Sunlight Labs announced the release of TransparencyData.com earlier today. I spent some time playing around with the site yesterday and have to say that it completely changes the ways in which researchers tracking campaign finance issues will get their data. The site makes searching, obtaining and downloading data so much easier than it has ever been.
Labs Director Clay Johnson has been tweeting examples of what kind of data you can find through the TransparencyData.com database.
Blumenthal's post concludes with a look at how the TransparencyData.com data could be utilized in researching the mining tragedy earlier this week in West Virginia. For example, using the database you could quickly learn about campaign contributions made by the owners of the mine, the company's PAC, and other employees.
The Sunlight Labs Blog also contains a bunch of useful info about where the data is coming from and how it all works.
TransparencyData lets you query and download bulk data about transparency. We're launching with two datasets that have never been merged before, and without an unprecedented amount of access.
We've merged all of OpenSecrets data with all the data from FollowTheMoney.org allowing you, for the first time, to get a clear picture of campaign contributions at both the state and federal level. Before now, there were two datasets: the OpenSecrets data focusing on federal data, and the FollowTheMoney data, focusing on state data. Now, finally, you can use TransparencyData.com to query, filter, and download this data.
You'll also read about the TransparencyData API and that COMING SOON lobbying data for the U.S. Congress will become available.
Sunlight continues to develop and provide useful resources that can make working with government data easier and in some cases, less expensive since most if not all of their resources and tools are free. Awesome work. Congrats!
Sources: Sunlight Foundation Blog, Sunlight Labs Blog
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