added other valuable information, such as the most comprehensive database of all privately financed trips taken by members of Congress and congressional staffers. The information is provided in a strictly factual, non-partisan fashion. They have no political affiliations and no political purpose except to make the workings of Congress as transparent as possible. They expect this resource to be useful to journalists, researchers, lobbyists and current and would-be staffers – as well as regular citizens who simply want to know how their representatives spend public money. You can be sure that there are more such legislative resources to come from LegiStorm.

LittleSis – Free Database Detailing Connections Between Powerful People and Organizations
http://littlesis.org/
LittleSis is a free database detailing the connections between powerful people and organizations. They bring transparency to influential social networks by tracking the key relationships of politicians, business leaders, lobbyists, financiers, and their affiliated institutions. All of this information is public, but scattered. They bring it together in one place. Their data derives from government filings, news articles, and other reputable sources. Some data sets are updated automatically; the rest is filled in by their user community.

MAPLight – U.S. Congress Campaign Contributions and Voting Database
http://maplight.org/
MAPLight.org, a groundbreaking public database, with offices located in Berkeley, California, illuminates the connection between campaign donations and legislative votes in unprecedented ways. Elected United States officials collect large sums of money to run their campaigns, and they often pay back campaign contributors with special access and favorable laws. This common practice is contrary to the public interest, yet legal. MAPLight.org makes money/vote connections transparent, to help citizens hold their legislators accountable. MAPLight.org combines three data sets: a) Bill texts and legislative voting records; b) Supporting and opposing interests for each bill; and c) Campaign contribution data from the Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in State Politics. Combining this data makes visible key information that could never before be determined easily.

Metagovernment Project
http://www.metagovernment.org/wiki/Main_Page
The mission of the Metagovernment project is to support the development and use of Internet tools which enable the members of any community to fully participate in the governance of that community. They are a global group of people working on various projects which further this goal. They expect governance software to be adopted first in small communities, and then to spread outward with the potential to gradually replace many institutions of representative democracy with a new kind of social organization called collaborative governance. They conceive a world where every person, without exception, is able to substantively participate in any governance structure in which they have an interest. They envision governance which is not only more open, free, and democratic; but also which is more effective and less fallible than pre-Internet forms of governance.

Microsoft Public Sector Idea Bank – Gov 2.0 Ready
http://publicsectorondemand.com/
Microsoft Public Sector Idea Bank is a portal that showcases the Public Sector On-Demand Solutions their Partners have successfully built, using and customizing Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Not only will you be able to learn about and purchase these solutions, you will have the chance to: a) Interact with other Public Sector Professionals; b) Discover and learn about new solutions; c) Share your own ideas with the community; and d) Promote ideas you think should be developed. It’s all about Public Sector Professionals, it’s a relevant forum that puts a laser focus on the industry, and it’s a place where you can collaborate and see your ideas come into fruition!

Mobile Government
http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/101571
Mobile technology is changing the way people find and use information and services. How does government interact with the public in this anytime, anywhere world? This Making Mobile Gov Project is helping agencies work together to make a more open, innovative government to meet 21st century citizen expectations.

MuckRock – Government Tool Powered by State and Federal Freedom of Information Laws
http://www.muckrock.com/
MuckRock is an open government tool powered by state and federal Freedom of Information laws, a generous grant from the Sunlight Foundation, and you. They make tools to keep our government transparent and accountable. Requests are based on your questions, concerns and passions, and you are free to embed, share and write about any of the verified government documents hosted there.

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
http://www.nber.org/
Founded in 1920, the National Bureau of Economic Research is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works. The NBER is committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic community. Over the years the Bureau’s research agenda has encompassed a wide variety of issues that confront our society. The Bureau’s early research focused on the aggregate economy, examining in detail the business cycle and long-term economic growth. Simon Kuznets’ pioneering work on national income accounting, Wesley Mitchell’s influential study of the business cycle, and Milton Friedman’s research on the demand for money and the determinants of consumer spending were among the early studies done at the NBER. The NBER is the nation’s leading nonprofit economic research organization. Sixteen of the 31 American Nobel Prize winners in Economics and six of the past Chairmen of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers have been researchers at the NBER. The more than 1,000 professors of economics and business now teaching at universities around the country who are NBER researchers are the leading scholars in their fields. These Bureau associates concentrate on four types of empirical research: developing new statistical measurements, estimating quantitative models of economic behavior, assessing the effects of public policies on the U.S. economy, and projecting the effects of alternative policy proposals.

