President Obama's Open Government Initiative urges federal agencies to make “high-value” data publicly available at www.data.gov. But agencies too often are reluctant to release information, or choose to release it in a hard-to-use format. Today, the Center for Public Integrity, in partnership with the Sunlight Foundation, launches The Data Mine, an online series that will highlight inaccessible or poorly presented information from the federal government. From the CIA to the CDC, we’ll be looking at data that needs to be public, with regular posts on the Center's and Sunlight's websites. We’ll describe each data set, as well as officials’ plans for putting it online — or not.

We need your input and help as we begin digging into The Data Mine. Are there particular government data sets that you think should be made more accessible or user-friendly? Which agencies have information that you think should be offered up for public consumption online? Send your tips and experiences to datamine@publicintegrity.org. You can also message us on Twitter, or discuss the project on our Facebook page. We’re eager to hear what you turn up — full credit and links will be provided to individuals whose suggestions we use in our series.

Let us know what federal data you think should be liberated, and we’ll start shining a light on some dark corners of Washington.cpikftag

The Data Mine is a joint project of the Center for Public Integrity and the Sunlight Foundation.