The Public Data Ferret
Digging!
Digging is one of the crucial elements of investigative journalism! While I’m digging on material for my thesis on investigative journalism, I ran into this little fellow here: The Public Data Ferret!
Why I dig the ferret? After the incredibly funny and cute cats that www.icanhascheezburger.com spit out of Seattle, the city has now brought a second line of animal cuteness on the way. And this time, it’s incredibly helpful, too!
Although a lot of information from government (more in the US than Germany) is publicly available, that does not mean it is easy to find or maybe you will have to ask for it first! The Public Data Ferret has set out to change that and serves a collection of data on different topics, currently limited to the Seattle area.
While the ferret seems to be living in a rather limited environment at this time, I feel positive that he is going to grow quite a family from this point (he’s a rodent after all, isn’t he?). I think it’s an idea worth spreading!
Go fetch! 🙂