--- a/index.md +++ b/index.md @@ -1,7 +1,8 @@ #GovHack Toolkit Welcome to the GovHack toolkit. This page provides all the information you need to prepare hackfest entries. -These tools can be used to make entries like: mobile apps, web apps, data visualisations/infographics. -This toolkit is open source, licenced cc-by and improvements are encouraged ... +These tools can be used to make entries like mobile apps, web apps and data visualisations/infographics. + +The text of this toolkit is open for reuse under a Creative Commons Attribution licence and improvements are encouraged via Git http://github.com/maxious/govhack-tools or via email patches to govhack@lambdacomplex.org # How to register and submit your entry ## Registering your team @@ -20,7 +21,7 @@ # General References {#general-data-hacking-and-programming-references} ## Who can be a hack day participant -There are many roles you can play; coder, designer UX/graphics. +There are many roles you can play as a hack day participant; coder, designer UX/graphics. ## The basics of being a data scientist @@ -42,20 +43,20 @@ **Statistics** -[http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html](http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html) + +A great guide to statistics is +[Think Stats](http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html) **Programming** Programming is valuable skill for manipulating and displaying data. -Basic tutorials for a variety of languages are available for free online or you can learn - -interactively with websites like [http://www.codecademy.com/](http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercises/0). for JavaScript or [http://www.learnpython.org/ ](http://www.learnpython.org/)or [http://tryruby.org](http://tryruby.org/) - -[https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript](https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript) - especially for web applications and visualisations, you'll need a basic understanding of JS. Common libraries like prototype or jQuery can help +Basic tutorials for a variety of languages are available for free online or you can learn interactively with websites like [Codecademy for JavaScript](http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercises/0), [Learn Python](http://www.learnpython.org/) or [Try Ruby](http://tryruby.org/) + +For web applications and visualisations, you'll need a basic understanding of JavaScript in order to configure pre made libraries like jQuery. A good source for Javascript information is the [Mozilla Development Network Javascript Page](https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript) **Accessibility/User Experience** -WCAG guidelines not only make a web app accessible but make it a better experience for all users! Even if not making an app, good to consider these things to do and not do: [http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/) +Following accessibility guidelines not only make a application accessible but make it a better experience for all users! Even if not making an app, good to consider these things to do and not do when designing for humans: [http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/) @@ -63,7 +64,7 @@ No matter what kind of application you have for the data, there are many tools you can use to better collaborate and manage your project. ### Source Control - Git / Subversion +Using a version control system like Git or Subversion allows you to keep many different versions of what you have been working on so you can collaborate with others or simply back up your files so you don't lose them! [](http://progit.org/book/) @@ -75,7 +76,7 @@ [http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/](http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/) -### Task Tracking - +### Task Tracking Issue/task trackers allow you to outline the tasks required for your project and assign them to people to do. @@ -83,10 +84,10 @@ ## Hosted Developer Tools {#hosted-developer-tools} -Can get many tools (source control, issue tracking) combined into one service cloud hosted so no setup required. +Can get many tools (source control, issue tracking) combined into one service cloud hosted so there's no setup required. ### Github -Git obviously but svn/hg interfaces are possible. Provide their own GUI for Windows/OSX or use the variety of Git capable tools +Git obviously but svn/hg interfaces are also available. Provide their own GUI for Windows/OSX or use a variety of Git capable tools ### Sourceforge @@ -99,6 +100,7 @@ Git, Mercurial, and Subversion code. Issue tracker, wiki, release file downloads. Unlimited free use for open source projects. You can host your Google Code project and get access to developer tools, APIs and documentation at [http://code.google.com/](http://code.google.com/) + # Applications of data hacking @@ -121,11 +123,12 @@ Atlassian have a great page on what makes a good API https://developer.atlassian.com/display/REST/Atlassian+REST+API+Design+Guidelines+version+1) -howto.gov api resources about choosing SOAP vs. REST etc. http://www.howto.gov/mobile/apis-in-government - -API documentation is important too. - - WSDL or http://swagger.wordnik.com/ or https://github.com/mashery/iodocs - - Many web app frameworks can generate the documentation for you. For example Symfony for PHPhttp://symfony.com/ https://github.com/FriendsOfSymfony/FOSRestBundle http://williamdurand.fr/2012/08/02/rest-apis-with-symfony2-the-right-way/ https://github.com/nelmio/NelmioApiDocBundle better apis https://github.com/liip/LiipHelloBundle +HowTo.gov has a bunch of api resources about choosing SOAP vs. REST etc. http://www.howto.gov/mobile/apis-in-government + +API documentation is important too! Traditionally for SOAP APIs, you use WSDL but for REST try [Swagger](http://swagger.wordnik.com/) or [iodocs](https://github.com/mashery/iodocs) +Many web app frameworks can generate the documentation for you. For example Symfony for PHP http://symfony.com/ https://github.com/FriendsOfSymfony/FOSRestBundle http://williamdurand.fr/2012/08/02/rest-apis-with-symfony2-the-right-way/ https://github.com/nelmio/NelmioApiDocBundle + + better apis https://github.com/liip/LiipHelloBundle - or for Rails https://github.com/elc/rapi_doc