government transparency tools - lightning round
TRANSCRIPT
GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCYAn Introduction to Sunlight Labs Tools & Where They
Live Now
Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be
the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.
JUSTICE LOUIS D. BRANDEIS
An Incomplete History …Jul. 1967: FOIA
Jan. 2009: the Open Government Directive
Nov. 2016: …. *sigh* ….
Adam Zyglis, Buffalo News
• Senate voted to repeal the Securities & Exchange Commission’s foreign payments transparency rule requiring oil companies to provide details of their payments to governments in exchange for natural resource rights.
• Twin bills introduced in the House (H.R.482) and Senate (S.103) to defund racial discrimination data in housing (HUD)
• Trump still won’t release his taxes
• Federal agencies like the EPA were told to cease external communications
• Federal hiring freeze means the government can’t meet FOIA demands
• People have nominated over 11,000 URLS for archiving to protect federal information #datarescue
• Parks departments have to “go rogue”
• Bannon told the media to “shut up”
• Government employees are “leaking” information to ProPublica and other news sources
NEW SUNLIGHTAn overview of the organizations taking over Sunlight
Foundation Tools
Sunlight Tools Cheat Sheet
THE MARSHALL PROJECT
Nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system
Taking over Hall of Justice from Sunlight
Datasets & Research re: Criminal Justice
THE CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE
POLITICSResource for federal campaign contributions, lobbying data,
and analysis.
Foreign Influence ExplorerData from documents collected by the DoJ – as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) & Press releases from The Defense Security Cooperation Agency
Political Party TimeComprehensive public database for fundraisers, ranging from presidential candidates down to state representatives
PROPUBLICAIndependent, non-profit newsroom that produces
investigative journalism in the public interest
Largest library of Data / APIs in this groupOffers researchers a place to sell their data
Includes some datasets for a fee
ProPublica _ part 1/2
Politiwoops
Tracking politicians' deleted tweets
House Expenditure Reports
Repository of office expenditures made by members of the House of Representatives.
House Staff Directory
Includes information on congressional staffers available elsewhere only by expensive subscription.
Congress APIRetrieve data on:•Roll Call Votes•Members•Bills•Nominations
CapitolWords
Retrieve statements in the Record by: •Term(s) / Phrase
•Date•Chamber
•Speaker data (name, state, party affiliation
Ex: Data Sousveillance
ProPublica _ part 2/2
Congress API
Capitol Words
CORNELL LAW SCHOOL'S LEGAL INFORMATION
INSTITUTEThat people be able to read & understand the laws that
govern them at no cost
Cornell Law School's Legal Information InstituteDocket WrenchUncovers Comments & Commenters on Regulation Dockets
Note: actually launching a ‘Successor' to DW.
(previous) Docket Wrench Introduction Sunlight Foundation
Docket Wrenc
h Demo
CRS Report(s)
Congress API
Capitol Words
Docket Wrench
DON’T JUST USE THE DATA
• An API or dataset w/o documentation is NOT reliable
• Always read the documentation• Consider the source & Get
familiar w/it• Do the research / Learn the
vernacular• Connect on GitHub, Twitter, or
other community networks• Cite your sources, Share your
projects!
Don’t Just Use the Data
Additional ResourcesMore Government Data
• CRS Reports (w/API)• ProPublica Data Interactives• ProPublica Data Store• GovTrack (w/API)
More about Government Transparency & Civic Tech
• Knight Foundation: Trends in Civic Tech
• Sunlight Foundation speaks to Congress, 2/2/2017
• Data for Democracy
