[datacatalogs] Proposal: migrating datacatalogs.org to a new simpler setup

Fri Jun 6 09:50:21 UTC 2014

On 2 June 2014 21:52, James McKinney <james at opennorth.ca> wrote:

> The features you describe are more-or-less all on the current
> datacatalogs.org. It’s just that datacatalogs.org has accumulated
> technical debt.
>
> It seems that Rufus wants to solve the technical debt by rewriting it as a
> thin git-based system that throws away all the features you mention.
>

I feel we would get a lot of mileage with the google spreadsheets option
and deliver most of the other features

> I would agree that it’s better to keep the features, and to just pay the
> price of the debt…
>

Are the folks out there willing to help manage that debt (along with me)?

Rufus

>
> James
>
>
> On Jun 2, 2014, at 4:43 PM, Philip Ashlock <phil at civicagency.org> wrote:
>
> For most users I don't think git or Google spreadsheets would be simpler
> or very useful, but maybe the "simpler" was only referring to maintaining
> the site. I agree with James' criteria although I might rank good
> search/API interfaces higher than versioning. Github certainly doesn't
> provide interfaces for adding or editing that are very user friendly for
> managing CSV data and Google Spreadsheets (or any spreadsheet interface)
> isn't very useable either. I guess a Google spreadsheet form would provide
> a minimal level of useability, but that would only work for submissions,
> not edits.
>
> I think we'd be better off with a traditional CRUD app with well designed
> UI for submissions and edits than either of those options, but if you
> wanted git functionality you could provide bi-directional sync to github
> and treat the github copy as canonical. I'd still want a basic API though.
>
> For some recent precedents for doing bidirectional github sync with a CMS
> see:
> https://konklone.com/post/writing-in-public-syncing-with-github
> https://github.com/benbalter/wordpress-github-sync
>
> For me the ideal would be:
>
>
>    - Submissions could be made without a user account but they get
>    moderated. First via Akismet for spam filtering and then by human
>    verification. Unmoderated submissions could still be public but with
>    mechanisms to reduce abuse (eg on a separate URL blocked by search indexes
>    with robots.txt and without any URLs being linked)
>    - Edits could be made through a similar process or directly with
>    approved user accounts
>    - Everything would be accessible via full text search as well as an
>    API with basic filtering options
>    - Github syncing could be an optional alternative way to make
>    submissions/edits
>
> For what it's worth, it looks like http://www.opengeocode.org/opendata/
> provides a pretty simple interface and currently appears more comprehensive
> than datacatalogs.org. There's also a list of other precedents at
> http://wiki.civiccommons.org/Initiatives#Comprehensive_Lists_of_Open_Government_Data_Catalogs
> though many have been abandoned
>
>
>
> On Fri, May 9, 2014 at 1:19 PM, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org>
> wrote:
>
>> On 9 May 2014 18:02, Ross Jones <ross at servercode.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On 9 May 2014, at 15:05, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> *Running Code*
>>>
>>> I'm able to put my money where my mouth is here :-) I have a running
>>> demo:
>>>
>>> http://new.datacatalogs.org/
>>>
>>>
>>> http://new.datacatalogs.org/catalog/caib_es has an error
>>> https://github.com/okfn/datacatalogs.org/pull/20 fixes. Needs more
>>> meta-data on the detail page.
>>>
>>
>> thanks for the fix and now deployed.
>>
>> Should also root out dead portals, there are one or two, should be marked
>>> as dead rather than removed I guess.
>>>
>>
>> Nice to get version control in before we do that properly ... (plus i
>> need to pull latest set from live datacatalogs.org)
>>
>> Rufus
>>
>>>
>>> Ross
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> * Rufus PollockFounder and President | skype: rufuspollock |
>> @rufuspollock <https://twitter.com/rufuspollock>Open Knowledge
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-- 

*Rufus PollockFounder and President | skype: rufuspollock | @rufuspollock
<https://twitter.com/rufuspollock>Open Knowledge <http://okfn.org/> - see
how data can change the world**http://okfn.org/ <http://okfn.org/> | @okfn
<http://twitter.com/OKFN> | Open Knowledge on Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/OKFNetwork> |  Blog <http://blog.okfn.org/>*

The Open Knowledge Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation.  It is
incorporated in England & Wales as a company limited by guarantee, with
company number 05133759.  VAT Registration № GB 984404989. Registered
office address: Open Knowledge Foundation, St John’s Innovation Centre,
Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WS, UK.
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