Civic Hacking @ Ruby Hoedown

Civic Hacking Luigi Montanez luigi@sunlightfoundation.com

I am here to recruit you. Question? @LuigiMontanez

“Transparency” Question? @LuigiMontanez

Everyone Wants Transparency Question? @LuigiMontanez

Questions for me? @LuigiMontanez Question? @LuigiMontanez

“Civic Hacking” Question? @LuigiMontanez

Participatory Democracy Question? @LuigiMontanez

But today... Question? @LuigiMontanez

Just plain lame! Question? @LuigiMontanez

Something not lame... Question? @LuigiMontanez

Civic Hacking Text

Some Guiding Principles... Question? @LuigiMontanez

Electoral Politics Question? @LuigiMontanez

Electoral Politics Governance Question? @LuigiMontanez

Closed Source Question? @LuigiMontanez

Closed Source Open Source Question? @LuigiMontanez

Civic Side Projects Question? @LuigiMontanez

Open Source + Open Data = Better Government Question? @LuigiMontanez

Government as a wholesaler, not retailer Question? @LuigiMontanez

.fec? .wtf? Question? @LuigiMontanez

High Quality Raw Data ✴ First: Raw data in XML, JSON, or CSV ✴ Second: RESTful APIs in JSON/XML ✴ Third: Nothing really... Question? @LuigiMontanez

Civic Hacking Deﬁned Question? @LuigiMontanez

Federal Government Question? @LuigiMontanez

Credit: vgm8383 on Flickr

APIs about Congress ✴ Sunlight Labs API - Bio and contact info ✴ OpenSecrets.org - Contributions ✴ GovTrack.us - Bills and Vote Records ✴ MAPLight.org - Vote Inﬂuence Question? @LuigiMontanez

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

States ✴ Not much yet... ✴ FollowTheMoney.org ✴ 50 State Project - transform legislative data for all 50 states into a common format Question? @LuigiMontanez

Cities ✴ Washington, D.C. - api.dc.gov Question? @LuigiMontanez

A CITY HAS AN API!!! Question? @LuigiMontanez

Cities ✴ Washington, D.C. - Data Catalog, Open 311 API ✴ New York City - Big Apps contest, Open 311 API ✴ San Francisco - DataSF.org, App Store Question? @LuigiMontanez

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

Project Lifecycle 1. Explore 2. Design 3. Implement/Test 4. Deploy Question? @LuigiMontanez

Deployment? Question? @LuigiMontanez

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 Question? @LuigiMontanez

$ 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

WEB-INF Directory ✴ XML and YAML conﬁg ✴ .jars for: ✴ AppEngine SDK (holds webserver, Datastore) ✴ JRuby, RubyGems, jruby-rack ✴ Our installed gems Question? @LuigiMontanez

$ 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 files The server is running at http://localhost:8080/ ^C $ appcfg.rb run -S irb $ appcfg.rb update .

GAE Limitations ✴ No ActiveRecord ✴ No ImageMagick ✴ No Sphinx ✴ No Ruby gems with C extensions Question? @LuigiMontanez

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 Question? @LuigiMontanez

Thanks! Question? @LuigiMontanez

Questions? Question? @LuigiMontanez

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Civic Hacking @ Ruby Hoedown

by Luigi Montanez

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