The document discusses the Commerce Data Usability Project, which aims to make government data more usable and accessible to the public. It notes that data is often only useful for the purpose it was collected for and usability is not typically considered in dissemination. The project seeks to make usability a higher priority and has created a website at commerce.gov/datausability to showcase demonstrations of how data can be analyzed and visualized to answer important questions. It encourages others to visit the site and contribute as partners to build a robust community around the initiative.

1. jeff chen
chief data scientist
beyond open data:
the commerce data
usability project
star ying
data scientist

2. introduction
motivations
from open data to open knowledge
demos
closing

7. • Frontend Engineering
• Backend Engineering
• Data Science

8. format barriershift focus
likes, clicks, buys

9. format barriershift focus
societal issues

10. • how often is our software vulnerable?
• what can economists do to improve frequency
of demographic indicators?
• where should a nonprofit focus its resources?
• when is hail the most dangerous?

11. introduction
motivations
from open data to open knowledge
demos
closing

12. data.commerce.gov

13. data.commerce.gov
?

14. “general
public”
engineers researchers
policy makers
+ analysts

15. data.commerce.gov
“general
public”
engineers researchers
policy
makers

16. open datadata.commerce.gov
“general
public”
engineers researchers
policy
makers

17. data engineer climatologist policy analyst
$
economist …
.netcdf
.hdf5
.csv
.shp
.tiff
.bmp
.json
.xml
.csv
.tsv
.csv
.xls
.rda
.dta
.xls
.pdf
format barrierusage gap

18. knowledge gap
innovation in
your field
innovation
knowledge gap

19. data is often fit for a singular
purpose and wide spread
usability is not typically
considered

20. introduction
motivations
from open data to open knowledge
demos
closing

21. data usability ought to be
the data dissemination
priority.
a priority

22. • how often is our software vulnerable?
• what can economists do to improve frequency
of demographic indicators?
• where should a nonprofit focus its resources?
• when is hail the most dangerous?

23. Commerce
Data Usability
Project
commerce.gov/datausability
01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101
00100000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011
01100001 01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000
01110000 01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011 01101111 01101101
01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001
01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100001 01100010 01101001
01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111
01101010 01100101 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010
01100011 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000
01110101 01110011 01100001 01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100
01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011
01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101 00100000
01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100001
01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000 01110000
01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101
01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001 01110100
01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100001 01100010 01101001 01101100
01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01101010
01100101 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011
01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101
01110011 01100001 01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001
00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011 01101111
01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101 00100000 01100100
01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100001 01100010
01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010
01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101
01110010 01100011 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001
00100000 01110101 01110011 01100001 01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001
01110100 01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101
01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101
00100000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011
01100001 01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000
01110000 01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011 01101111 01101101
01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001
01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100001 01100010 01101001
01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111
01101010 01100101 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010
01100011 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000
01110101 01110011 01100001 01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100
01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011
01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101 00100000
01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100001
01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000 01110000

25. a novel analysis or question posed to
the data
—
visually arresting graphics and
engagement with the public
—
open, free code and data for the
public to use
basic criteria

26. introduction
motivation
from open data to open knowledge
demos
closing

27. go to site
commerce.gov/datausability

28. introduction
motivation
from open data to open knowledge
demos
closing

29. Commerce
Data Usability
Project
commerce.gov/datausability
01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101
00100000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011
01100001 01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000
01110000 01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011 01101111 01101101
01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001
01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100001 01100010 01101001
01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111
01101010 01100101 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010
01100011 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000
01110101 01110011 01100001 01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100
01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011
01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101 00100000
01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100001
01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000 01110000
01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101
01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001 01110100
01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100001 01100010 01101001 01101100
01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01101010
01100101 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011
01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101
01110011 01100001 01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001
00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011 01101111
01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101 00100000 01100100
01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100001 01100010
01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010
01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101
01110010 01100011 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001
00100000 01110101 01110011 01100001 01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001
01110100 01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101
01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101
00100000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011
01100001 01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000
01110000 01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011 01101111 01101101
01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001
01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100001 01100010 01101001
01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111
01101010 01100101 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010
01100011 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000
01110101 01110011 01100001 01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100
01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011
01101111 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101 00100000
01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100001
01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000 01110000

30. current contributing partners

31. seeking additional
contributing partners to build a robust
community
call for partners

32. jeff chen
jchen1@doc.gov
star ying
sying@doc.gov
want to contribute? contact us
directly or send a note to
datausability@doc.gov