NationBuilder – The Essential Toolkit for a New Generation of Leaders and Creators
http://nationbuilder.com/
NationBuilder provides both a website and a CRM in one integrated service designed specifically for organizing communities. It’s especially useful for political campaigns and non-profits who used to have to pay thousands of dollars for outdated tools and the techies required to keep it all working. It’s also useful for anyone organizing a community — online or offline — from PTAs to sports fan sites. The Internet makes it possible for independent leaders and creators to build their own base of support outside the traditional gatekeepers like political parties, publishing houses, film studios, etc.

NextGov.com – Technology and the Business of Government
http://www.nextgov.com/
Nextgov.com is part of the National Journal Group Inc. and the Atlantic Media Company. It is a spin off of Government Executive.com and provides coverage and commentary on the management of information technology in the federal government. From time to time, Nextgov and Government Executive.com will share content and collaborate on features and events. Nextgov.com provides news, interaction and research for government and contractor executives and managers in the information technology community. Their readers are high-ranking civilian and military officials who are responsible for providing IT support to those who defend the nation and carry out the many laws that define the government’s role in our economy and society. Nextgov.com’s essential editorial mission is to cover the IT and business processes that the federal government deploys to meet agency missions – dozens of which dwarf the largest institutions in the private sector. They aspire to serve the people who manage these huge agencies and programs in much the way that large consumer and business-to-business technology magazines serve private-sector managers.

NYC Stimulus Tracker
http://www.nyc.gov/html/ops/nycstim/html/tracker/tracker.shtml
With the NYCStat Stimulus Tracker, New Yorkers can track the City’s use of federal stimulus/recovery funds provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). This funding includes federal tax cuts, expansion of unemployment benefits and other social welfare provisions, and domestic spending in education, health care, energy efficiency and infrastructure. The stimulus money for New York City will be used to ensure continued vital City services, provide assistance to New Yorkers in need, and stimulate the City’s economy.

OECDdirect
http://www.oecd.org/document/0,3343,en_2649_201185_2699446_1_1_1_1,00.html
A free and time-saving e-mail alert service. Once you’ve selected the themes that interest you, choose to receive personalised e-mails announcing new publications, statistics updates and free newsletters related to your topics of interest.

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/
OMB’s predominant mission is to assist the President in overseeing the preparation of the federal budget and to supervise its administration in Executive Branch agencies. In helping to formulate the President’s spending plans, OMB evaluates the effectiveness of agency programs, policies, and procedures, assesses competing funding demands among agencies, and sets funding priorities. OMB ensures that agency reports, rules, testimony, and proposed legislation are consistent with the President’s Budget and with Administration policies. In addition, OMB oversees and coordinates the Administration’s procurement, financial management, information, and regulatory policies. In each of these areas, OMB’s role is to help improve administrative management, to develop better performance measures and coordinating mechanisms, and to reduce any unnecessary burdens on the public.

OhMyGov – Tracking the Influence of the Nation’s Most Influential
http://mediamonitoring.ohmygov.com/
Dig into the social conversations making news and impacting policy. OhMyGov is your government & politics data powerhouse. Monitoring over 50,000 news sites, Facebook, Twitter, and 20,000 politicians and government agencies at the federal, state and local level. Features include: a) Measure and report the effectiveness of your communications; b) Benchmark performance against peers or competitors; c) Track what the media and public is saying about an agency or politician; and d) Monitor how agencies and politicians are reacting to events or talking about issues.

