Anyone Can be a #CivicTech Hero
Who am I?
Sr Advisor, Office of the CIO,
Department of Homeland Security
Civic Tech
in 3 Easy Steps
- Identify a problem
- Find a dataset or API
- Build an MVP
A Real World Example
The Old Regulations.gov
The New Regulations.gov
1. Identify a problem
2. Find a dataset or API
Open Source
Government Data
Open Source Data at DHS
- Data Inventory Program
- Open Sourcing Data on data.gov
- Open Data Standards and Data Stewardship
- dhs.gov/data
Data is great, but what about APIs?
3. Build an MVP
Early Pain Points
API key rate limits
Poor data architecture and API design
Lack of (good) documentation
My Solution
Step 1: Have user's register for an API key
- User requests data
- Check the cache
- Get data from API
- Cache data (30 days)
What about the UI?
For our UI framework, we want something...
- open source
- with a good base of functionality
- accessible and well tested
- maintained by a trusted organization
- with good development velocity
U.S. Web Design System, maintained by GSA
github.com/uswds
How can you become a #CivicTech hero?
Solve a problem.
Find a non-profit that needs help,
or just talk to your friends!
You don't have to solve all of the world's problems.
Start small!
Contribute to government OSS.
U.S. Web Design System
https://code.gov
Raise your voice.
Visit regulations.gov and look for opportunities to voice your expert opinion on technical policies!
