How To Publish a Factual Table

Go to factual.com and create an account to get free access to existing “open data” tables.

Say you wanted to add a restaurants table to your site. Once you’ve found a table that you want to embed, click “Embed.” Enter the dimensions you want the table to be and choose the color scheme, and Factual will automatically generate the “iframe” HTML code required to embed it into your web site. You can preview the table before embedding it. When you’re satisfied, copy the snippet of code and paste it on your site. You can also share tables with people directly — just click “Email” to send them the link.

Now that the table’s embedded on your site, people can scroll through the data, search it, and sort it. Say someone wants to make a dinner reservation for a big group. They can click on the “Large Group” column and filter by “yes” to see which restaurants are a good match. Or, find the speediest restaurants by sorting by “Quickness.” A click on a fact in a cell reveals the story behind that fact — including which users contributed knowledge and their citations. Note the cell indicators that suggest disagreement. Remember that you control what shows up on your site and what data can be edited.

Encourage people to add data to the embedded table by promoting it on your site. They can easily edit a cell or add a new row. Ask them also to embed it on their own web sites, creating a growing community of contributors. The more places the table appears, the more data gets added, and the more comprehensive and accurate the table becomes.