Open311 – Collaborative Model and Open Standard for Civic Issue Tracking
http://open311.org/
Currently, the most developed function of Open311 technologies is to report and track non-emergency issues in public spaces. Common issues include potholes, broken streetlights, garbage, vandalism, and other problems that compromise public spaces and infrastructure. Using a mobile device or a computer, someone can enter information (ideally with a photo) about a problem at a given location. This report is then routed to the relevant authority to address the problem. What’s different from a traditional 311 report is that this information is available for anyone to see and it allows anyone to contribute more information. By enabling collaboration on these issues, the open model makes it easier to collect and organize more information about important problems. By making the information public, it provides transparency and accountability for those responsible for the problem. Transparency also ensures that everyone’s voice is heard and in-turn encourages more participation.

OpenCongress – Track Bills, Votes, Senators, and Representatives in the U.S. Congress
http://www.opencongress.org/
OpenCongress brings together official government data with news coverage, blog posts, comments, and more to give you the real story behind what’s happening in Congress. Small groups of political insiders and lobbyists already know what’s really going on in Congress. They think everyone should be an insider. OpenCongress is a free, open-source, non-profit, and non-partisan web resource with a mission to make Congress more transparent and to encourage civic engagement. OpenCongress is a joint project of the Sunlight Foundation and the Participatory Politics Foundation.

Open CRS Network – Congressional Research Reports for the People
http://opencrs.com/
American taxpayers spend over $100 million a year to fund the Congressional Research Service, a “think tank” that provides reports to members of Congress on a variety of topics relevant to current political events. Yet, these reports are not made available to the public in a way that they can be easily obtained. A project of the Center for Democracy & Technology through the cooperation of several organizations and collectors of CRS Reports, Open CRS provides citizens access to CRS Reports already in the public domain and encourages Congress to provide public access to all CRS Reports.

Open Government Guide
http://www.rcfp.org/ogg/
The Open Government Guide is a complete compendium of information on every state’s open records and open meetings laws. Each state’s section is arranged according to a standard outline, making it easy to compare laws in various states.

OpenPlans – Open Government and Livable Streets
http://openplans.org/
At OpenPlans, they think cities can work better. They think it should be easier for public agencies in one place to adopt good ideas and good software from other places. They think opening up data and inviting citizens into the civic process is a good thing. And they are helping make it happen. OpenPlans is a non-profit technology organization focused on open government and livable streets. They build open source software. They help agencies open up their data. They report on urban issues.

OpenSecrets – Money in Politics – See Who Is Giving and Who Is Getting
http://www.opensecrets.org/
OpenSecrets.org is your nonpartisan guide to money’s influence on U.S. elections and public policy. Whether you’re a voter, journalist, activist, student or interested citizen, use their free site to shine light on your government. Count cash and make change.

Open Up Government Data – Wired HowTo Wiki
http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Open_Up_Government_Data
A how to wiki by Wired Magazine on opening up government data. This wiki analyzes the problem, delineates solutions and offers areas of involvement as well as highlights the government datasets .. the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Constantly kept up to date with the latest developments and requirements to open up government data. Data.Gov is coming and lets help build it!

Performance.Gov – Driving Federal Performance
http://performance.gov/
Responding to the President’s challenge to cut waste, save money, and better serve the American people, Performance.gov provides a window on the Obama Administration’s approach to improving performance and accountability. Performance.gov shows progress on the Administration’s efforts to create a government that is more effective, efficient, innovative, and responsive. Reforming how Washington works is an ongoing effort that demands vigilance and leadership.

Poligraft
http://poligraft.com/
Feed in a news article, blog post or press release, and Poligraft will present you with an enhanced view of the interconnections between the people, organizations and relationships described in the piece.

POPVOX – Bridges the Gap Between Public Wants and Congress Want and Need to Receive
https://www.popvox.com/
POPVOX bridges the gap between the input the public wants to provide and the information Members of Congress want and need to receive. Constituent communications are flooding and overwhelming Congressional offices. POPVOX verifies, aggregates, and simplifies communication with Congress on an open and trusted (and nonpartisan) common ground. Advocacy organizations, trade associations, unions and other groups send their members to POPVOX to take action on bills pending before Congress.

