Consumer friendly “App Store” to best serve citizens and developers

What is the idea?

Recovery.gov should create and promote the equivalent of an “iPhone app store” which would allow recovery data to be easily accessed, analyzed and/or combined  with other data so that it could be visualized in a variety of meaningful ways.

Recovery.gov seeks to make all recovery data available to as many people as possible in an open and transparent fashion, and in ways that make it easy for them to use the data in whatever way they see fit, to reach their own conclusions about how the U.S. government is spending stimulus money.

There are far more people in the general population who can benefit from tools to explore and understand recovery data than there are people within government who are responsible for publishing the data. This would also invite/allow any developer who has the skills to create novel and useful visualizations of data to do so, bringing many more resources to bear than recovery.gov could on its own.

The question is: “how should recovery.gov support them?”

An “app store” along the lines used by Apple to support application developers and consumers would promote a consumer-friendly environment where one could host and download small, targeted, flexible applications that can be created and submitted by anyone.

Features of the “app store” might include:

• Simple methods for developers to publish apps.
• Pre-publication review and curation of apps — sort of an Underwriters Laboratory seal of good practice.

• A directory service for all published apps that enables people to identify apps of potential interest using several methods, e.g.: by searching, browsing, following recommendations, etc.
• A simple, consistent model for how an app is depicted and described (e.g., logo, sequence of screen shots, right hand column description, etc.)
• A secure fulfillment mechanism that supports monetization (or not), updates, and analytics.

While some apps might have a small charge, many or most would be free.

Why is it important?

Most government web sites are tediously complex. We need a true consumer-friendly service platform that enables all parties, regardless of technical sophistication, to access data, create value through their use and interpretation of it, and communicate value by publishing web services and apps that encapsulate their methods. Recovery.gov’s app store should be accessible in a way that is agile, evolutionary, and driven by the needs of the data consumers (U.S. citizens) rather than data producers (federal government agencies).  In short, let’s make recovery.gov useful to the “average Joe.”