April 10, 2023 2
Hi.
• Dan O’Neil• Smart Chicago• EveryBlock• Civic Technology• OpenGov Chicago• 8 Principles of Open Government
Data• You?
@danxoneil
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First
• I made my first civic app in 1999• Text-based WAP systems were just coming
into general use on phones• I tried to think of the most compelling use
case for this technology. In other words, what can’t wait for you to get back to your desk?
• The answer: Killer on the Loose• I also thought up the least compelling use
@danxoneil
2003: Blogs• In 2003, I set up a
TypePad blog for one of my brothers
• Gave him some training on how to blog
• He first blog was a generalized “catch-all”, focusing, in part, on the 2004 presidential election
April 10, 2023 6@danxoneil
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• A mass text group set up on the UPOC.com system
• Anyone could join and let other people know about the best meals in Chicago that cost less than $5
• Nobody really used it, because it was boring and lacked authority
• But I learned about the group messaging platform
2004: $5 meals in Chicago
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• After a security incident on the CTA during the rush hour, I created a new mass text group on UPOC called “CTA Alerts”
• It caught on pretty quickly, and users contributed tons of useful information
• It grew to 600+ users in a couple of months
• We were able to cover the entire system at any given time
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August 2005: CTA Alerts
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• Shorty after we launched, the CTA signed up and started posting
• They were by far the most prolific posters• In fact, the system had turned into a top/
down communication tool instead of a rider-to-rider tool that I had envisioned when I launched it
• This was the first cycle of what would turn out to be three inside/ outside interactions where the CTA asserted primacy and made good systems
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January 2006: The switch from rider-to-rider to top-down
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• The site was very popular and the new features we added allowed for more rider interaction
• Streamed photos from our Flickr group
• Streamed RSS feeds of news, blogs, and mentions of the CTA
• Put the alerts front & center
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January 2006: Relaunch ofCTA Tattler
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• The CTA started doing their own alerts via a system called, “CTA Updates”
• Using an email-based system called GovDelivery
• Not awesome, too slow• CTA also reduced postings to the CTA
Alerts system
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2008: The Age of GovDelivery
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• My friend Harper Reed created a service based on the CTA Bus Tracker
• That blew my mind• We started working together to interact with the
CTA• Over-arching scrape was overwhelming them• Buster was using the endpoints• They had just updated the code from a Java
applet• Pittsburgh, Baltimore, DC• Inside/ Outside
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August 2008: Harper Reed’s Unofficial Transit API
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• It became apparent that Twitter was where it’s at when it came to group messaging
• Duh• So we started up a host of Twitter acc
ounts around the concept of @ctatweet
• I warned, when we launched it, that it might be lame
• It kind of wasApril 10, 2023
September 2008: Launch ofCTA Tweet
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• When the CTA launched a new website, they also included RSS feeds for every line
• This was a big deal, because it made @ctatweet a ton better
• The CTA also made operational changes to support this service
• Six full-time External Customer Communication Coordinators who work inside the CTA Control Center
• This was an improvement on GovDeliveryApril 10, 2023
December 2008: CTA Launches RSS Feeds for Every Line
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• The CTA came out with the Train Tracker
• Super-great thinking– native to the web, pure service, authoritative
• Prefatory to a full API • When I wrote about it as a beta
tester, I pointed this out
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January 2011: CTA Train Tracker
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• After the API release, it allowed to create a bare-bones dashboard of service
• Hosted at www.ctaalerts.com• We actually never really paid a world of
attention to this• In part because the CTA was doing a
great job• And in part because Harper became the
CTO of the Obama re-election campaign
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2011: The Launch of CTAAlerts.com
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• Game-changer• Super-solid spec• Completely open and official• And contained pretty much my
greatest tech victory ever
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2011: CTA Alerts API
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• CTA came out with @cta• Made @ctatweet basically irrelevant• Again, the official service eclipses
unofficial• In ways that serve the public
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November 2011: @cta
@danxoneil
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Lessons
• Light collaboration wins• Inside/ outside • The official service– the canonical
entity– always matters more than anyone else