knight night: openblock and open source in the knight news challenge

Nick Grossman, Director of Civic Works, OpenPlans | @nickgrossman

Knight Night @ The Nieman Lab - 10/19/2010

OpenBlock

Open source hyper-local data platformor, open source and the News Challenge

Tonight1. A little about OpenPlans

2. OpenBlock: open source hyper-local data platform

3. Open source and the News Challenge

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OpenPlans

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OpenPlans

NYC nonprofit tech & media organization

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OpenPlans

NYC nonprofit tech & media organizationFounded in 1999, now 50 people

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OpenPlans

NYC nonprofit tech & media organizationFounded in 1999, now 50 people

Civic Engagement, Open Government

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OpenPlans

NYC nonprofit tech & media organizationFounded in 1999, now 50 people

Civic Engagement, Open GovernmentJournalism + Open Source

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OpenPlans

NYC nonprofit tech & media organizationFounded in 1999, now 50 people

Civic Engagement, Open GovernmentJournalism + Open Source

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OpenPlans

NYC nonprofit tech & media organizationFounded in 1999, now 50 people

Civic Engagement, Open GovernmentJournalism + Open Source

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OpenPlans

NYC nonprofit tech & media organizationFounded in 1999, now 50 people

Civic Engagement, Open GovernmentJournalism + Open Source

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OpenPlans

NYC nonprofit tech & media organizationFounded in 1999, now 50 people

Civic Engagement, Open GovernmentJournalism + Open Source

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OpenPlans

NYC nonprofit tech & media organizationFounded in 1999, now 50 people

Civic Engagement, Open GovernmentJournalism + Open Source

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OpenPlans

NYC nonprofit tech & media organizationFounded in 1999, now 50 people

Civic Engagement, Open GovernmentJournalism + Open Source

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OpenPlans

NYC nonprofit tech & media organizationFounded in 1999, now 50 people

Civic Engagement, Open GovernmentJournalism + Open Source

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OpenPlans

NYC nonprofit tech & media organizationFounded in 1999, now 50 people

Civic Engagement, Open GovernmentJournalism + Open Source

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OpenPlans

NYC nonprofit tech & media organizationFounded in 1999, now 50 people

Civic Engagement, Open GovernmentJournalism + Open Source

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OneBusAway

OpenPlans

NYC nonprofit tech & media organizationFounded in 1999, now 50 people

Civic Engagement, Open GovernmentJournalism + Open Source

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

OneBusAway

openblockproject.orgA.K.A. “EveryBlock Open Source”

OpenBlock

Goals for OpenBlock

Goals for OpenBlock

Today: Cool app that’s hard to set up and use

Goals for OpenBlock

Today: Cool app that’s hard to set up and use

Tomorrow: Cool app that’s easy for lots of people to set up and use

Goals for OpenBlock

Today: Cool app that’s hard to set up and use

Tomorrow: Cool app that’s easy for lots of people to set up and use

Many newspapers & news hackers able to deploy & build on their own OpenBlock instance

Public Web UI Data Scrapers

Geocoder

Openblock Model

Django ORM

PostgreSQL + PostGIS

Map Server

Django Web

System Overview

Widgets Admin UI Public UIData

ScrapersREST API

Geocoder

Openblock Model

Django ORM

PostgreSQL + PostGIS

Map Server

Django Web

Installer Documentation

Missing Parts

News Source

Collecting News

Local Police Beat Web Site

News Source

Scraper

Collecting News

Local Police Beat Web Site

News Source

ScraperNews Item

News Item

Item Type

Collecting News

Local Police Beat Web Site

B&E at 123 Fakey St.

Crime Report

News Source

ScraperNews Item

GeoCoderNews Item

Item Type

Collecting News

Local Police Beat Web Site

B&E at 123 Fakey St.

Crime Report

News Source

ScraperNews Item

GeoCoderNews Item

Item Type

News ItemNews Item

Item Type

Locations

Collecting News

Local Police Beat Web Site

B&E at 123 Fakey St.

Crime Report

B&E at 123 Fakey St.

Crime Report

123 Fakey St.

•highly configurable

•highly configurable

•highly extensible

•highly configurable

•highly extensible

•good base for many geo / data apps

•highly configurable

•highly extensible

•good base for many geo / data apps

•many possibilities for new experiences

OpenBlock: Developer Resources

OpenBlock: Developer Resources

openblockproject.org

developer.openblockproject.org

demo.openblockproject.org

OpenBlock: Developer Resources

openblockproject.org

developer.openblockproject.org

demo.openblockproject.org

Open Source Mapping / GIS tools - opengeo.org

OpenBlock: Developer Resources

openblockproject.org

developer.openblockproject.org

demo.openblockproject.org

HyperLocal w/ OpenBlock Hack Day at MIT - Oct 30th

Hacks/Hackers, Boston Globe, OpenPlans + you

http://meetupbos.hackhackers.com

Open Source Mapping / GIS tools - opengeo.org

Open Sourceand the News Challenge

i.e., how to open source your project without breaking your budget

What do you really mean by “open source”?

What do you really mean by “open source”?

By "open-source" we mean a digital, open-source platform that uses a code base that can be used by anyone after the grant period to either replicate your project in their community or to build upon it.

What do you really mean by “open source”?

By "open-source" we mean a digital, open-source platform that uses a code base that can be used by anyone after the grant period to either replicate your project in their community or to build upon it.

You will own your platform, but you will have to share any software you develop under a GPL license and any documents, manuals or instructions under Creative Commons licensing.

What do you really mean by “open source”?

By "open-source" we mean a digital, open-source platform that uses a code base that can be used by anyone after the grant period to either replicate your project in their community or to build upon it.

You will own your platform, but you will have to share any software you develop under a GPL license and any documents, manuals or instructions under Creative Commons licensing.

...

Open Source is a long-term proposition

but... it’s easy to plan ahead for it

Feature development & documentation: ticket tracker/wiki

Product discussion: mailing list

Code: social repo

Progress: blog

Periodic releases: demo server

Open source resources

• Book: Producing Open Source Software

http://producingoss.com

• Citizen Media Law Project

http://www.citmedialaw.org

• Software Freedom Law Center

http://www.softwarefreedom.org

• Knight will help you if you are selected

Thanks!

OpenPlans: http://openplans.org

OpenBlock: http://openblockproject.org

Nick Grossman: nick@openplans.org @nickgrossman

(see you at the hackathon October 30th)