Think of Infochimps.org as not only a wikipedia of data sets, but as potentially the greatest data mash-up tool yet.
Imagine having loads of census, weather, sports, and other statistical data available in one big database. Then standardize the fields so that you can interconnect the data sets with each other. From the Infochimps site:
“A central, community-driven repository solves these problems and presents amazing possibilities. Once we interconnect the datasets along concepts they share, instead of 100,000 datasets, there’s just one. Study the physics of baseball by comparing the hourly weather during every single baseball game to game outcomes. Uncover political campaign irregularities by comparing neighborhood per-capita income, historical voter trends, and public campaign finance records. Plan real-estate decisions based on what news-and-other-media keywords rank highly in each area.”
Still don’t see the possibilities? Browse through the datasets that are already loaded. Then check out what is coming in the near future. This will likely be the first place we will want to go for statistical information, as long as it is fast and easy to extract what we need. I am looking forward to seeing what they (or some other enterprising web designers) come up with to work with data on the web.
(does this sound vaguely familiar? you might be thinking of Freebase.com, previously discussed here)
found via Open Access News
