HN Theater @HNTheaterMonth

The best talks and videos of Hacker News.

Hacker News Comments on
Ignite Rails - Luigi Montanez's Be a Civic Hacker

igniterails · Youtube · 27 HN points · 0 HN comments
HN Theater has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention igniterails's video "Ignite Rails - Luigi Montanez's Be a Civic Hacker".
Youtube Summary
How can Ruby change cities, states, and countries for the better? Last year, we saw an explosion of interest around government transparency. The Open Government movement, spearheaded by open source developers, seeks to make government more accountable and responsible by turning open government data into citizen-focused, civic-minded applications. You'll learn about the data sets and APIs available freely available for your use, the tools and skills you'll need to be a successful civic hacker, and you'll get a quick overview of some civic apps out there. Civic hacking will enhance your open source portfolio while making a difference in your community and country.
HN Theater Rankings

Hacker News Stories and Comments

All the comments and stories posted to Hacker News that reference this video.
Jun 30, 2010 · 27 points, 2 comments · submitted by subelsky
SkyMarshal
Good presentation. TLDR notes:

Civic Hacking examples:

Aaron Schwartz (reddit cofounder) helped liberate millions of docs from federal court system two years ago. PACER is a database olf all Federal court decisions, which by law are all public domain. However, locked up in PACER, stored in PDF only, and cost $.08/page download. Tried an experiment where they gave free access for two weeks at public libraries. Aaron went to a library, and put a script on a lib computer that downloaded 20 million docs to his own server. PACER folks discovered it, panicked, and sent FBI after Aaron, but he was cleared.

More examples, list of links:

* Sunlightlabs.com - all public domain govt data should be available online, realtime, machine-readable. Open Source + Open Data = Better Govt. We reuse govt data, allow govt to reuse our open source code.

* OpenCongress.org - Rails app, what Congress.gov should be

* FlyOnTime.us - uses historical FAA data to predict flight delays

* QuakeSpotter.org - realtime USGS data to map and anticipate global earthquakes

* StumbleSafely.com - uses DC crime stats to tell which streets to avoid when stumbling home at night from the bar

* Wayfinder.com - augmented reality Android app that points you to nearest NYC subway station

* NationalDataCatalog.com - catalogs all govt datasets and api's

* CodeForAmerica.com - modelled after Teach for America, recruiting devs to work in 5 cities across the country to make open source software using govt data/api

* intridea.com - Creole->English translation app for Haiti relief workers, oil reporting crowdsourcing app for gulf spill

jazzyb
FYI, I think you mean http://www.wayfindermobile.com/ instead of wayfinder.com.
HN Theater is an independent project and is not operated by Y Combinator or any of the video hosting platforms linked to on this site.
~ yaj@
;laksdfhjdhksalkfj more things
yahnd.com ~ Privacy Policy ~
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.