Civic HackingLuigi Montanez

luigi@sunlightfoundation.comLA RubyConf 2010

Question? @LuigiMontanez

I am here to recruit you.

Question? @LuigiMontanez

“D.C. is Hollywood for ugly people.”

Question? @LuigiMontanez

“Transparency”

Question? @LuigiMontanez

Question? @LuigiMontanez

Questions for me? @LuigiMontanez

Question? @LuigiMontanez

“Civic Hacking”

Question? @LuigiMontanez

Participatory Democracy

Question? @LuigiMontanez

Umm, we’re software

developers...

Text

Civic Hacking

Question? @LuigiMontanez

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

Credit: vgm8383 on Flickr

Question? @LuigiMontanez

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✴ 1 Supreme Court✴ 12 Courts of Appeals✴ 94 District Courts✴ Courts for Patents, International Trade,

Bankruptcy

Question? @LuigiMontanez

StateGovernments

Question? @LuigiMontanez

Other State Efforts✴ FollowTheMoney.org✴ 50 State Project - transform legislative data

for all 50 states into a common format

Question? @LuigiMontanez

Cities✴ Washington, D.C.✴ New York City✴ San Francisco

Question? @LuigiMontanez

311 API

Question? @LuigiMontanez

What about my city?

Question? @LuigiMontanez

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

Question? @LuigiMontanez

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

Question? @LuigiMontanez

Ask not what your country can do for you.Ask what you can do for

your country.

Question? @LuigiMontanez

Thanks!

Question? @LuigiMontanez

Questions?