What Would You Pay For Faster, Smarter Government Data?

Posted February 8, 2019

External Article: Science Friday

Mariel Borowitz, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, recently wrote a journal article entitled “Government Data, Commercial Cloud: Will Public Access Suffer?” that was published in Science, and featured on public radio's Science Friday program.

Here's an excerpt:

Whether we’re aware of it or not, “the cloud” has changed our lives forever. It’s where we watch movies, share documents, and store passwords. It’s quick, efficient, and we wouldn’t be able to live our fast-paced, internet-connected lives without it.

Now, federal agencies are storing much of their data in the cloud. For example, NASA is trying to make 20 petabytes of data available to the public for free. But to do that, they need some help from a commercial cloud provider—a company like Amazon or Microsoft or Google. But will the government’s policy of open data clash with the business model of Silicon Valley? Mariel Borowitz, Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech and Katya Abazajian, Open Cities Director with the Sunlight Foundation join guest host John Dankosky to discuss the trade offs to faster, smarter government data in the cloud.

Listen to the interview here.

The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.