O'Reilly News & Commentary

Top Stories: October 31-November 4, 2011 - An author turns to automation, a look at privacy in the age of big data, and a simple rule for data ethics.

By Mac Slocum
November 4, 2011

This week on O'Reilly: Former author Robbie Allen explained his shift to software-generated writing, Terence Craig said transparency is the best way to handle digital privacy, and we learned how a simple question can keep data companies honest.

What does privacy mean in an age of big data? - Author Terence Craig on why data transparency trumps anonymization.

By Audrey Watters
November 2, 2011

Ironclad digital privacy isn't realistic, argues "Privacy and Big Data" co-author Terence Craig. What we need instead are laws and commitments founded on transparency.

Strata Week: IBM puts Hadoop in the cloud - IBM taps the cloud to make Hadoop easier, Factual cleans geo data, Google gets transparent with gov data requests.

By Audrey Watters
October 27, 2011

IBM targets businesses with a cloud-based Hadoop product, Factual tackles incomplete geo records, and Google embraces transparency by publishing and explaining the data requests it gets from governments.

Cooking the data - In a world of full disclosure, cooking the data is the new cooking the books.

By Alistair Croll
September 20, 2011

Open data and transparency aren't enough: we need True Data, not Big Data, as well as regulators and lawmakers willing to act on it.

Advances, setbacks, and continuing impediments to government transparency

By Andy Oram
June 16, 2011

The good, the bad, and the edgy in open government at Computers, Freedom & Privacy.

Should the patent office open its internal guidelines to the public?

By Andy Oram
June 3, 2011

Anyone following policy issues around technological innovation has noticed the power and scope of patents expanding over time. To understand the forces contributing to this, I recommend a thoughtful, readable summary--and highlight the role played by internal documents at the patent office.

An ethical bargain - Transparency, relationships and other things corporations could learn from a small bookstore.

By Jim Stogdill
June 1, 2011

Most of the relationships you build with corporations are like icebergs — essentially hidden from view. But what if we could interact with "human" corporations? What would that look like? How would it work?

Why the eG8 mattered to the future of the Internet and society - Four interviews explore why the eG8 mattered and what's at stake for the Internet.

By Alex Howard
May 31, 2011

If the Internet has become the public arena for our time, as the official G8 statement emphasized, then experts say we must defend the openness and freedoms that have supported its development.

Four short links: 1 April 2011 - Murky Future for Transparency, Browser Awesome, Future Realized, and Data Bias

By Nat Torkington
April 1, 2011

Transparency Sites to Close -- the US government's open data efforts will close in a few months as a result of the cuts in funding. Browser Wars, Plural (Alex Russell) -- nice rundown of demos of what modern browsers are capable of. Brief Descriptions of Potential Home Information Services (image) -- lovely 1971 piece of futurology, which you can...

White House releases IT Dashboard as open source code - The open sourced IT Dashboard can enable greater transparency in any government entity that wants to adopt it.

By Alex Howard
March 31, 2011

With the open source release of the IT Dashboard, an application that was developed on behalf of government agencies can now be implemented and further customized by other potential government users and developers at the city, state or international level.

Samantha Power on transparency, national security and open government - How open government can have a global impact.

By Alex Howard
November 19, 2010

Samantha Power, special assistant to the President for multilateral affairs and human rights, discusses the relationship between open government, technology, human rights and transparency.

Four short links: 20 August 2010 - Case Study, Promise Transparency, Scriptable Browsing, Open Science Data Success

By Nat Torkington
August 20, 2010

Case Study: Slideshare Goes Freemium (Startup Lessons Learned) -- I love case studies, they're the best part of every business degree. The MVPs were tricky to implement for emotional reasons, too. Because the SlideShare team was used to giving away a high-value product, engineers balked at charging for a clearly imperfect product. The analytics package, for instance, launched in...

Four short links: 7 July 2010 - Work Habits, Smartphone Frameworks, Transparency, and Data Geekery

By Nat Torkington
July 7, 2010

The Way I Work: Justin Kan of JustinTV (Inc Magazine) -- I admit it, I had written Justin off as "that irritating guy who went around with a camera on all the time" but it turns out he's quite thoughtful about what he does. I try to keep the meetings small, especially when we're doing product design. If you...

Four short links: 29 June 2010 - Literary Mashups, Hardware+App Store, Wikileaks Criticism, Online Style Guide

By Nat Torkington
June 29, 2010

The Diary of Samuel Pepys -- a remarkable mashup of historical information and literature in modern technology to make the Pepys diaries an experience rather than an object. It includes historical weather, glosses, maps, even an encyclopedia. (prompted by Jon Udell) The Tonido Plug Server -- one of many such wall-wart sized appliances. This caught my eye: CodeLathe, the...

European Union starts project about economic effects of open government data

By Andy Oram
June 11, 2010

Open source advocate Marco Fioretti has just announced the start of a study on open data for the European Union, with a focus on economic benefits for local businesses. Related surveys are also mentioned.

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