update on CivicAccess stuff i've been working on

[Michael Lenczner]

I've just helped a Montreal non-profit send in an application for a
CivAcc project.  They will find out early december if they received
it.  The project would be to bring a federal hansard project to the
level of functionality of http://www.TheyWorkForYou.org

I am trying to figure out with Cory (from HowdTheyVote) how not to
either step on his toes or waste time+effort through parallel
development.  He has done great work by stepping up and attacking this
problem and I don't want to disrespect that or simply duplicate it
without adding anything.  I think we're hopeful about figuring out the
best way to work together.

The reason I'm working with this local non-project to take on this
project (federal hansard) instead of tackling another one is that I
feel certain that the federal site is *the* killer CivicAccess project
to get things rolling.  If it is a convincing, resounding success then
we can use to get other things started.  First the Federal one, then
tackling one-by-one the provincial and territorial hansards.  Some of
them are easier than others (in terms of the structure of the data)
but after 3-5 of them are done, we should be able to use PR/media
campaign to get the rest of the provinces to fall in line.

(The other reason that I'm focusing on the federal hansards is that
all of the Canadian Community Wireless Networking groups could display
per-MP rss feeds on their portal pages to their users (Wireless
Toronto 4,500 users, ISF 26,000 users, Quebec Sans Fil and
Ottawa/Gatineau Wifi).  So we really need that functionality.)

I know that there has been few tangible results from CivicAccess so
far.  It's been a good online resource/community, but I know that many
of us want it to much more.  An incubator, network, and cheerleader
for projects that empower citizens through better access to public
info.  I've been spending a lot of time thinking about how to
accomplish that over the last few months and I will continue to work
on it.  I should be sending in 2 grant applications for CA projects in
the next 2 months.

If there are any coders / web people that want to build CA projects
but need help or $$, feel free to let me know. I definitely have time
to help people find resources.  I don't have years of experience at
developing these kinds of projects, but I'll help out as much as I
can.

mike

[aph809]

Hello,

I am a little confused by the description of this project.

At present, the federal hansard is available online.  (It has
been, since about 1996.)  So far as I know, all provincial/territorial
hansards are online too.  There are also digitization projects
underway to make earlier, print versions available as well.
There are also digitization projects underway to convert
the various "scrapbook" debates (essentially clippings from
newspapers, before hansards were published).

So, is this proposed project "value added" on top of what exists?

To what organization or agency is the application being made?
(At the federal level, Heritage is the big player.)  Would it be
fair to know the identity of the organization making the application?

I am sure this project does not duplicate existing work, but it
is hard to know given the description.  There is so much work that
needs to be done, it would be a pity to waste time, effort, and resources
on a duplicate project.

Best regards,

Andrew Hubbertz



Quoting Michael Lenczner <[hidden email]>:

> I've just helped a Montreal non-profit send in an application for a
> CivAcc project.  They will find out early december if they received
> it.  The project would be to bring a federal hansard project to the
> level of functionality of http://www.TheyWorkForYou.org
>
> I am trying to figure out with Cory (from HowdTheyVote) how not to
> either step on his toes or waste time+effort through parallel
> development.  He has done great work by stepping up and attacking this
> problem and I don't want to disrespect that or simply duplicate it
> without adding anything.  I think we're hopeful about figuring out the
> best way to work together.
>
> The reason I'm working with this local non-project to take on this
> project (federal hansard) instead of tackling another one is that I
> feel certain that the federal site is *the* killer CivicAccess project
> to get things rolling.  If it is a convincing, resounding success then
> we can use to get other things started.  First the Federal one, then
> tackling one-by-one the provincial and territorial hansards.  Some of
> them are easier than others (in terms of the structure of the data)
> but after 3-5 of them are done, we should be able to use PR/media
> campaign to get the rest of the provinces to fall in line.
>
> (The other reason that I'm focusing on the federal hansards is that
> all of the Canadian Community Wireless Networking groups could display
> per-MP rss feeds on their portal pages to their users (Wireless
> Toronto 4,500 users, ISF 26,000 users, Quebec Sans Fil and
> Ottawa/Gatineau Wifi).  So we really need that functionality.)
>
> I know that there has been few tangible results from CivicAccess so
> far.  It's been a good online resource/community, but I know that many
> of us want it to much more.  An incubator, network, and cheerleader
> for projects that empower citizens through better access to public
> info.  I've been spending a lot of time thinking about how to
> accomplish that over the last few months and I will continue to work
> on it.  I should be sending in 2 grant applications for CA projects in
> the next 2 months.
>
> If there are any coders / web people that want to build CA projects
> but need help or $$, feel free to let me know. I definitely have time
> to help people find resources.  I don't have years of experience at
> developing these kinds of projects, but I'll help out as much as I
> can.
>
> mike
>
> _______________________________________________
> CivicAccess-discuss mailing list
> [hidden email]
> http://civicaccess.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss_civicaccess.ca
>

Andrew Hubbertz
Librarian Emeritus
University of Saskatchewan Library

613 692 2709
[hidden email]

[Robin Millette]

On 11/8/06, [hidden email] <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I am a little confused by the description of this project.

