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#GovHack Toolkit |
| Welcome to the GovHack toolkit. This page provides all the information you need to prepare hackfest entries. |
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 |
These tools can be used to make entries like mobile apps, web apps and data visualisations/infographics. |
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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 |
| # General Data Hacking and Programming References {#general-data-hacking-and-programming-references} |
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# How to register and submit your entry |
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## Registering your team |
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Coming Soon: how to use the website "Hacker Space" to register and find teams. |
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## Preparing your submission |
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You should record a 3 minute speech and mix images/text to accompany. |
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http://www.screenr.com/ and other screencasting tools allow you to demo apps. |
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To mix together clips, you can use youtube video editor http://www.youtube.com/editor or local software like http://www.videolan.org/vlmc/ or http://www.lwks.com/ |
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You also need to submit your "source material". For an application this may be source code, for another work it might be your notes or prototypes. |
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The key thing here is that your source material demonstrates to the judges that some of the end result was your own work and that it is possible for another person to replicate that work. |
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# General References {#general-data-hacking-and-programming-references} |
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| ## The basics of being a data scientist |
## The basics of being a data scientist |
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| * Have a hypothesis � even if you’re making a tool/api that helps people with their questions too, remember what the objective of that is. |
* Have a hypothesis - even if you're making a tool/api that helps people with their questions too, remember what the objective of that is. |
| * Find the people and tools you need to prove/show/find. This rest of this page will help with the latter. |
* Find the people and tools you need to prove/show/find. This rest of this page will help with the latter. |
| * Analyse and present results � were they what you expected? Do they help explain to others what you have found out? Can present as a interactive data visualisation or a web/mobile application or just a infographic/motion graphics video that tells a story. |
* Analyse and present results - were they what you expected? Do they help explain to others what you have found out? |
| Please note, there are a combination of Analysis and Visualisation tools in each of the major categories below. |
Can present as a interactive data visualisation or a web/mobile application or just a infographic/motion graphics video that tells a story. |
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[](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m6a65720f.gif)</dt> |
| [](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m6a65720f.gif)</dt> |
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| Illustration from Data Journalism Handbook, CC BY-SA 3.0</dd> |
Illustration from Data Journalism Handbook, CC BY-SA 3.0</dd> |
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The best high level reference is the 'Understanding Data' and 'Delivering Data' chapters of the Data Journalism Handbook which is available online for free at |
| The best high level reference is the �Understanding Data� and �Delivering Data� chapters of the Data Journalism Handbook which is available online for free at |
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| [datajournalismhandbook.org](http://datajournalismhandbook.org/) |
[datajournalismhandbook.org](http://datajournalismhandbook.org/) |
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| You can learn the technical skills from scratch in Visualize This: The FlowingData Guide to Design, Visualization, and Statistics by Nathan Yau or for more advanced |
You can learn the technical skills from scratch in Visualize This: The FlowingData Guide to Design, Visualization, and Statistics by Nathan Yau or for more advanced |
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| practical advice check out Data Analysis with Open Source Tools by Philipp K. Janert |
practical advice check out Data Analysis with Open Source Tools by Philipp K. Janert |
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| For further reading in this space |
For further reading in this space |
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| [http://flowingdata.com/2012/04/27/data-and-visualization-blogs-worth-following/](http://flowingdata.com/2012/04/27/data-and-visualization-blogs-worth-following/) |
[http://flowingdata.com/2012/04/27/data-and-visualization-blogs-worth-following/](http://flowingdata.com/2012/04/27/data-and-visualization-blogs-worth-following/) |
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| **Statistics** |
**Statistics** |
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| [http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html](http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html) |
A great guide to statistics is |
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[Think Stats](http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html) |
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| **Programming** |
**Programming** |
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| Programming is valuable skill for manipulating and displaying data. |
Programming is valuable skill for manipulating and displaying data. |
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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/) |
| Basic tutorials for a variety of languages are available for free online or you can learn |
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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) |
| 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/) |
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| [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 |
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| **Accessibility/User Experience** |
**Accessibility/User Experience** |
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| 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/) |
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| ## Who can be a hack day participant |
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| - roles; coder, designer UX/graphics |
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# Developer Tools For Your Computer {#developer-tools-for-your-computer} |
| ## Definitions |
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. |
| - definitions, open licence reuse permissive hacker hack data journalism data bis UCX etc. |
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### Source Control |
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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! |
| ## key datasets |
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| - key datasets, directory.gov.au gazetter/AEC electorates/suburbs/postcodes/LGAs |
[](http://progit.org/book/) |
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| ## examples |
[tutorials on git](http://progit.org/book/) and |
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[GUIs to help you](http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/) |
| ## The Open Budget |
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[manual for Subversion](http://svnbook.red-bean.com/) |
| ## WeatherTree weather API |
and a [similar GUI for Subversion](http://tortoisesvn.net/) |
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| ## PlanningAlerts |
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### Task Tracking |
| [](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/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. |
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| Programming Language: Ruby |
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| Source Control: [Git](https://github.com/openaustralia/planningalerts-app) |
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| Issue Tracking: [Atlassian JIRA](http://tickets.openaustraliafoundation.org.au/browse/PA/) |
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| ## LobbyLens |
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| [](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/129-Screenshot-LobbyClue_-_Chromium.png) |
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| Description: Displays connections between government contracts, business details, politician responsibilities, lobbyists, clients of lobbyists, political donors and the location of these entities. |
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| Programing Language: PHP |
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| Source Control: SVN (Subversion) |
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| Issue Tracking: A whiteboard |
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| ## Bus.lambdacomplex.org |
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| [](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_3789acae.jpg) |
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