Telling the Story

Charts in the State of the Union Address

Technological “State of the Union” history was made this week by President Obama on Whitehouse.gov.

Here’s a brief history of the State of the Union address. In 1790, George Washington gave the first State of the Union address. It was in person, and it was called “The First Annual Message to Congress,” with John Adams following suit. The speech was only shared with the public through the newspaper.  In 1801, Thomas Jefferson actually discontinued the practice of delivering the address in person, regarding it as “too kingly.” Instead, it was written down and sent to Congress, read by a clerk.  In 1923, our nation got to hear the annual message via the radio for the first time by Calvin Coolidge.

 
Image Source Page: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4886813

In 1947, Harry Truman’s State of the Union address (FDR was the first to coin the term in 1935) was the first to be broadcast on television.

Image Source Page: http://www.vrml.k12.la.us/french/ahs/yearfestivals/cattlefestivaln/cattlfestival.htm

In 2002, George W. Bush’s State of the Union’s address made history by being the first to broadcast on the Internet. This week, President Obama’s White House website, www.whitehouse.gov, not only simulcast his speech, they added charts, graphs and photos to help enhance and support his ideas and arguments while he was making them. He used the latest online technologies of steaming video, images, and charts relevant to his comments.

 

 

Image Source - http://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2011

Regardless of your political viewpoints, this demonstrated a new and innovative way to engage and educate the audience and it made State of the Union technological history.  It truly helped them "tell the story."

Source: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepresidentandcabinet/a/souhistory.htm

USASpending.gov Revamp

Last week, the Obama administration revamped its USASpending.gov site with features that allow visitors to do more in-depth analysis about how their tax dollars are spent. The site was originally launched as a part of the 2006 Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act to grant U.S. citizens to have greater access and insight into how the government spends money.

 

 

 

The refreshed site takes advantage of open source technology. It was developed on the open-source platform Drupal, which also powers the WhiteHouse.gov site.

Some of the new features include the ability to compare spending across various government agencies, as well as track trends with interactive motion charts to observe changes in spending over the years.  For example, visitors can track spending by geographic location, allowing them to see how much money the federal government has invested in their state, and compare it to other states. It also boasts new information-sharing features that allow people to share RSS feeds.

 

The website is totally interactive, and includes the ability to search, browse, and even write programs to query the system. Now you can even specify your search parameters, leave your email address, and be notified when your source data is ready to download.

 

To me, this represents the next generation in charting. I love the interactive, flash technology, the ability to view trends, the ability to sort by a mixture of spending types (contracts, grants, direct payments, insurance, and loans and guarantees), which makes it very easy to sort and de-sort as you view and download data.  My only question is whether it’s too complex.  It may impress some people with its cool pictures and animations, but my guess is that only a few people will understand fully what they're being shown. When you're dealing with a complex topic, the temptation to throw more choices at the user can be dangerous. But, complexity issues aside, it is a great example of how transparency and open government concepts can be applied in innovative, cutting edge charting technology.