[okfn-labs] Labs newsletter: 21 November, 2013

[Neil Ashton]

This week, Labs members gathered in an online hangout to discuss what
they've been up to and what's next for Labs. This special edition of the
newsletter recaps that hangout for those who weren't there (or who want a
reminder). Notes from the hangout <http://pad.okfn.org/p/labs-hangouts> are
also available.

*## Data Pipes update*

Last week you heard about Andy Lulham <http://okfnlabs.org/members/andylolz>'s
improvements to Data Pipes <http://datapipes.okfnlabs.org>, the online
streaming data transformations service. He didn't stop there, and in this
week's hangout, Andy described some of the new features he has been adding:

   - parse and render are now streaming operations
   - option parsing now uses
optimist<https://github.com/substack/node-optimist>
   - a basic command-line interface
   - ... and much, much more

Coming up next: map & filter with arbitrary
functions<https://github.com/okfn/datapipes/issues/21>
!

*## Crowdcrafting: progress and projects*

New Shuttleworth
fellow<http://www.shuttleworthfoundation.org/fellows/daniel-lombrana/>
and
Labs member Daniel Lombraña González
<http://okfnlabs.org/members/teleyinex>reported on progress with
CrowdCrafting <http://crowdcrafting.org/>, the citizen science platform
built with PyBossa <http://dev.pybossa.com/>.

CrowdCrafting now has more than 3,500 users (though Daniel cautions that
this doesn't mean much in terms of participation), and the site now has
more answers than tasks.

Last week, the team at MicroMappers <http://micromappers.com/> used
CrowdCrafting to classify tweets about the typhoon disaster in the
Philippines. Digital mapping activists SkyTruth <http://skytruth.org/>,
meanwhile, have used CrowdCrafting to map and track fracking
sites<http://crowdcrafting.org/app/frackfinder_tadpole/>in the
northeast United States. Daniel has also been in contact with
EpiCollect <http://www.epicollect.net/> about a project on trash collection
in Spain.

*## Open Data Button*

Labs member Oleg Lavrovsky <http://okfnlabs.org/members/loleg> discussed
the Open Data Button <http://button.datalets.ch/>, an interesting fork of
the recently-launched Open Access Button <https://www.openaccessbutton.org/>
.

The Open Access Button, an idea of the Open Science working group at OKCon
2013 <http://okcon.org>, is a bookmarklet that allows users to report their
experiences of having their research blocked by paywalls. The Open Data
Button applies this same idea to Open Data: users can use it to report
their problems with legal and technical restrictions on data. (As Rufus
pointed out, this ties in nicely with the
IsItOpenData<https://github.com/okfn/ideas/issues/41>project.)

*## Queremos Saber*

Labs ally Vítor Baptista <http://vitorbaptista.com/> reported on a new
development with Queremos Saber <http://www.queremossaber.org.br/>, the
Brazilian FOI request portal.

Changes in the way the Brazilian federal government accepts FOI requests
have caused Queremos Saber problems. The federal government no longer
accepts requests by email, forcing the use of a specialized FOI system
which they are now promoting for local governments as well. This limits the
number of places that will accept requests from Queremos Saber.

A solution to this problem is underway: an *email-based API* that will take
emails received at certain addresses (e.g.
*ministryofhealthcare at queremossaber.org.br
<ministryofhealthcare at queremossaber.org.br>*) and turn them into
instructions for a web crawler to create an FOI request in the appropriate
system. An interesting side effect of this would be the creation of an
anonymization layer, allowing users to bypass the legal requirement that
FOI requests not be placed anonymously.

*## Philippines Projects*

Labs data wrangler Mark Brough
<http://okfnlabs.org/members/markbrough>showed off a test project
collecting data
on aid activities in the Philippines<http://markbrough.github.io/philippines/>.
Mark's small static site, updated each night, collects
IATI<http://iatistandard.org>aid data on projects in the Philippines
and republishes it in a more
browsable form.

Mark also discussed another data-mashup project, still in the planning
stage, that would combine budget and aid data for Tanzania (or any other
developing country)—similar to Publish What You Fund's old Uganda
project<http://publishwhatyoufund.org/uganda/>but based on a
non-static dataset.

*## Global Economic Map*

Alex Peek discussed his initiative to create the Global Economic
Map<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_Economic_Map>,
"a collection of standardized data set of economic statistics that can be
applied to every country, region and city in the world".

The GEM will draw data from sources like government publications and SEC
filings and will cover eleven
statistics<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Global_Economic_Map#Format_and_economic_statistics>that
touch on GDP, employment, corporations, and budgets. The GEM aims to
be fully integrated with
Wikidata<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Global_Economic_Map#Wikidata_integration>
.

*## Frictionless data*

Finally, Rufus Pollock <http://okfnlabs.org/members/rgrp> discussed
data.okfn.org and the mission of "frictionless data": making it "as simple
as possible to get the data you want into the tool of your choice."

data.okfn.org aims to help achieve this goal by promoting, among other
things, simple data standards <http://data.okfn.org/standards> and the
tooling to support them. As reported in last week's newsletter, this now
includes a Data Package Manager <https://github.com/okfn/dpm> based on
npm<https://npmjs.org/>,
now working at a very basic level. It also includes the data.okfn.org Data
Package Viewer <http://data.okfn.org/tools/view>, which provides a nice
view on data packages hosted online.

*## Improving the Labs site*

The hangout wrapped up with a discussion of how to improve the Labs site.
Besides some discussion of the possibility of a one-click creation system
for Open Data Maker Nights<https://github.com/okfn/okfn.github.com/issues/134>,
talk focused on improving the projects
page<https://github.com/okfn/okfn.github.com/issues/46>
.

Oleg, who has volunteered to take the lead in reforming the projects page,
highlighted the need for a way to differentiate projects by their activity
level and their need for more contributors. Mark agreed, suggesting also
that it would be nice to be able to filter projects by the languages and
technologies they use. Both ideas were proposed as a way to fill out Tod
Robbins <http://www.todrobbins.com/>'s suggestion that the projects page
needs *categories*.

See the Labs hangout notes <http://pad.okfn.org/p/labs-hangouts> for the
full details of this discussion.

*## Get involved*

As always, Labs wants you to join in and get involved! Read more about how
you can join the community <http://okfnlabs.org/join/> and participate by
coding, wrangling data, or doing outreach and engagement, and have a look
at the Ideas Page <http://okfnlabs.org/ideas/> to see what other members
have been thinking.
-- 
Neil Ashton

Technical Writer and Analyst  | skype: nmashton

The Open Knowledge Foundation <http://okfn.org/>
*Empowering through Open Knowledge*
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