I returned recently from the OECD World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy in Istanbul. It was invigorating to talk with such an impressive, globe-spanning group. Attendees–who ranged from academic statisticians, to medical researchers, to directors of government ministries–seemed genuinely excited by Many Eyes and its potential to aid policy decisions and educate citizens.

The OECD itself took the lead on using the Many Eyes technology: To coincide with the World Forum, they created an official OECD Topic Hub, with hundreds of datasets from the OECD Factbook 2007. As Enrico Giovannini, Director of Statistics and Chief Statistician of OECD, put it: “Global discussion based on solid statistics allows society to understand its current state and provides a base from which to make progress and innovate. Providing OECD’s 2007 Factbook data to the public offers citizens around the world an opportunity to collectively explore, discuss and tackle the societal challenges of our time.”

Today Many Eyes holds more than 100 visualizations of the OECD data, from oil prices to CO2 emissions. We encourage you to join the topic hub, create new visualizations, and contribute to the dialog around this trove of information. And we hope that other organizations will join the OECD in opening their data to the Many Eyes audience.