What

Structured data that is machine-readable and freely shared, used, and built on without restrictions.

Examples?

Budget, public health, science and research, citizen requests, regulation and permits, location, demographic, public safety

Engaging the Public

Necessary for a functioning democracy.

Many minds principle

"The best thing to do with your data will be thought of by someone else"

Credit to Eric Raymond & Rufus Pollock

Getting Data

Local:   opendata.wichita.gov

State:   kanview.ks.gov

Nat'l:    data.gov

openwichita.org/data

Types of Data

Download

Getting a single file representing a dataset at a given point in time.

Great for archiving purposes, and easiest to achieve.

API

A web URL that can be requested any time to receive the current state of a dataset.

Often "programmable" to filter and transform data as you request it.

Formats

CSV, JSON, XLS

Learn Free Tools

Free software is everywhere!

Tableau Public

https://public.tableau.com

Plotly

https://plot.ly/create

High Charts

https://highcharts.com

Learn to Code

Just the basics can take you far!

Code Academy

https://codeacademy.com

devICT

https://devict.org

Local coding community

Steal Ideas

Build on the successes / failures of others.

Open Data Handbook

http://opendatahandbook.org/

Information and case studies.

Learn to Collaborate

Open Data is a community effort.

GitHub!

https://github.com/openwichita