{"id":467663,"date":"2010-03-24T14:11:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-24T18:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:www.opensecrets.org,2010:\/news\/\/8.1438"},"modified":"2010-03-24T17:12:01","modified_gmt":"2010-03-24T21:12:01","slug":"dreaming-of-more-accessible-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/467663","title":{"rendered":"Dreaming of More Accessible Data"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In observance of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/news\/2010\/03\/opensecretsorg-celebrates-ada-lovel.html\">Ada Lovelace Day<\/a>, I&#8217;d like to share some thoughts with you on the research work we do here at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/\">Center for Responsive Politics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I joined the Center about 10 years ago. What&#8217;s kept me here all these years is the dedication and the passion of the team&#8217;s members to the Center\u0092s mission.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, this is not a convincing answer to my teen-age son who always wonders why his dad works fewer hours and makes more money than I do. Working long hours and during weekends certainly isn&#8217;t rare at the Center. The level of dedication to the accuracy and the quality of the data we produce is extremely high. With a small team and a great amount of work to do, sometimes I feel I&#8217;m working in a hospital emergency room, not for a non-profit organization.<\/p>\n<p>Each time during these long&nbsp;hours&nbsp;I introduce an idea for new data analyses, my colleagues joke that I must&#8217;ve had a dream about it. So, I want to share with you my latest dream: to compare bills listed on federal lobbying reports with the number of corporations or organizations that lobbied on these bills. The goal would be to make a connection between industries and legislation.<\/p>\n<p>Data, when it is cleaned and well organized, is a great storyteller.<\/p>\n<p>So, in the near future, when a visitor to OpenSecrets.org searches for&nbsp;information on a&nbsp;particular bill, he or she will likely be able to see the number of&nbsp;corporations and organizations&nbsp;that lobbied on the bill. The lobbying clients will be divided by sector, and the data will appear in a pie chart similar to the one here:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/news\/jihanpiechart.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 20px; DISPLAY: block\" class=\"mt-image-center\" alt=\"jihanpiechart.jpg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/news\/assets_c\/2010\/03\/jihanpiechart-thumb-428x250-723.jpg\" width=\"428\" height=\"250\" \/><\/a>Under another tab, visitors&nbsp;could view the top lobbying clients and their lobbying expenditures for this bill, which happens to be the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. Furthermore, and under another lobbying tab, visitors may see the contributions from these lobbying clients&#8217; political action committees and employees to federal candidates,&nbsp;leadership PACs&nbsp;and parties. For example:<\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\">\ntable.tableizer-table {border: 1px solid #CCC; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;} .tableizer-table td {padding: 4px; margin: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc;}\n.tableizer-table th {background-color: #519EEB; color: #FFF; font-weight: bold;}\n<\/style>\n<table class=\"tableizer-table\">\n<tbody>\n<tr class=\"tableizer-firstrow\">\n<th>&nbsp;Donor<\/th>\n<th>&nbsp;Cycle<\/th>\n<th>&nbsp;Total $<\/th>\n<th>&nbsp;PAC $<\/th>\n<th>&nbsp;Individuals $ <\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Lockheed Martin<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">1,634,177<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">1,487,700<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">146,477<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Boeing Co.<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">1,520,430<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">1,340,500<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">179,930<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Raytheon Co.<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">1,406,416<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">1,361,500<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">44,916<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Northrop Grumman<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">1,160,865<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">1,009,550<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">151,315<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>General Dynamics<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">982,875<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">879,900<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">102,975<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>BAE Systems<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">641,365<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">611,500<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">29,865<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>SAIC Inc.<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">539,574<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">452,250<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">87,324<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>United Technologies<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">444,750<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">429,000<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">15,750<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>L-3 Communications<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">274,520<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">256,800<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">17,720<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Harris Corp.<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">211,850<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">188,700<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">23,150<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Cubic Corp.<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">113,250<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">72,500<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">40,750<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Alliant Techsystems<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">99,087<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">90,687<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">8,400<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mantech International<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">98,024<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">68,000<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">30,024<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Finmeccanica SpA<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">96,220<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">72,000<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">24,220<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>European Aeronautic Defence and Space<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">56,350<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">51,500<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">4,850<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Rockwell Collins Inc.<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">49,600<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">37,500<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">12,100<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Dynetics Inc.<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">47,750<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">30,500<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">17,250<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Davidson Technologies<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">45,383<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">0<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">45,383<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Alion Science and Technology<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">42,470<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">33,100<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">9,370<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Renco Group<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\">2010<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">32,550<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">0<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\">32,550<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Most projects at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/\">OpenSecrets.org<\/a> start with similar dreams and usually end up as new features on our website to shed more light on the influence of money in politics.<\/p>\n<p><em>Jihan Andoni is the Center for Responsive Politics&#8217; research director and a periodic contributor to <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/news\">Capital Eye<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In observance of Ada Lovelace Day, I&#8217;d like to share some thoughts with you on the research work we do here at the Center for Responsive Politics. I joined the Center about 10 years ago. What&#8217;s kept me here all these years is the dedication and the passion of the team&#8217;s members to the Center\u0092s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6355,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-467663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6355"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467663\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}