Publications.USA.gov – United States Publications
http://publications.usa.gov/
For more than 40 years, the Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC) has been a trusted one-stop source for answers to questions about consumer problems and government services. FCIC, part of the General Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, has traditionally provided publications to consumers via the publications distribution center in Pueblo, Colorado. The Pueblo.GSA.gov website was where consumers could go to find information and order publications on a variety of topics from the federal government. Publications.USA.gov replaces the former Pueblo.GSA.gov. The new site provides better navigation; search; shopping experience; and now some of your favorite publications in popular e-reader formats. Additionally, they will use social media channels to keep you informed of new publications.

RAND Corporation – Congressional Resources
http://www.rand.org/congress/
RAND informs policymakers with research and analysis that is relevant to current Congressional agendas, providing knowledge that is trusted for its objectivity, comprehensiveness, and enduring value.

Recovery.org – Economic Recovery Package Information
http://www.Recovery.org/
This site is currently in BETA but will soon provide real-time data, maps, and graphs detailing the spending activity associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Onvia tracks “every dime” of spending by Federal, State and Local government agencies, and Recovery.com will allow you to explore these activities in great detail by State, by Congressional District, and by Community. Whether you are a business looking to secure projects funded by stimulus dollars or a taxpayer who wants to know how your government is spending your money in your community, Onvia will present you with the most comprehensive, real-time view of this information.

Recovery.gov – Monitoring New World Government Spending
http://www.Recovery.gov/
Monitor the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to see how and where your tax dollars are spent. Recovery.gov is a website that lets you, the taxpayer, figure out where the money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is going. There are going to be a few different ways to search for information. The money is being distributed by Federal agencies, and soon you’ll be able to see where it’s going — to which states, to which congressional districts, even to which Federal contractors. As soon as they are able to, they will display that information visually in maps, charts, and graphics. An oversight board will routinely update this site as part of an unprecedented effort to root out waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending in our government.

Regulations.gov – Search
http://www.regulations.gov/
Regulations.gov is your source for all regulations (or rulemakings) issued by U.S. government agencies. On this site, you can find: a) All Federal regulations that are open for public comment (i.e., proposed rules) and closed for comment (i.e., final rules) as published in the Federal Register; b) Many Federal agency notices published in the Federal Register; and c) Additional supporting materials, public comments, and Federal agency guidance and adjudications. When you find a document, you can also submit comments through the web site on those documents that are open for public comment. After Congressional bills become laws, Federal Departments and Agencies are responsible for enforcing those laws through regulations. Departments and Agencies develop regulations through the Federal rulemaking process, most commonly through a notice-and-comment process. In general, Departments and Agencies publish proposed rules that are open for public comment, and after a specified timeframe, the Department or Agency publishes a final rule based on public comments and other information. Regulations.gov users can find Federal proposed and final rules published every business day by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in the U.S. government’s Federal Register, and submit comments through the web site to the Agencies on proposed rules that are open for public comment. The Regulations.gov web site also houses other types of federal information. In addition to Federal regulations, many Departments and Agencies use Regulations.gov to post other types of documents open for public comment, such as Agency significant guidance. Certain Federal agencies also allow the public to initiate an action by filing a submission via Regulations.gov.

Scout – Get Alerts When Congress or Your State Capitol Talks About Issues You Care About
http://scout.sunlightfoundation.com/
Scout is a free service that provides daily insight to how our laws and regulations are shaped in Washington, DC and our state capitols. These days, you can receive electronic alerts to know when a company is in the news, when a TV show is scheduled to air or when a sports team wins. Now, you can also be alerted when our elected officials take action on an issue you care about. Scout allows anyone to subscribe to customized email or text alerts on what Congress is doing around an issue or a specific bill, as well as bills in the state legislature and federal regulations. Researchers can use Scout to see when Congress talks about an issue over time.

SeeClickFix – Report Non-Emergency Issues and Receive Alerts in Your Neighborhood
http://www.seeclickfix.com/
SeeClickFix allows anyone to report and track non-emergency issues anywhere in the world via the internet. This empowers citizens, community groups, media organizations and governments to take care of and improve their neighborhoods.

