What Pain Killers Can Teach Us About Open Government

Looking for an example of how open government data is being used by the private sector? Google the words “aspirin,” “ibuprofen” or “amoxicillin” and check out the upper right hand corner of the webpage. You’ll find boxes with information about recommended uses, risks and possible side effects that rely on open data streams from the National Library of Medicine and the Food and Drug Administration.

“The best part about this is we didn’t even know it was happening,” U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park told members of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology Friday. “It didn’t happen because of evangelism by us. It didn’t happen because we met them at a meet up. They just somehow learned about the API we had . . . and boom. This materialized and now that information is helping everyone on Google search and score aspirin and every other drug.”...