Amazon and the Commerce Department have hosted a data challenge event in Seattle for software developers and civic hackers o develop systems that connect open data with voice recognition.
Justin Antonipillai, counselor to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, wrote in a blog post published Sept. 26 that the department will support the development of voice recognition tools such as the Amazon Alexa Skills Kit.
“Our goal is to democratize access to information for citizens by enabling comfortable, familiar mediums for open, easy access,” said Antoniplillai.
The post noted that the use of Commerce’s open datasets along with data from the National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Census Bureau can help develop agriculture, recreation and the country’s demographics and economics.
