Mr Hacker goes to

Washington

Produced by: Sunlight Foundation Chief Evangelist: Greg Elin

Starring: Hackers

Orientation

• Our nation’s fore hackers

“Information is the currency of democracy.” Thomas Jefferson

•  p2p = press + parliament

• 1939

2009

“Sunlight is the best of disinfectants.” Louis Brandeis

“Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.”

Linus Torvalds via Eric Raymond

Linus Torvald Eric Raymond

Linus Torvald

11

Transparency breeds trust.

Seize New Opportunities

Washington, DC

Majority Rules

Internet is Ethernet...

•  Listen first •  Just say it •  Public Commons •  No prioritization •  No permission required •  Use NOT defined

but, Congress is Token Ring

•  “Talking Stick” • Who has the Floor? •  Everyone waits • Wait your turn •  Prioritization built-in

“YouTube sunlight versioning bailout legislation”

GovTrack.us

Legal Code != Software Code

Binary Code:Rigorous Logic •

•  Rigorous Logic •  Binary •  Procedural Blocks •  Encapsulation • Overrides •  Digital Life Cycle • Must Compile

•  Fuzzy Rhetoric •  Inconsistent Processors •  Slow iteration •  Tightly coupled •  No compiling requreid

“YouTube sunlight versioning bailout legislation”

Govt has legacy systems is

Government institutions assume one mouse

Adding more mice requires major application changes

29

1300+ Agencies (some “independent”)

Every agency is its own enterprise.

Consolidate accounting efforts started under Nixon.

Total annual IT budget of $71B.

2.75M civilian staff (not outsourced)

Bailout

Bailout

> 30% Retiring over next 5 years

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wisdoc/1903044321

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpmartineau/502316919

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikesontransit/109781608

Bailout

Procurement DoD

Think Tanks

Non Profits Lobbyists

FACA (75,000 advisors)

1999 - Gramm-Leach-Bliley Repeals Glass-Steagall Act

opensecrets.org

“YouTube rollercoaster housing”

“YouTube rollercoaster housing”

Consensus Building & Participation

Government Works

1970s - Nixon / Carter External Financial Reports accounting

OMB Reorg • Congressional Budget Office

1980s - Reagan / Bush Sr Federal Managers Financial Integrity Act

Panels • Standards • Consolidated Reporting

1990s - Clinton Chief Financial Officer Act (CFOA) 1990

Government Management Reform Act (GMRA) FAADS 1992 • FPDS 1992?

2000s - Bush Jr / Obama 9/11 & Wars • E-Gov Act 2002 (Enterprise)

FFATA 2006 (USAspending.gov) Recovery.gov • Open Government Directive

Webcontent.gov

GPS.gov

CDC.gov Redesign

XML arriving

DC’s Data Catalog

Why Mr Hacker went to Washington

53

78,000,000

2,000,000

54

78,000,000

2,000,000 2004

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2006

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2008

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55

78,000,000

2,000,000 2004

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2006

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2008

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8 Principles Open Data

2006

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Similar - legislative earmark data placed on a map. But, individuals making data parse-able where authorities did not.

Group used email to find 1,753 earmarks in one 60 page spending bill!

sunlightlabs.com - Earmarks - 2006

Web opens up new ways to follow elections

Techpresident.com - 2007

Events + demand for events.

Eventful.com/politics

Mass Participation - 2008

Seize New Opportunities

Federal CIO - Vivek Kundra

Example Hacks &

Opportunities

SEC & Edgar

Transparency

XBRL - 2010, 2011

USASpending.gov

1990s - Clinton Chief Financial Officer Act (CFOA) 1990

Government Management Reform Act (GMRA) FAADS 1992 • FPDS 1992?

2000s - Bush Jr / Obama 9/11 & Wars • E-Gov Act 2002 (Enterprise)

FFATA 2006 (USAspending.gov) Recovery.gov • Open Government Directive

Email List

XML!

RDF!�

Linked Open Data

Social Network

Recovery.gov

Agency.gov/recovery

+

74

Open Government Directive

Sunlight OOGL

GOP.com RFP

Mobile HUGE in 2010 elections

Sunlight’s Three-Year Plan

• Build the Data Commons • Continue Making Powerful Tools (and

conquer new platforms, like mobile) • Serve Key Constituencies (journalists,

issue groups) • Press for Real-time Across-the-Board

Disclosure

Apps for America

$15K prize�

Deadline Mar 31!

82

Hackathons

Show Us the Data

Important Dates

• Feb 28 - March 1: TransparencyCamp.org • March 11: Gov Open Data Meetup, San

Francisco • March 20: Open Gov Data Event, DC • March 27-28: Gov 2.0 Barcamp, DC • May: Open Government Directive • ?: Data.gov • September 9-10: O’Reilly Gov 2.0, DC • 2010: Next Elections

Mr Hacker Tips & Resources

4 Patterns

1.  Model alternatives 2.  Aggregate information 3.  Hosted Discussion 4.  Distributed Projects

Challenges

Public means Online Human + Machine Friendly 8 Principles of Open Data Interactive / Participatory

Timely Virtuous Cycle of Innovation

Sharing adds value

Philosophy

Sunlight Labs API Email Lists - Poliparse

Apps for America - $15K 50 State Project

GovTrack.us public.resource.org

mysociety watchdog.net

data.gov we’re hiring and fed govt is hiring

Where to Start