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* [examples/openspending] - openspending v0.2 * [examples/openspending][m] - fix build * [examples/openspending][xs] - fix build * [examples/openspending][xs] - add prebuild step * [examples/openspending][m] - fix requested by demenech * [examples/openspending][sm] - remove links + fix bug
72 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
72 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "OpenBudgetOakland"
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---
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# OpenOakland, United States
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<div class="well">Project: <a href="http://openbudgetoakland.org/">OpenBudgetOakland</a>, launched
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April 2013.</div>
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Open Budget Oakland is a group of civic hackers working on budget
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issues. At the beginning of 2013, they initiated the idea
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of launching a budget visualization site, with the goal to increase
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participation from citizens and stimulate citizen debate around the
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city budget. The platform should enable citizens to explore budget
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nuances, to discuss the implications of policy decisions, and to ask informed questions, and it should
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facilitate information flow from experts in the field to interested citizens.
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In February 2013, Open Budget Oakland connected with OpenSpending in
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order to plan the launch of [OpenBudgetOakland.org](http://openbudgetoakland.org/).
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From February and up until April, the small team worked to complete the
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app and launch it in time for the Mayor’s annual release of the budget
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proposal for 2013-2015. The team succeeded launching the visualization
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of the proposed budget on the day of its release. Shortly after the
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launch, the project gained recognition from the City of Oakland as it was
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offered to [present the project at city
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hall](https://twitter.com/openbudgetOAK/status/329667951265472512/photo/1).
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<iframe width='100%' height='400' src='http://openspending.org/oakland-adopted-budget-fy-2011-13-expenditures/embed?widget=treemap&state=%7B%22drilldowns%22%3A%5B%22department%22%2C%22unit%22%2C%22child-fund%22%5D%2C%22year%22%3A2012%2C%22cuts%22%3A%7B%7D%7D&width=700&height=400' frameborder='0'></iframe>
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## Technological setup and challenges
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The first budget of Oakland was accessed in July 2012 as a 350-page
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PDF file, which was copy-pasted into a coherent spreadsheet and an
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almost-interactive pie chart at a
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[one-day](http://codeforoakland.org/meet-our-2012-winning-apps) hackathon.
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The process led directly to this conclusion:
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>“accessing Oakland city budget data isn’t easy, and even once you have data, it isn’t
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> immediately clear how it can be shared in a way that helps people.”
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The small volunteer team at Open Budget Oakland built the site within a
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few months of 2013 based on OpenSpending technology, adding two new
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distinct features. From March 2013, OpenOakland engaged several email
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conversations on the OpenSpending mailing lists and received
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contributions via GitHub from OpenSpending developers:
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1. a [Disqus](http://disqus.com/) commenting module, which enables
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users to discuss each spending item and thus improve participation
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2. a browsing feature for the OpenSpending histogram view, enabling
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easier navigation in OpenSpending
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3. [D3](http://d3js.org) for visualising income and expenditure in one
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chart [budget visualisation
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developed](http://www.peterkrantz.com/2012/data-visualization-tools/) developed
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by Peter Krantz, another OpenSpending community member
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Open Budget Oakland has also considered the possibility of pursuing
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transactional spending data, though this is not available at the moment
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from the Oakland City Council.
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## Community
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The community is considered key for generating a budget discussion going
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forward past the initial media coverage.
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Open Budget Oakland is a part of Open Oakland, which has a volunteer
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team of 21 members working across the entire open government agenda. The
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group organises weekly meetups for volunteers and is supported by Code
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for America.
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Coverage: [TechPresident](http://techpresident.com/news/23749/oakland-gets-new-data-visualization-site-its-budget) and
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[Oakland Local](http://oaklandlocal.com/article/open-oakland-opening-oakland%E2%80%99s-budget-community-voices) (community
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blog).
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