When Public Records Become Really Public

When I took my first look at the data for our Massachusetts campaign finance maps this fall, I nearly jumped out of my seat.
According to the Massachusetts Office of Campaign & Political Finance, my mother had given more than the legal limit to Deval Patrick. It turned out that there had been a credit-card foul-up, […]

Wikipedia API Looking for Developers

If you’ve been experimenting with Atlas, our new mapping tool, you may have noticed that it’s easy to include Wikipedia content on your maps.
Type in a city — say, “New Bedford, MA” — and you’ll be able to pull up a list of Wikipedia articles related to that city (”New England”,”Towns in Massachusetts”,”Bristol County, Massachusetts”,”Coastal […]

When Will the Senate Go Digital?

The Washington Post says the Senate should get with the program and start filing their campaign finance reports electronically.
We thoroughly agree.

Why Not Share Your Data?

Here’s a question: You just published a great article highlighting thousands of dead residents still appearing on county voting lists, now county clerks are calling up asking you to share the data. Do you give it to them?
Matt Wynn did, and I think he made the right decision. In fact, it’s hard to believe that […]