Public Health-Seattle & King County Partners with Local Nonprofits to Advance Open Data

Public Health - Seattle & King County (PHSKC), the NNIP partner organization for the Seattle area, is collaborating with other local open data organizations to make data more accessible and understandable. One of these partners is Public Data Ferret, a project of the non-profit Public Eye Northwest, which works to advance digital civic literacy, voluntary government transparency, and civic engagement. Public Data Ferret uses PHSKC as a source, both for data and interpretation (as in this example showing the results of mandatory fast food labeling). In turn, PHSKC links to Data Ferret for data visualizations of sub-county crime rates, both recent and historic. This is one example of the new data and media scene in Puget Sound, and part of a growing movement of traditional data organizations joining with innovative data startups to help more people get the information they need about their community.