[@OKau] After the hackathon: 4 classic recipes

[Craig Thomler]

Rosie,

Have you looked into GrantsLink?

I can put you in touch with the original developers if you like and I also
worked on it for an iteration.

It may be useful to inform the work you're doing.

Cheers,

Craig

_________________________________________________

Craig Thomler

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On 1 May 2015 at 10:48, Rosie Williams <budgetaus at hotmail.com> wrote:

> BudgetAus and the resulting input into budget transparency can be seen as
> an outcome of GovHack given that BudgetAus (as it was originally conceived
> and implemented) began by using the csv created during what I suspect was
> the original GovHack event. As a programming student I was seeking data
> with suitable copyright conditions for publication in my first database.
> That is how I happened across the concept of open data and came across the
> GovHack project created by theopenbudget.org.
>
> In fact, that csv (containing data scraped from about half the federal
> portfolios) was my first ever look at a 'table' and from there I went on to
> create my own data set encompassing all portfolios and broken down to the
> finest grain to make the data searchable across all portfolios. At the time
> the existing app created during GovHack did not provide this. The team that
> did theopenbudget.org was then employed to create the CSV (according to
> BudgetAus specs) for last year's first ever publication of budget data in
> machine readable format.
>
>
> The point of this all though in my mind, is the improvement to government
> accounting that has been put in motion as a result of these combined
> efforts:
>
> - the first publication of budget data in usable formats including a
> machine readable version that made it possible to use the data in BudgetAus
> and other similar projects. Without the csv which contained all the data
> broken down to line item level, the data would only have been published in
> 173 separate excel files.
> - the budget office has been asked to publish MYEFO data in usable formats
> and broken down along the same lines as the data published on budget night
> ie broken down to line item level so that it can be integrated with
> existing data
> - submissions have also been sought from people such as myself working
> with budget data into the PMRA and Joint Committee of Public Accounts &
> Audit on specifications for the publication of financial reporting
> including annual reports due to networks built among people working outside
> government on budget data.
>
> These are not insignificant outcomes, however I suspect they would never
> have come about had I not worked constantly and continually on budget
> transparency through BudgetAus since it's inception. I have done this to
> date without any financial support and under the most difficult of
> conditions which brings the topic back around to sustainability of open
> data projects and the need for incubators and other support. Had I been in
> the position of most other people with similar skills, I'd have obtained a
> professional position & decided I could not afford time to work on a
> 'volunteer' project. None of the existing or potential outcomes would have
> occurred. This irony is not lost on me.
>
> While budget transparency (and the expertise in government spending that I
> gained) is invaluable to our democracy - which is why the project received
> both government & media support, this value is not easily monetised. I
> have recently reconceived BudgetAus to be a more marketable product with a
> defined target market using grants and tenders data rather than the 'top
> down' data published on budget night in recognition of this observation.
>
> For open data projects to survive beyond the hackfest stage, there either
> needs to be sufficient market value to them to attract backing or
> sufficient public engagement to underpin ongoing funding, infrastructure
> and labour. Code for Australia and the Open Data Institute in QLD are
> presumably striving to fill the void in supporting/incubating emerging open
> data projects. The NSW State Library DX Lab (launching in a few months)
> also aims to nurture open data projects. I think that if we want quality,
> sustainable open data projects then we need to build an ecosystem where
> open data projects need not rely so heavily on the volunteer labour of
> coders.
>
> Rosie Williams BA (Sociology)
> ________________________________________
>
>  NoFibs.com.au <http://nofibs.com.au> - Open Data Reporter
>  InfoAus.net <http://infoaus.net> - Founder and Developer
>
>
>
>
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