Over in the Open Government Google Group (which you might want to consider joining) Alexis Madrigal admits that the Wired story on open government he's been working on wasn't working: "The actual mode of journalism with its traditional endgoal of a 'finished product' article that tells people how it is wasn't up to the task." So, he figured, hey, what's good for the government is good for the writer, and went open source with the project. Be sure to check out Wired's new How-To Open Government Data wiki, built on MediaWiki. The goal is pick a wide assortment of brains on specific areas where data sets the government produces should be put to better use for lay citizens and government employees alike, like turning USDA spreadsheets on crops and cattle into far more user-friendly XML feeds.

Madrigal's wiki joins a suddenly more crowded field of folks working to help incoming CIO Vivek Kundra figure out to marshall the information the government has at its fingertips. The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) eGovernment Interest Group is holding a meeting in DC March 12th and 12th aimed at "develop[ing] a road map for developing Web standards to realize open and interoperable solutions."

Well, sorta. As someone mentioned on Twitter, it is a bit comical that the homepage of what will become the epicenter of the open data movement now consists of a jpeg. Nothing says freedom of information like converting text into static images! But it is a first step; Data.gov has gone from an unresolvable URL to a placeholder page. The site, of course, was proposed by new federal CIO Vivek Kundra as a way of gathering, bundling, and pushing out the data produced by the federal government. If the DC Data Catalog, Kundra's past project, is any guide, then what we're in for isn't just a one-stop shop of the same ol' government data tied up with a pretty bow. It's access to the operational information that powers the government itself. According to that static image/homepage, a full-featured Data.gov will launch late next month.

Whether the government or companies are snooping into the personal Internet records of private citizens is among the hottest public debates happening in the U.K. right now, and a privacy organization called the Open Rights Group is tapping into unease over Facebook's omniscience to hammer home the idea that it's weird when anyone knows that much about you. Statebook details the comings and goings, emails, phone calls, visits, work patterns, and intimate family facts about a fictional citizen by the name of Jack Smith. Eye catching, but there's education here too. Coupled with those details are explanations about the exact legislation, regulation, or database (like the ominously named "Intercept Modernisation Programme") that's got you living in a panopticon. Clever stuff.

Here are my semi-verbatim but not perfectly precise notes from this morning's speakers at GovWebCon. Random comments and observations from me in [brackets]. The first session is led by Vivek Kundra, federal CIO, and Macon Phillips, White House new media director, who start off by sharing their vision for a new era of online government. Much more after the jump.

Here's an interesting project out of the U.K., and a noteworthy result. The Straight Choice bills itself as a "Live Election Leaflet Monitoring Project," and serves as a hub for fliers being distributed around elections there. "Election leaflets are one of the main weapons in the fight for votes in the UK," explains the site. "They are targeted, effective and sometimes very bitter. We need your help to photograph and map them so we can keep an eye on what the parties are up to, and try to keep them honest." Mailers are uploaded to the site, and organized by subject matter or as the product of one of more than 300 (!) political parties. The public is then invited to give them a thorough vetting.

And the site has now been used to uncover some awkward stock photo usage by the far-right British National Party. "I’m voting BNP because I see what immigration has done to the NHS," says one doctor in one flier. But rather than being a real live BNP voter, the doctor pictured turns out to be a stock photograph sold on iStockPhoto under the name "Caring Health Care Professional."

The U.K.'s Gordon Brown isn't exactly the cuddliest politician on the planet. But even the often gruff and occasionally dour PM has taken to YouTube to solicit questions and comments from the assorted masses. This is serious business, though, not freewheeling tomfoolery. Video questions must stay under a one minute cap. And the musn't descend into "party political content," whatever that might be. CitizenTube has more.

Calling all developers: The Sunlight Foundation, Google, O'Reilly Media and Techweb are launching a new contest, Apps for America 2: The Data.gov Challenge, to celebrate the launch of Data.gov today.

If you spend time hanging out in Twitter land, then you no doubt know that Data.gov has entered the world. We hear both programmers and site are resting comfortably. Seriously, we'll have more information on the site, insight from CIO Vivek Kundra, and bigger news about the White House's effort to become more participatory, collaborative, and transparent at 1pm ET today. Stay tuned. For now, check out Data.gov's 47 data feeds in multiple formats -- XML, CSV, and the geo-spatial standards KML/KMZ and ESRI -- and its built-in tool for extracting raw data.

OMB's Peter Orszag blogs on why Data.gov matters:

Data.gov will...help government agencies -- so that taxpayer dollars get spent more wisely and efficiently. Through live data feeds, agencies will have the ability to easily access data both internally and externally from other agencies, which will allow them to maintain higher levels of performance. In the months and years ahead, our goal is to continuously improve and update Data.gov with a wide variety of available datasets and easy-to-use tools based on public feedback and as we modernize legacy systems over time.

Democratizing government data will help change how government operates -- and give citizens the ability to participate in making government services more effective, accessible, and transparent

Orszag is making a case that fits right into the Nudge-style behavioral economics argument that is popular in DC at the moment. (Nudge co-author Cass Sunstein has, you might know, been nominated to head the office that oversees how federal agencies and departments make regulations.) Here, what's being nudged is government itself.

We talk a lot about how standardizing and publishing government data will encourage citizens to remix and rework information to meet their needs. But Orszag, in his own understated blog style, is making the case that just as important is how creating an expectation of standardized government data through Data.gov will create a feedback loop of accountability within government.

There's a competitive aspect to this approach to government data. Similarly, you might look at the White House's new Innovations Gallery, launched yesterday. The site showcases the best use of online interaction across the government web. One audience is no doubt the public. But it's fair to also see it as an attempt to create a healthy sense of competition between government entities to see who can take the lead in the contest to best tackle Web 2.0.

CIO Vivek Kundra concisely explains his vision for the project.