Governments are Bad Webmasters, Let Them Stick to RSS

Posted on June 5, 2008
Filed Under Venture News |

Margaret Thatcher once said “Governments are bad businessmen, privatization at any cost would be better than keeping with the costs of ineffective structure”. Neither governments are good webmasters, website of the Israeli Institute of Export is a compelling example of how governments can botch a simple thing. A recent study from researchers at Princeton University suggests an interesting approach. The governments should publish raw information in RSS/XML format instead of putting it into clumsy websites. Information will be further disseminated, mashed up and syndicated by zillions of content aggregators.

Still one can’t underestimate capacity of governments to screw up even simple tasks. XBRL, Extensible Business Reporting Language, a XML-based microformat for financial reporting, is being implemented for ten years.

Sphere: Related Content