Policy Forum # Just Give Us the Data! Prospects for Putting Government Information to Revolutionary New Uses ##### Watch the Event [Get Flash](http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer) to see this player. Embed this video on your web site: [![tv](/images/icons/tv.gif)](http://www.cato.org/realaudio/cpf-12-10-08.ram) [Watch the Event in Real Video](/realaudio/cpf-12-10-08.ram) [![ipod](/images/icons/ipod.jpg)](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2008/cpfa-12-10-08.mp3)[Download a Podcast of the Event (MP3)](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2008/cpfa-12-10-08.mp3) Join the conversation on X using [\#CatoEvents](https://x.com/hashtag/CatoEvents). Follow [@CatoInstitute](https://x.com/catoinstitute) on X to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute. Date and Time December 10, 2008 1 - 2:45 PM EST Location Auditorium/Wintergarden Share This Event ##### Featuring Featuring **Ed Felten**, Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs and Director of the Center for Information Technology Policy, Princeton University; **Gary D. Bass**, Founder and Executive Director, OMB Watch; **Jerry Brito**, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center at George Mason University; Moderated by **Jim Harper**, Director of Information Policy Studies, Cato Institute For all the change information technology has brought to society, the government sector lags behind in part because access to good data is lacking. A stable of private, non-profit, and volunteer efforts promise revolutionary change once they can access standardized, structured, and open government data. President-Elect Barack Obama made transparency a signature issue in the Senate, and talk of a “chief technology officer” in his administration often turns to whether that role might be as much a “chief transparency officer” What are the possibilities for open government data? What are the needs of the data user community? And what are the impediments to getting the data out there so that revolutionary change can get underway [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).