Transparency in government:
New US CIO is an infoviz fan

Appointed earlier this week by President Obama, 34-year-old Vivek Kundra is the U.S.'s new Chief Information Officer.
Since 2007, Kundra’s group in the DC municipal government [where he had been CTO] has been using a data-visualization package from Tableau Software... Kundra’s group [created] charts and graphs for its CapStat program, which has received a fair bit of attention as a way to present trends and analysis to the general public on municipal issues like crime, disaster response, school security, and city maintenance. The program is one of the ways in which Kundra has been recognized in his efforts to make the workings of the DC government more transparent...

Obama’s hope is that Kundra will also help bring more transparency to the federal government. One way this could potentially happen is through websites like Recovery.gov, which was set up to explain the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The intent of the site is to show how, when, and where money from the federal stimulus package is being spent by states, Congressional districts, and federal contractors. According to the site, it aims to “display the information visually, through maps, charts, and graphics.”
"Vivek Kundra, the Nation's New CIO, is Supporter of Seattle Startup, Tableau Software" — Xconomy.com

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