The following is USAID's current data.json file, used for submitting our open data set and assets to http://data.gov. It is published and currently available at http://usaid.gov/data.json.
This file was created per Executive Order M-13-13, issued May 9th, 2013, stating that "open and machine-readable is the default for all government information." The publication and regular maintenance of this file were among the requirements for compliance with that order. More details about the policy, implementation guidelines are available at http://project-open-data.github.io. The schema for this file is also available on that website at http://project-open-data.github.io/schema.
As of December 2013, USAID is currently managing the data.json and individual metadata files manually. In the future the agency may shift to a data management platform that will generate this file automagically.
USAID is committed to open data and actively maintaining our public data listing, not only for transparency and accountability but the new avenues open data provides in efficiency and public engagement. We invite you to submit any questions or errors to the issues section of this repo.
The 'human-readable' version of this list is available at http://usaid.gov/data. The Open Data team at USAID also maintains a list of stories about data initiatives at http://usaid.gov/opendata, and ways for developers to engage with the agency at http://usaid.gov/developer.