Show Us the Data – The Most Wanted Federal Government Documents
http://www.showusthedata.org/
Is the federal government putting the information you need online? Are there categories of unclassified documents or data that you know exist–on paper or in government computers and databases–that would be of value to the public if posted and regularly updated on an agency’s Web site? If so, then help Open The Government and the Center for Democracy and Technology identify the 10 Most Wanted Government Documents, Reports or Data Sets that should be available on the Web. Use this site to tell them what data you want and who has it.

Social Informatics Subject Tracer™ Information Blog
http://www.SocialInformatics.net/
Social Informatics Subject Tracer™ Information Blog constantly monitors the Internet for the latest social networks, communities, resources and sources available and then lists them alphabetically in an ongoing information blog with a direct link to the source.

Socrata – Social Data Platform
http://www.socrata.com/
Socrata is the leading developer and provider of Open Data Services, a category of cloud-based Web 2.0 solutions that enable federal, state, and local governments to dramatically improve the reach, usability and social utility of their public information assets. The Socrata Social Data Platform™ is a turnkey information delivery platform that reduces lifecycle management costs for government customers while boosting their ability to disseminate relevant information and data-driven services to a wide range of audiences including citizens, civic application developers, researchers, journalists and internal stakeholders. The cloud-based Socrata platform transforms information assets – tabular data, geospatial data, unstructured content and real-time data from government transactional systems – into a consumption-optimized and socially-enriched experience, that is automatically accessible across multiple channels of interaction, to enhance governments’ ability to accomplish their mission at a reduced cost.

Stimulus and Recovery Feeds
http://isd.ischool.berkeley.edu/stimulus/feeds/feeds.html
Stimulus Feeds is prepared and hosted by the Information and Service Design Program (ISD) of UC Berkeley’s School of Information. This is the complete list of feeds currently provided by Agency Recovery Sites themselves. This table groups these feeds by agency, and then by feed type. In addition to these agency-maintained feeds, the Stimulus Feeds site provides feeds for all weekly reports published on recovery.gov (republishing the Excel data as XML and XHTML); these feeds are available in the Scraped Data column. Each of the agency feeds can be tested for validity (i.e., whether it is a correct feed) by simply pressing the validate link following the feed URI.

Stimulus Watch – Keeping an Eye On the Economic Recovery Spending
http://www.StimulusWatch.org/
StimulusWatch.org was built to to help the new administration keep its pledge to invest stimulus money smartly, and to hold public officials to account for the taxpayer money they spend. We do this by allowing you, citizens around the country with local knowledge about the proposed “shovel-ready” projects in your city, to find, discuss and rate those projects. These projects are not part of the stimulus bill. They are candidates for funding by federal grant programs once the bill passes.

SubsidyScope
http://subsidyscope.com/
Subsidyscope aims to raise public awareness about the role of federal subsidies in the economy. This new project, launched by The Pew Charitable Trusts, plans to create a searchable database of federal subsidies and publish the data online. Over the next few years, the project will build this subsidy database industry sector by industry sector.

Sunlight Labs – Developers and Designers Opening America’s Government
http://www.sunlightlabs.com/
Sunlight Labs is part of the Sunlight Foundation a non-profit, non partisan Washington, DC based organization focused on digitization of government data and making tools and websites to make it easily accessible. Sunlight Labs is an open source community of thousands dedicated to using technology to transform government. They focus on transparency – the idea that government can be more effective, more honest, and more accountable when it makes data about its process, operations, and influences available to the public. Their work revolves around opening up government data of all forms. Paid staff of Sunlight Labs are employees of the Sunlight Foundation a 501c(3) non-partisan non-profit organization. The Sunlight Foundation is: a) A think-tank that develops and encourages new policies inside the government to be more transparent and accountable; b) A campaign to engage citizens to change government’s transparency policies; c) An investigative organization that uses the data and applications to demonstrate why we need those policies; d) A grant giving institution that gives grants to organizations using technology to further our mission and create community; and e) An open source technology community that revolves around the Sunlight Foundation’s core mission.

