civic hacking @ ruby hoedown

Civic Hacking

Luigi Montanezluigi@sunlightfoundation.com

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I am here to recruit you.

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“Transparency”

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Everyone Wants Transparency

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Questions for me? @LuigiMontanez

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“Civic Hacking”

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Participatory Democracy

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But today...

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Just plain lame!

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Something not lame...

Text

Civic Hacking

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Some Guiding Principles...

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Electoral Politics

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Electoral Politics

Governance

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Closed Source

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Closed Source

Open Source

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Civic Side Projects

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Open Source + Open Data =

Better Government

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Government as a wholesaler, not retailer

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.fec? .wtf?

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High Quality Raw Data

✴ First: Raw data in XML, JSON, or CSV✴ Second: RESTful APIs in JSON/XML✴ Third: Nothing really...

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Civic Hacking Defined

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Federal Government

Credit: vgm8383 on Flickr

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APIs about Congress

✴ Sunlight Labs API - Bio and contact info✴ OpenSecrets.org - Contributions✴ GovTrack.us - Bills and Vote Records✴ MAPLight.org - Vote Influence

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U.S. Courts System✴ Supreme Court (1)✴ Courts of Appeals (12)✴ District Courts (94)✴ Courts for Patents, International Trade,

Bankruptcy

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States✴ Not much yet...✴ FollowTheMoney.org✴ 50 State Project - transform legislative data

for all 50 states into a common format

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Cities✴ Washington, D.C. - api.dc.gov

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A CITY HAS AN API!!!

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Cities✴ Washington, D.C. - Data Catalog, Open

311 API✴ New York City - Big Apps contest, Open

311 API✴ San Francisco - DataSF.org, App Store

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Getting Involved✴ groups.google.com/group/sunlightlabs✴ #transparency on Freenode✴ github.com/sunlightlabs✴ @sunlightlabs on Twitter✴ SunlightLabs.com

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Project Lifecycle1. Explore

2. Design

3. Implement/Test

4. Deploy

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Deployment?

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GAE Daily Quotas✴ 1.3 million requests✴ 1 GB bandwidth outgoing✴ 1 GB bandwidth incoming✴ 6.5 CPU Hours✴ 10 million calls to the Datastore✴ 1 GB in the Datastore

$ sudo gem install google-appengine

$ sinatra-gen mycivicapp

# Inside config.ru

require 'appengine-rack'AppEngine::Rack.configure_app( :application => 'mycivicapp', :version => 1)require 'mycivicapp'run Sinatra::Application

$ appcfg.rb gem sources

$ appcfg.rb gem sources --add \ http://gems.datamapper.org

$ appcfg.rb gem install sinatra dm-appengine

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WEB-INF Directory✴ XML and YAML config✴ .jars for:

✴ AppEngine SDK (holds webserver, Datastore)

✴ JRuby, RubyGems, jruby-rack✴ Our installed gems

$ appcfg.rb --help

usage: /usr/bin/appcfg.rb [options] <action> <app-dir> [<output-file>]

Action must be one of: help: Print help for a specific action. request_logs: Write request logs in Apache common log format. rollback: Rollback an in-progress update. update: Create or update an app version. update_indexes: Update application indexes. version: Prints version information. update_cron: Update application cron jobs. run: run jruby in your application environment. gem: run rubygems for your application. bundle: package your application for deployment.The 'gem' and 'run' commands assume the app directory is the current directory.

$ dev_appserver.rb .

=> Booting DevAppServer=> Press Ctrl-C to shutdown server=> Installing JRuby=> Retrieving jruby-rack=> Installing appengine-sdk=> Generating configuration filesThe server is running at http://localhost:8080/^C

$ appcfg.rb run -S irb

$ appcfg.rb update .

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GAE Limitations✴ No ActiveRecord✴ No ImageMagick✴ No Sphinx✴ No Ruby gems with C extensions

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Consider Civic Hacking✴ Enhance your skillset✴ Get noticed✴ Low risk, high reward✴ Another TDD framework? Really?✴ Local/state govts. an untapped market✴ Solve a hard problem

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Thanks!

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Questions?