This site was built in response to a few "trends" that we think have lasting impacts on the way we manage data and software.
Government is for the people, so why shouldn't the data it produces be likewise? In May 2013, President Obama agreed and issued an executive order requiring all federal agencies to create and implement open data policies. Check out data.gov for a directory of national datasets.
Hosting source code on GitHub is old hat. However, there are some very interesting use cases developing for storing data on GitHub, especially for government. Add in GitHub pages and other features, and your toolbox becomes truly extensive.
Special thanks to all of the projects and libraries that this site draws on: