Data sets and data interfaces at datamob.org 

 I recently came across  Datamob.org , a site featuring public datasets and interfaces that have been built to help the public explore them.  

 From datamob's about page: 

 Our listings emphasize the connection between data posted by governments and public institutions and the interfaces people are building to explore that data.

 It's for anyone who's ever looked at a site like MAPLight.org and wondered, "Where did they get their data?" And for anyone who ever looked at THOMAS and thought, "There's got to be a better way to organize this!"  

 I continue to wonder how the types of interfaces featured on datamob will affect the dissemination of information in society. The dream of a lot of these interface builders is to disintermediate information provision -- ie, to make it possible for citizens to do their own research, produce their own insights, publish their findings on blogs and via data-laden widgets. (We welcomed Fernanda and Martin from  Many Eyes , two prominent participants in this movement, earlier this year at our applied stats workshop.) At the same time, the new interfaces make it cheaper for professional analysts -- academics, journalists, consultants -- to access the data and, as they have always done, package it for public consumption. It makes me wonder to what extent the source of our data-backed insights will really change, ie, how much more common will "I was playing around with data on this website and found out that . . . " become relative to "I heard about this study where they found that . . ."?  

 My hunch is that, just as blogging and internet news has democratized political commentary, the new data resources will make it possible for a new group of relatively uncertified people to become intermediaries for data analysis. (I think  FiveThirtyEight  is a good example in political polling, although since the site's editor is anonymous I can't be sure.) People will overwhelmingly continue to get data insights as packaged by intermediaries rather than through new interfaces to raw data, but the intermediaries (who  will  use these new services) will be quicker to use data in making their points, will become much larger in number, and will on average become less credentialed.