{"id":10808,"date":"2012-03-28T08:26:24","date_gmt":"2012-03-28T12:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=10808"},"modified":"2012-03-28T08:26:24","modified_gmt":"2012-03-28T12:26:24","slug":"raleigh-taking-steps-to-publish-open-source-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/2012\/03\/28\/raleigh-taking-steps-to-publish-open-source-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Raleigh Taking Steps to Publish Open Source Data"},"content":{"rendered":"

Later this year, Raleigh residents could have access to city information and data in an accessible and usable format.<\/p>\n

As part of its plan to become an \u201copen-source\u201d city, staff presented information Tuesday to the Council\u2019s Technology Committee about plans to publish more data on the city\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

The first step will be to create a website where the information can live. The site will link from the city\u2019s website and provide a \u201cone-stop shop for how the public can engage in conversation,\u201d according to Chief Technology Officer Jonathan Minter. He said that step will be complete in April.<\/p>\n

City staff will then create an open data and open source policy, Minter said, to guide language in future requests for proposals and how the city will \u201cput data out there so it can be used by constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other cities already have such policies, from which staff can draw elements. Minter said City Camp<\/a> and other similar groups will also provide a forum for policy ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vision here is these aren\u2019t going to be policies we as staff do and push out,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to have collaborative partnerships with folks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those groups and other residents can also help prioritize what data is published on the site, he said. The goal is to prioritize data sets by June.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s literally thousands … to choose from,\u201d he said. \u201c[We can ask] department heads. They know what they get public records requests for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, the city will publish the data. Minter said the goal is to publish by September. Staff is considering several solutions for hosting the data, which Minter estimates will cost up to $50,000 per year.<\/p>\n

Minter said that figure is at the \u201chigh end of the spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n

He demonstrated one possible platform, called Socrata<\/a>, used by the federal government, along with city governments such as Austin and Chicago. The platform not only hosts the information, but lists it in multiple ways. It enables users to see the data, export it in a variety of formats, create charts, graphs and maps and even has an interface for developers who want to create apps.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Members of the technology committee questioned the use of this data by the city\u2019s less technology-savvy residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a developer to interact with the data,\u201d Minter said, showing some of the charts. \u201cA typical user with some level of computer proficiency should be able to brose the data and look for things of interest to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilor Mary-Ann Baldwin asked about other, non-technological, ways to make the city open source.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn talking about open source … one of the things we know is that a number of our citizens do not have access to Internet,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I look at this open source thing, it\u2019s only focused online. What about others? How do we engage them in this process as well? I hate to use this term, but it\u2019s almost like \u2018analog\u2019 open source.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Public Affairs Director Jayne Kirkpatrick said that outreach continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that we do today to reach any of the residents, I like to make sure we use every resource we have,\u201d she said, naming off such \u201cold fashioned\u201d methods as Citizens Advisory Councils. \u201cThis should not be any different in anything else we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilor Bonner Gaylord said it\u2019s about adding access.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not about removing access the analog; way. It\u2019s about adding access,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just adding to what\u2019s already there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The steps are already in motion, and required no approval from the committee. The final publishing step will require approval for the software. Councilors agreed to recommend the cost be considered as part of the next fiscal year\u2019s budget. The next fiscal year begins July 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Council\u2019s Technology Committee Tuesday listened to the next steps to make Raleigh an \u201copen-source\u201d city, including a possible publishing platform used by cities such as Austin and Chicago. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24025,"featured_media":10809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,23],"tags":[557,119,262,558],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10808"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24025"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}