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[tools.git] / index.md
Alex Sadleir 1 Welcome to the GovHack toolkit. This page provides all the information you need to prepare hackfest entries.
Maxious 2 These tools can be used to make entries like: mobile apps, web apps, data visualisations/infographics
Alex Sadleir 3
4 # How to register and submit your entry
5 ## registering your team
Maxious 6 TODO how to use website "Hacker Space" to register and find teams etc.
Maxious 7
Alex Sadleir 8 ## preparing your submission
9
Maxious 10 You should record a 3 minute speech and mix images/text to accompany.
Alex Sadleir 11 http://www.screenr.com/ and other screencasting tools allow you to demo apps.
Maxious 12 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/
Maxious 13
Maxious 14 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.
Maxious 15 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.
Maxious 16
Maxious 17
Maxious 18 # General References {#general-data-hacking-and-programming-references}
Maxious 19
Maxious 20 ## Who can be a hack day participant
21 - roles; coder, designer UX/graphics
Alex Sadleir 22
Maxious 23 ## Definitions
Maxious 24 - definitions, open licence reuse permissive hacker hack data journalism data vis UX etc.
Maxious 25
26 ## The basics of being a data scientist
maxious 27
Maxious 28 * 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.
Maxious 29 * Find the people and tools you need to prove/show/find. This rest of this page will help with the latter.
30 * Analyse and present results - were they what you expected? Do they help explain to others what you have found out?
Maxious 31 Can present as a interactive data visualisation or a web/mobile application or just a infographic/motion graphics video that tells a story.
Alex Sadleir 32
Maxious 33
34 [![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m6a65720f-300x199.gif "Data Journalism Diagram")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m6a65720f.gif)</dt>
maxious 35 Illustration from Data Journalism Handbook, CC BY-SA 3.0</dd>
Maxious 36
37
38 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
39
40 [datajournalismhandbook.org](http://datajournalismhandbook.org/)
41
42 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
43
44 practical advice check out Data Analysis with Open Source Tools by Philipp K. Janert
Alex Sadleir 45
46 For further reading in this space
47
Maxious 48 [http://flowingdata.com/2012/04/27/data-and-visualization-blogs-worth-following/](http://flowingdata.com/2012/04/27/data-and-visualization-blogs-worth-following/)
49
50
51 **Statistics**
Alex Sadleir 52
Maxious 53 [http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html](http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html)
Alex Sadleir 54
Maxious 55 **Programming**
56
57 Programming is valuable skill for manipulating and displaying data.
Alex Sadleir 58 Basic tutorials for a variety of languages are available for free online or you can learn
Maxious 59
60 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/)
61
Alex Sadleir 62 [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
Alex Sadleir 63
Maxious 64 **Accessibility/User Experience**
maxious 65
Alex Sadleir 66 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/)
Maxious 67
Alex Sadleir 68
Maxious 69
Maxious 70 ## examples
Maxious 71
Maxious 72 ## The Open Budget
73
Alex Sadleir 74 ## WeatherTree weather API
Maxious 75
76 ## PlanningAlerts
77
78 [![Planning Alerts Screenshot](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_2f0199ff1-300x221.png "Planning Alerts Screenshot")](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.
79
Maxious 80 Programming Language: Ruby
81
Maxious 82 Source Control: [Git](https://github.com/openaustralia/planningalerts-app)
83
Maxious 84 Issue Tracking: [Atlassian JIRA](http://tickets.openaustraliafoundation.org.au/browse/PA/)
Alex Sadleir 85
Maxious 86 ## LobbyLens
Alex Sadleir 87
Maxious 88 [![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/129-Screenshot-LobbyClue_-_Chromium-300x180.png "LobbyLens screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/129-Screenshot-LobbyClue_-_Chromium.png)
Maxious 89
90 Description: Displays connections between government contracts, business details, politician responsibilities, lobbyists, clients of lobbyists, political donors and the location of these entities.
91
92 Programing Language: PHP
93
94 Source Control: SVN (Subversion)
95
96 Issue Tracking: A whiteboard
97
98 ## bus.lambdacomplex.org
99
100 [![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_3789acae-300x253.jpg "Bus.lambda screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_3789acae.jpg)
101
102 Description: Online Canberra Bus Timetables and Trip Planner.
103
104 Programing Language: PHP/Ruby
Alex Sadleir 105
Alex Sadleir 106 Source Control: Git
107
Alex Sadleir 108 Issue Tracking: Github
Maxious 109
110
Alex Sadleir 111 ## Developer Tools For Your Computer {#developer-tools-for-your-computer}
112
113 server admin / technical tools
114 many projects will require some kind of internet presence, webpage etc.
115 - css framework like bootstrap or zurb foundation
116 - css gauges http://www.larentis.eu/donuts/
117 - bootstrap themes, web fonts, css sprites, icon fonts
118 - http://designmodo.com/flat-free/ http://designmodo.github.com/Flat-UI/
119
120 - http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2008/11/11/relaying-postfix-smtp-via-smtpgmailcom/
121 - amon
122
123 ### Source Control
Maxious 124 Git / Subversion
125
Maxious 126 [![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/Screenshot-at-2012-04-29-172132-300x235.png "Git Screenshot")](http://progit.org/book/)
Alex Sadleir 127
Maxious 128 [http://progit.org/book/](http://progit.org/book/)
Alex Sadleir 129
maxious 130 [http://svnbook.red-bean.com/](http://svnbook.red-bean.com/)
Maxious 131
Alex Sadleir 132 [http://tortoisesvn.net/](http://tortoisesvn.net/)
Maxious 133
134 [http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/](http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/)
Alex Sadleir 135
Alex Sadleir 136 ### Task Tracking -
137
138 Issue/task trackers allow you to outline the tasks required for your project and assign them to people to do.
139
140 [Trello](https://trello.com/) and [Workflowy](https://workflowy.com/) are free, lightweight project management tools suitable for a rapid project!
maxious 141
142 ## Hosted Developer Tools {#hosted-developer-tools}
Maxious 143
144 Can get many tools (source control, issue tracking) combined into one service cloud hosted so no setup required.
145
146 ### Github
147 Git obviously but svn/hg interfaces are possible. Provide their own GUI for Windows/OSX or use the variety of Git capable tools
Maxious 148
149 ### Sourceforge