You are browsing the archives of June 2010.

Because public transit is taxpayer funded, these companies are subject to state public records laws. Relevant to companies vying for contracts or riders who want to understand why fares are increasing, these records can provide insight into how public transit is operated.

The Illinois Comptroller’s Open Book is a searchable database that returns side-by-side results for state contracts and campaign contributions. The data is drawn from public records that are available separately from the Comptroller’s office and the Illinois State Board of Elections, but Open Book makes it easier for researchers to search for potential conflicts of interest.

Earlier this week Google announced that Caffeine, its new web search indexing system, now provides search results for all Google search users. Caffeine indexes hundreds of thousands of gigabytes daily by continuously crawling the web to process newly published content.

The San Jose Mercury News recently launched a database reporting salary information for Bay Area public employees. This data has been available via written requests under the California Public Records Act since a unanimous 2007 California Supreme Court decision mandated public employee salary data was a public record, but this new online database makes the information readily accessible and searchable online.