Hey, creative technologists of the Fargo community, my home town, South Bend, Indiana, has starting putting huge portions of the city's data sets online for the good people of our city to use in innovating and problem-solving. This seems all to the good to me, but I wonder if there is something missing. What about the synergy of people trading ideas about these data sets, for one thing? Where will those conversations be held?

And I wonder if Fargo people might spot something else that would deepen the impact of this new open data policy? South Bend has many beautiful things going for it, but also is still scarred from industrial losses decades ago. ["Bail out Studebaker" was a popular bumper sticker here four or five years ago.]

If you feel like checking out the city's new data site, I'd be really interested in hearing what you notice and what ideas you have for making the most of it. Thanks for maybe taking a look.