Open Data Now: The Secret to Hot Startups, Smart Investing, Savvy Marketing, and Fast Innovation (Business Books)

could reveal population-wide patterns that help predict when a flu epidemic is about to start or help design cities that manage their traffic in ways that save energy and help fight global warming.

The Geeks, or computer science experts, have developed the tools to analyze ever larger sets of data in ever more illuminating ways. The Wonks, on the policy side, have come up with creative ways to use this computing power for better government, smarter business policy, and faster innovation.

As the web took off in the 1990s, so did investigative reporters, who used the Internet to get new access to data and documents.

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) system focused

The EPA, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Government Printing Office have started to use a new data-management technology called Linked Data, also called Web 3.0, Semantic Web, or the Web of Data.

MoneySupermarket.com, Confused.com, and GoCompare.com have been so successful.

The technology for text analysis dates back to the 1950s, Grimes explained, when it was developed both in academia and at research centers like IBM.

The turning point came when Bloomberg developed its Consumer Complaint Index, rating companies based on sentiment analysis of their customers’ online comments.

Because all important datasets are now interoperable, many new companies are based on creative data mashups.