--- 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
@@ -20,10 +21,7 @@
# General References {#general-data-hacking-and-programming-references}
## Who can be a hack day participant
- - roles; coder, designer UX/graphics
-
-## Definitions
- - definitions, open licence reuse permissive hacker hack data journalism data vis UX etc.
+There are many roles you can play as a hack day participant; coder, designer UX/graphics.
## The basics of being a data scientist
@@ -45,20 +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/)
@@ -66,7 +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/)
@@ -78,7 +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.
@@ -86,10 +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
@@ -102,6 +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
@@ -124,16 +123,15 @@
Atlassian have a great page on what makes a good API https://developer.atlassian.com/display/REST/Atlassian+REST+API+Design+Guidelines+version+1)
-API
- - howto.gov api tutorial
- - http://shancarter.com/data_converter/
- - http://training.sunlightfoundation.com/module/data-visualizations-google-docs/
- - api documentation
+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
- - 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
- - https://github.com/elc/rapi_doc https://github.com/Pajk/apipie-rails
- -
+ - 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
+ - or for Rails https://github.com/elc/rapi_doc https://github.com/Pajk/apipie-rails
+
http://amberonrails.com/building-stripes-api/
+
example WeatherTree weather API
@@ -156,11 +154,14 @@
- http://drawingbynumbers.org/toolsandresources
examples - http://sunfoundation.tumblr.com/
-## The Open Budget
+### The Open Budget
tools - http://selection.datavisualization.ch/ data viz tools catalog
## Web Applications
+
+With the rise of HTML5 technologies it is easier than ever to make a web application for engaging use of data.
+
- css framework like bootstrap or zurb foundation
- css gauges http://www.larentis.eu/donuts/
- bootstrap themes, web fonts, css sprites, icon fonts
@@ -169,7 +170,7 @@
### 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.
@@ -179,7 +180,7 @@
Issue Tracking: [Atlassian JIRA](http://tickets.openaustraliafoundation.org.au/browse/PA/)
-## LobbyLens
+#### LobbyLens
[](img/129-Screenshot-LobbyClue_-_Chromium.png)
@@ -191,7 +192,7 @@
Issue Tracking: A whiteboard
-## bus.lambdacomplex.org
+#### bus.lambdacomplex.org
[](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_3789acae.jpg)
@@ -205,15 +206,19 @@
## 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}
@@ -281,6 +286,10 @@
## Wrangling
+Converting formats json/xml/csv etc.
+ - http://shancarter.com/data_converter/
+
+
Tabular data may have duplicate entries or incorrect formats (varying ways to enter dates/phonenumbers etc.). There are tools to quickly fix common problems
[DataWrangler](http://vis.stanford.edu/wrangler/)/[Google Refine](http://code.google.com/p/google-refine/)
@@ -292,17 +301,15 @@
## Analysis
-### Excel / Calc
+### Excel / Google Docs
Great basic analysis and viewing. Older versions can be limited to 6500\. or so rows. Eg [http://www.tcij.org/training-material/car/data-mining/3474](http://www.tcij.org/training-material/car/data-mining/3474)
+http://training.sunlightfoundation.com/module/data-visualizations-google-docs/
+
### PostgreSQL/MySQL
[](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_209ee972.jpg)Next step up, large datasets can be manipulated/extracted efficiently for example [http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/static/tutorial-window.html](http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/static/tutorial-window.html) , no built-in data visualisation though.
-
-### [Miso Dataset](http://misoproject.com/dataset/)
-
-[](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m53b7ee38.png)Javascript data transformation library - especially good if you want to use the output for javascript interactive visualisations because the transformations can be done on-the-fly by users.
### R Statistical Language
@@ -315,6 +322,8 @@
- 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
@@ -340,7 +349,7 @@
### Processing.js
# Unstructured (Text) Data Tools
-MOPst 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.
+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
@@ -372,7 +381,7 @@
- http://is-r.tumblr.com/post/38240018815/making-prettier-network-graphs-with-sna-and-igraph
-### Neo4j / OrientDB
+### Graph Databases
[](img/webadmin-data.png)Help understand relationships - how is X connected to Y and via what other entities they both are connected to. Imports and exports
@@ -381,7 +390,9 @@
http://www.orientdb.org/
-Both can be accessed using a preexisting tool like Gremlin or by writing a simple Java/Python/Ruby application. Queries can be tested in the built in data browser.
+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.