Forum One's DataMasher an "Apps for America 2" Finalist

Forum One Communications is one of the top three finalists out of 47 entries in Sunlight Labs' Apps for America 2 contest, a competition to find innovative new ways to expand public access, understanding, and usage of federal government data.

Forum One's DataMasher.org allows anyone to "mash-up" two sets of federal data about U.S. states to create a custom indicator, which may then be viewed by all on a state-by-state map.

Visitors may create their own indicators, leave comments on others indicators, share indicators on various social media sites, and vote for their favorites.

DataMasher.org utilizes data drawn from the new Data.gov site, as well as other federal web sites and related sources.

Chris Wolz, President and CEO of Forum One, said that his firm is honored by the recognition.

"We're just thrilled to be selected as a finalist in Sunlight's Apps for America 2 contest," Wolz said. "The other finalists have some great applications, but we think DataMasher is really unique in showing the power of 'Web 2.0' applications and government data. We think that allowing people to explore government data in this way will get more people interested in learning about and using data produced by the government."

Forum One placed second in last year's Apps for America contest with Legistalker.org, an application that enables U.S. citizens to get real-time information about their legislators' activities on social web sites, in the news, and on the Capitol floor.

This year's Contest entries were judged based on their long-term usability, visual design, and ability to provide citizens with access to publicly available information that was previously inaccessible or difficult to navigate. Voting took place between August 7 and August 22.

Judges included: Tim O'Reilly, Founder, O'Reilly Media; Chris DiBona, Open Source Program Manager, Google; Clay Johnson, Director, Sunlight Labs; Allyson Kapin, Co-Founder Rad Campaign, Women Who Tech; Cyrus Krohn, Director of Local Programming at Microsoft and former Director of the Republican National Committee's e-Campaign Division.

Voting for the winning application is open to the public from August 24 through September 7. Individuals can follow these simple instructions to vote for their favorite application.

The ranking of the top three applications will be announced on September 8 at O'Reilly Media's Gov 2.0 Expo Showcase.