Are you familiar with this site?
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/

Mike gave a wrong URL (.org), I just noticed.

> So, is this proposed project "value added" on top of what exists?

The idea is to extract information from the raw hansard to make it
more useful. Mostly, who votes for what - but I'm writing in a hurry.

[aph809]

Thank you for this reply, which helps clarify things.

I was not familiar with "They work for you"...thanks
for the corrected URL.

This is most interesting work and worth more discussion,
however no time for that just at the moment...

Andrew Hubbertz



Quoting Robin Millette <[hidden email]>:

> On 11/8/06, [hidden email] <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> > I am a little confused by the description of this project.
>
> Are you familiar with this site?
> http://www.theyworkforyou.com/
>
> Mike gave a wrong URL (.org), I just noticed.
>
> > So, is this proposed project "value added" on top of what exists?
>
> The idea is to extract information from the raw hansard to make it
> more useful. Mostly, who votes for what - but I'm writing in a hurry.
>
> _______________________________________________
> CivicAccess-discuss mailing list
> [hidden email]
> http://civicaccess.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss_civicaccess.ca
>

Andrew Hubbertz
Librarian Emeritus
University of Saskatchewan Library

613 692 2709
[hidden email]

[Michael Lenczner]

Thanks Robin for responding.

Responses inline:

On 11/8/06, [hidden email] <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I am a little confused by the description of this project.
>
> At present, the federal hansard is available online.  (It has
> been, since about 1996.)  So far as I know, all provincial/territorial
> hansards are online too.  There are also digitization projects
> underway to make earlier, print versions available as well.
> There are also digitization projects underway to convert
> the various "scrapbook" debates (essentially clippings from
> newspapers, before hansards were published).
>
> So, is this proposed project "value added" on top of what exists?
>

Robin sent the url to describe value add.

> To what organization or agency is the application being made?
> (At the federal level, Heritage is the big player.)  Would it be
> fair to know the identity of the organization making the application?
>
I don't really want to reveal the identity of the organization until
they find out if they got it.  They might not mind, but I just don't
really want to get into it.  The only reason that I'm talking about it
before they found out is that I wanted everyone here to be aware that
I was working in this direction.

> I am sure this project does not duplicate existing work, but it
> is hard to know given the description.  There is so much work that
> needs to be done, it would be a pity to waste time, effort, and resources
> on a duplicate project.
>
Definitely.  We'll definitely do our best to avoid working harder than
we have to. ;-)

> Best regards,
>
> Andrew Hubbertz
>
>
>
> Quoting Michael Lenczner <[hidden email]>:
>
> > I've just helped a Montreal non-profit send in an application for a
> > CivAcc project.  They will find out early december if they received
> > it.  The project would be to bring a federal hansard project to the
> > level of functionality of http://www.TheyWorkForYou.org
> >
> > I am trying to figure out with Cory (from HowdTheyVote) how not to
> > either step on his toes or waste time+effort through parallel
> > development.  He has done great work by stepping up and attacking this
> > problem and I don't want to disrespect that or simply duplicate it
> > without adding anything.  I think we're hopeful about figuring out the
> > best way to work together.
> >
> > The reason I'm working with this local non-project to take on this
> > project (federal hansard) instead of tackling another one is that I
> > feel certain that the federal site is *the* killer CivicAccess project
> > to get things rolling.  If it is a convincing, resounding success then
> > we can use to get other things started.  First the Federal one, then
> > tackling one-by-one the provincial and territorial hansards.  Some of
> > them are easier than others (in terms of the structure of the data)
> > but after 3-5 of them are done, we should be able to use PR/media
> > campaign to get the rest of the provinces to fall in line.
> >
> > (The other reason that I'm focusing on the federal hansards is that
> > all of the Canadian Community Wireless Networking groups could display
> > per-MP rss feeds on their portal pages to their users (Wireless
> > Toronto 4,500 users, ISF 26,000 users, Quebec Sans Fil and
> > Ottawa/Gatineau Wifi).  So we really need that functionality.)
> >
> > I know that there has been few tangible results from CivicAccess so
> > far.  It's been a good online resource/community, but I know that many
> > of us want it to much more.  An incubator, network, and cheerleader
> > for projects that empower citizens through better access to public
> > info.  I've been spending a lot of time thinking about how to
> > accomplish that over the last few months and I will continue to work
> > on it.  I should be sending in 2 grant applications for CA projects in
> > the next 2 months.
> >
> > If there are any coders / web people that want to build CA projects
> > but need help or $$, feel free to let me know. I definitely have time
> > to help people find resources.  I don't have years of experience at
> > developing these kinds of projects, but I'll help out as much as I
> > can.
> >
> > mike
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > CivicAccess-discuss mailing list
> > [hidden email]
> > http://civicaccess.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss_civicaccess.ca
> >
>
>
> Andrew Hubbertz
> Librarian Emeritus
> University of Saskatchewan Library
>
> 613 692 2709
> [hidden email]
>
>
>