The Big Money from Slate – Synthesis of Financial News and Tools
http://www.thebigmoney.com/
Through a synthesis of financial news, quick-witted commentary and a compelling set of tools, The Big Money provides a unique perspective and a deeper level of engagement to a smart audience that seeks a greater understanding of today’s business issues. Since financial and business writing too often gets lost in minutiae, The Big Money will focus on big topics, issues that affect a wide number of people (as consumers, as homeowners, as economic citizens) and go beyond a simple “buy this stock, sell that fund” approach. The Big Money appeals both to junkies in the field and to more casual readers who might not now read any existing business publication. Readers include: a) Senior executives, b) Business decision makers, c) Affluent, educated, influential consumers, and d) Mainstream users that are seeking more business/financial knowledge and perspective and how it will affect their lives.

The Economy – Global Economic Crisis Special Coverage and World Market Analysis
http://www.thrall.org/special/economy.html#Global_Economic_Crisis
Middletown Thrall Library Special Coverage: The Economy – Global Economic Crisis, News, Statistics, Economic Indicators, Credit, Energy, Food, Housing / Mortgages / Subprime, & Related Resources. This is a comprehensive site created by the Middletown Thrall Library offering continued special coverage on the Global Economic Crisis with World Market Analysis. Additional resources on this Global Economic Crisis are available here as well as the eFinancialBot Global Financial Search Engine.

The Feed – What Government is Tweeting Now
http://www.nextgov.com/thefeed/
Nextgov has compiled a few dozen official federal twitter feeds in one place. So you can catch up on what any tweeting federal agency is doing in just a few quick clicks.

Third Party Websites That Transform Government Data
http://www.opencongress.org/wiki/Third_Party_Websites_That_Transform_Government_Data
This wiki page contains a list of websites generated by third parties that make available raw government information. The categories include: a) Legislative Information (with focus on U.S. Congress); b) Federal Law and Regulations; c) The Courts; d) Money and Influence; e) Freedom of Information Act; f) Political Party Information; g) Business Information; h) Other Useful Websites; i) Other Meta-Lists of Third Party Government Data; and j) International Websites.

This We Know: Explore U.S. Government Data About Your Community
http://www.thisweknow.org/
Their mission is to present the information the U.S. government collects about every community. By publishing this data in an easy to understand and consistent manner, they seek to empower citizens to act on what’s known. In this first phase of development, they focused on a handful of nationwide data sets from six different agencies in the data.gov catalog. They picked data sets that each had a spatial component. All the data sets were converted to RDF and loaded into a RDF database that serves as the foundation for this website. Their long-term vision for ThisWeKnow is to model the entire data.gov catalog and make it available to the public using Semantic Web standards as a large-scale online database. ThisWeKnow will provide citizens with a single destination where they can search and browse all the information the government collects.

THOMAS (Library of Congress)
http://thomas.loc.gov/
THOMAS was launched in January of 1995, at the inception of the 104th Congress. The leadership of the 104th Congress directed the Library of Congress to make federal legislative information freely available to the public. Since that time THOMAS has expanded the scope of its offerings to include the following features and content: a) Bills, Resolutions; b) Activity in Congress; c) Congressional Record; d) Schedules, Calendars; e) Committee Information; f) Presidential Nominations; g) Treaties; and h) Government Resources.

TIGER – Tracking Indices for the Global Economic Recovery
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2010/05_economic_recovery_prasad.aspx
The new Brookings Institution-Financial Times index is designed to track the global economic recovery across emerging and advanced markets. The index, which covers the G-20 economies, is composed of three types of variable: indicators of real economic activity, such as GDP, imports and exports; financial indicators, such as stock market indices and capitalisation; confidence indicators, both business and consumer. Combined these variables can deliver a snapshot of the world economy and individual economies. Explore the index to gain a picture of how the world economy is bouncing back.

Transparency Corps
http://transparencycorps.org/
Transparency Corps is a project of the Sunlight Foundation. Their work is committed to helping citizens, bloggers and journalists be their own government watchdogs, by improving access to existing information, digitizing new information, and by creating new tools and Web sites to enable all of us to collaborate in fostering greater transparency. Transparency Corps allows anyone anywhere to have a positive impact on making our government more transparent by aggregating small actions that require human intelligence but not specialized political knowledge. TransparencyCorps is open source software, licensed under the MIT Open Source license.