https://github.com/Pajk/apipie-rails http://amberonrails.com/building-stripes-api/ @@ -152,7 +155,7 @@ - http://drawingbynumbers.org/toolsandresources examples - http://sunfoundation.tumblr.com/ -## The Open Budget +### The Open Budget tools - http://selection.datavisualization.ch/ data viz tools catalog @@ -168,7 +171,7 @@ ### Examples -## PlanningAlerts +#### PlanningAlerts [](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_2f0199ff1.png)Description: Planning Alerts takes data from local government development applications and sends alerts to users based on what applications are lodged in their area. @@ -178,7 +181,7 @@ Issue Tracking: [Atlassian JIRA](http://tickets.openaustraliafoundation.org.au/browse/PA/) -## LobbyLens +#### LobbyLens [](img/129-Screenshot-LobbyClue_-_Chromium.png) @@ -190,7 +193,7 @@ Issue Tracking: A whiteboard -## bus.lambdacomplex.org +#### bus.lambdacomplex.org [](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_3789acae.jpg) @@ -204,15 +207,19 @@ ## Mobile -FRameworks, http://www.sencha.com/products/touch http://phonegap.com/ http://cordova.apache.org/ +Frameworks, http://www.sencha.com/products/touch http://phonegap.com/ http://cordova.apache.org/ + +html5 jquery mobile like directory.gov.au + +For data visualisation, there are a variety of graph widgets http://code.google.com/p/afreechart/ http://code.google.com/p/snowdon/ http://code.google.com/p/chartdroid/ http://androidplot.com/ http://code.google.com/p/achartengine/ + + +Backend frameworks http://helios.io/ https://www.parse.com/ +### Examples bom water, + nz gov budget -html5 jquery mobile like directory.gov.au - - - android datviz - - http://code.google.com/p/afreechart/ http://code.google.com/p/snowdon/ http://code.google.com/p/chartdroid/ http://androidplot.com/ http://code.google.com/p/achartengine/ - # Geographical Data Tools {#geographical-data-tools} @@ -231,7 +238,7 @@ - http://converter.mygeodata.eu/vector kml exporter for shp or locally using GDAL -### geocoding +### Geocoding cloudmade, google (but you must display on a Google Map). Easiest way to do is with a Google Spreadsheet/Fusion Table http://williamparry.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/putting-data-into-google-fusion-tables.htm http://support.google.com/fusiontables/answer/1012281?hl=en&ref_topic=2592806 @@ -316,6 +323,8 @@ - http://www.r-bloggers.com/video-simpler-tricks-and-tools-help-debugging-git-latex-and-workflow-with-r-by-prof-rob-hyndman/ - http://yihui.name/knitr/ makes reports including google widgets/charts/maps via http://www.r-bloggers.com/googlevis-0-3-2-is-released-better-integration-with-knitr/ - http://chartsnthings.tumblr.com/post/36978271916/r-tutorial-simple-charts http://flowingdata.com/2012/12/17/getting-started-with-charts-in-r/ + + http://www.r-bloggers.com/to-plot-them-is-my-real-test/ ## Visualisation @@ -342,25 +351,35 @@ # Unstructured (Text) Data Tools Most of thw world's dat isn't structured because it is contained in documents (webpages, tweets etc.). Sometimes it is possible to structure it, sometimes there are tools that are better suited it unstructured data. -## wrangling -Scraperwiki pytemplate scrapy -regex - -## analysing +## Wrangling +For extracting data from webpages, checkout Scraperwiki pytemplate scrapy + +PDFs - http://source.mozillaopennews.org/en-US/articles/introducing-tabula/ for text PDFs or http://www.reporterslab.org/dochive/ for imafges + +If there is no way to form a table structure to be able to apply tabular data techniques , you need a more sophisticated analysis as detailed below. + +## Analysing - opennlp/nltk / https://github.com/clips/pattern + - lucene/solr + - http://www.r-bloggers.com/simple-text-mining-with-r/ + - http://blog.josephwilk.net/ruby/latent-semantic-analysis-in-ruby.html similar terms usually found together -## visualising - -Overviewer/ Jigsaw -http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/ii/jigsaw/ - -http://www.jasondavies.com/wordtree/ +## Visualising + +Make word trees of blocks of text, webpages or twitter account and share them http://www.jasondavies.com/wordtree/ + +"Overview automatically sorts thousands of documents into topics and sub-topics, by reading the full text of each one." Simply make a CSV file with two columns, id and text. 10,000 documents is a good limit for the current state of the system. https://www.overviewproject.org/ + +For larger document sets or for alternative visualisations, try Jigsaw a desktop based application. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/ii/jigsaw/ + + # Graph (relationships and networks) Data Tools {#graph-relationships-and-networks-data-tools} +Why? Find communities, hubs, connections between (the X degrees of separation) - http://www.slideshare.net/OReillyStrata/visualizing-networks-beyond-the-hairball - http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-554179-622011.html SNA tools catalog - https://github.com/jacomyal/osdc2012-sigmajs-demo sigmajs filtering/searching @@ -369,7 +388,7 @@ ## Analysis ### R - +http://www.slideshare.net/ianmcook/social-network-analysis-in-r - http://is-r.tumblr.com/post/38240018815/making-prettier-network-graphs-with-sna-and-igraph @@ -380,11 +399,8 @@ - http://www.slideshare.net/maxdemarzi/etl-into-neo4j http://blog.neo4j.org/2013/03/importing-data-into-neo4j-spreadsheet.html -http://www.orientdb.org/ - -http://thinkaurelius.github.com/titan/ - -Major graph databases like theese can be accessed using a common tool like Gremlin or by writing a simple Java/Python/Ruby application. Queries can be tested in the built in data browser. +There are other graph databases worth considering like [OrientDB](http://www.orientdb.org/) or [Titan](http://thinkaurelius.github.com/titan/) +Major graph databases like these can be accessed using a common syntax called Gremlin or by writing a simple Java/Python/Ruby application. Queries can be tested in the built in data browser. @@ -393,6 +409,8 @@ [](img/chess_masters.png) NetworkX is a social network analysis library for python. Many advanced analyses built in like finding communities within a graph. Also good for converting data into graphs. + +tutorial/intro http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~cm542/teaching/2011/stna-pdfs/stna-lecture11.pdf ## Visualisation