DigitalGov Monthly Theme: How Data and Code Improve Government Services

Data and code are the foundation, building blocks, and cornerstone of government digital services. They are the keys that open the door to a better digital government future and are fundamental in making government more open. No matter who you are or where you work in the federal space, data and code enable your projects to meet real needs.

Vicente Barcelo Varona, Hemera, Thinkstock

This month we’re featuring articles around the theme of data and code. Here’s a sneak peek of what we have lined up:

• A summary of recent programming from DigitalGov University on opening data, code and building APIs
• How the U.S., Mexico and Canada are working together to improve digital citizen services via open data
• Why (and how) your APIs need design help
• How the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Cancer Institute got started with open and structured content models
• Lessons learned from two Securities and Exchange Commission projects that use XML for Web metadata publishing
• The most relevant and useful If This Then That recipes for federal digital managers
• Federal employees weigh in on the use of HTTP versus HTTPS

And speaking of open, the theme for our Spring 2015 Citizen Services Summit is open, and the SocialGov team opened the U.S. Public Participation Playbook to coders last month. The Playbook itself is open, with contributions and feedback solicited throughout the development process. Remember that every Wednesday, Bill Brantley from USDA writes the weekly API Briefing where you can learn how government APIs are transforming government and improving services. We also encourage you to learn how you can get your data on Data.gov and how their data pipeline works.