links for 2010-07-06

Simon Rogers, editor the Guardian's Datablog and Datastore, says: "It's a logical extension of our work as journalists: behind our stories and graphics are often key sets of statistics, which traditionally live for the moment of the publication and then disappear back onto a reporter's hard drive. We wanted to give those numbers a longer life."

Using Google Spreadsheets, we have published over 500 sets of data covering everything from carbon emissions by country, through east European immigration figures to the UK, to plastic surgery statistics. The site has been used to publish raw Guardian information too: the executive pay survey data and the background full spreadsheets behind Felicity Lawrence's supermarket scoops, for instance. If it's a story based on numbers, you will find those numbers on the Datablog.

Ten principles of mutualisation

The plan is to create an open and standardised format for anyone to use, re-publish and "mash up" without charge. Furthermore, the coalition plans to work with local government to put information on spending, tenders and contracts over £500 online.

There will be no public sector monopoly – the jobs data can be used by anyone, from commercial recruitment, newspapers to pressure groups.

This Google Gadget enables you to look for stories not only there, but across the network of Press Gazette-authored blogs. It should be particularly handy for searching back through The Wire, our news aggregation blog which so far consists of more than 6,700 posts linking to interesting journalism related stuff across the web.