Transparency Data
http://transparencydata.com/
Transparency Data is a central source for federal lobbying disclosure, federal grants and contracts, earmarks and federal and state campaign contributions. Here you can begin your search, find the information you need, and then download records of what a candidate has received, what an individual has given, how much an organization has spent on lobbying, and many other queries.

TweetCongress
http://tweetcongress.org/
We the Tweeple of the United States, in order to form a more perfect government, establish communication, and promote transparency do hereby tweet the Congress of the United States of America. This site is a grass-roots effort to get our men and women in Congress to open up and have a real conversation with us. Powered by: a) Twitter, b) Sunlight Labs, c) TwitterCounter, and d) Ruby on Rails.

Twitter Fan Wiki – U.S. Government
http://twitter.pbworks.com/USGovernment
This page includes people and agencies of the U.S. government, organized according to the executive branch, legislative branch, and related sections.

UK Government Open Data Site
http://data.gov.uk/
The UK Government’s open data website, data.gov.uk, developed with the help of Tim Berners-Lee (W3C Director) and John Sheridan (Linked Data Lead for data.gov.uk and co-Chair of the W3C eGovernment Interest Group). Like data.gov in the United States, the UK site reflects a growing awareness inside and outside of government that standards-based open data is a key enabler of government services and a building block for new information services across government and industry. Additionally, this new site showcases Semantic Web and Linked Data technologies.

USAspending.gov – Track USA Spending
http://www.usaspending.gov/
This is a searchable database of federal government assistance awards and contract awards. You may search by contractor, recipient, state, Congressional district, federal government agency/department/program, type of product or service. Data from FY 2000 to present. The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Transparency Act) requires a single searchable website, accessible by the public for free that includes for each Federal award: 1) The name of the entity receiving the award; 2) The amount of the award; 3) Information on the award including transaction type, funding agency, etc; 4) The location of the entity receiving the award; and 5) A unique identifier of the entity receiving the award.

Visible Vote
http://www.visiblevote.us/
Discover the most powerful way to connect with your legislators today. Download the free app, tell Congress how you feel on any issue, and see how your vote stacks up to theirs. Visible Vote is non-partisan and unbiased service that brings greater transparency and accountability to our representative form of government

WikiRiver.org – All the News About WikiLeaks In One Place, Updated In Real Time
http://www.wikiriver.org/
All the news about WikiLeaks in one place, updated in real time. Programmed by Dave Winer, using the River2 aggregator running in the OPML Editor. Interface design and development by Nicolas Gallagher building on the work shared by Martin Duffy in his jQuery templating tutorial. Collaborative development on the River Of News mail list by Shawn McCollum, Ken Booth, Daniel Bachhuber, Havagan and Martimedia.

World Governments Data Sources
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world-government-data
Governments around the globe are opening up their data vaults – allowing you to check out the numbers for yourself. This is the Guardian’s gateway to that information. Search for government data here from the UK (including London), USA, Australia and New Zealand – and look out for new countries and places as they add them.

XML Federal Register – Bulk Data and Daily Files
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/bulkdata/FR
The White House, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and the National Archives’ Office of the Federal Register (OFR) achieved a breakthrough in making Government information available and usable by the public. GPO converted the text of the Federal Register (2000-2009) into XML (extensible markup language) and placed it online in numerous Federal Government portals, which include: GPO’s Federal Digital System (www.fdsys.gov), The Federal Register Web site (www.federalregister.gov) and the Government’s new portal for Government data (www.data.gov). For direct access to Federal Register bulk data files, go to: www.gpo.gov/fdsys/bulkdata/FR. This project began when President Barack Obama challenged Federal agencies to create a more open and transparent Government. The change supplements the official publishing formats with XML, a form of text that can be manipulated in virtually limitless ways with digital applications. For example, people who want to know about the workings of the Executive branch of the Federal Government no longer need to sift through the Federal Register in its traditional Department-by-Department and Agency-by-Agency format. In this new format users can rearrange the Federal Register’s contents in personalized ways to match their particular interests. It is now possible, for example, to download the Federal Register and easily see what proposed actions might affect one’s community or region, or what actions might have an impact on one’s profession or business interests.