How I build cool stuff for government
(and I’m not a back-ender)

A year ago

LEARNING COOL STUFF
no meetups
40
30
20
10
0
2005 2006 2007 2008

Then I went to:
• Web Directions
• Jelly
• Webjam
• WSG

Then I went to:
• Web Directions
• Jelly
• Webjam
And met lots of cool people

LEARNING COOL STUFF
meetups no meetups
100
75
50
25
0
2005 2006 2007 2008

and learnt new dance moves
(FAIL)

One of the cool things I learnt...
one day I decided to build an
RSS feed for our news
(CMS still didn’t have one)

but I didn’t know how to build a feed
(properly)

(So I used apps)
Dapper
RSS feed Twitterfeed Twitter
Feedburner Email
subscriptions
Stats

(So I used apps)
Dapper
RSS feed Twitterfeed Twitter
Feedburner Email
subscriptions
Stats
iGoogle Gadget
}
(So my Boss knew this stuff was cool)

Then I got other people
to build cool stuff for me

like this widget that shows
water savings in real-time
(The Man In Blue)
Saving water is good
Widgets look cool
(its like watching a lava lamp)

and the Cultural Awards 2008
(Agency Rainford)
If you want to know why
it’s cool,
come and see my presentation
tomorrow at WDS08
(11.45am)

I want more people in local government
to build cool stuff

Reem Me
So me and Reem started the
Local Government Web Network
and organised a conference
So we could talk to other gov web peeps
about building cool stuff

John Allsopp opened the conference

He showed
this slide

I thought...
How
inconvenient!

I thought...
How
inconvenient!
that she had to stop
her bike and get
out her phone

Better!
- Voice updates
- (i)Phone mounted
to handlebars
Location based info:
Official bike routes
Weather
Parks
Water fountains
Bike racks
Bike lockers
Bike shops

Better!
- Voice updates
- (i)Phone mounted
“Old drain covers to handlebars
grrrrrr.
The slots run same way Location based info:
as wheels Official bike routes
- really dangerous”
Weather
Parks
Water fountains
Alerted to their location Bike racks
Bike lockers
Report them to council Bike shops

Useful

That stuff has already been built, or will be soon.
So what would be really cool?

IRON MAN

cool tracking system

cool tracking system So you don’t have to
look down at the
phone

Can someone build and Iron Man style bike helmet
with in built location targeting system
that you can talk to?

But then hey, why would you be riding a bike?
(but that’s not the point)

There’s lots of cool stuff you AND government
could do with public data
I want to help

You can help:
• Keep building cool apps (cos I can’t),
so I and other (gov) people can use them :)
• Tell me if you’ve built something cool
(especially if its using public data)
• Tell me if you want to work with us
• Or, if you want to teach us
www.lgwebnetwork.org

Some wise words

Some wise words
Take all your 40,00 PDFs
and put it on a web page

Some wise words
Take all your 40,00 PDFs
and put it on a web page
Find someone who
rides a bike
so they’ll support
your idea

Some wise words
Take all your 40,00 PDFs
and put it on a web page
Just Build It.
Find someone who
rides a bike
so they’ll support
your idea

Build stuff
that your boss will use
and that makes people go
ooh like a lava lamp

This is my dream

Want to help?