As sentiment analysis is refined, it will become a powerful tool for market research.

The idea is to use computer software to do what people do, which is read text and make sense of it in some kind of situational framework.”

By one well-informed estimate, there are 10,000 different information systems used in the federal government, many of them two or three decades old, and most of them incompatible with each other.

Because all important datasets are now interoperable, many new companies are based on creative data mashups.

Its website also features the company’s campaign to fight human trafficking through data analysis, with funding from Google’s philanthropic arm.

Once they had the data, ProPublica was able to show serious cost and safety problems with the dialysis system. The group developed a Dialysis Facility

The Geeks, or computer science experts, have developed the tools to analyze ever larger sets of data in ever more illuminating ways. The Wonks, on the policy side, have come up with creative ways to use this computing power for better government, smarter business policy, and faster innovation.

contribute to the solution, and together they make large-scale datasets more valuable.

Other companies want to build platforms to republish the data and add value—Google is probably the prime example—and make money off advertising or subscriptions. And still other companies offer analytics. They