Update: Live session feed here: http://legalhackathon.org/?p=242
The law is the most important data set in your town, city or state. Yet it is often the hardest information to find, access and use on the Internet. Whether you are a developer, a lawyer or a government worker, the frustrations with today's paper-based legal information are endless. Worse, the problems start with the entire outmoded, disjointed system of producing legal information in America.
The civic software developers at The OpenGov Foundation are solving these problems with open source software, liberating America's laws from inaccessible, closed data formats into ridiculously useful "decoded" open data with user-friendly websites and powerful tools on top. To date, San Francisco, Virginia, Maryland, Chicago, Philly and more have been transformed to decoded law cities and states.
Access them all here:
http://AmericaDecoded.org/.
Part software development and data science, part grassroots organizing and straight-up politicking, OpenGov Executive Director Seamus Kraft will share the secrets of how to liberate the laws where you live, and where the America Decoded project is going next.
Key Links
1. America's "Decoded Law" Library & Resource Hub -
http://americadecoded.org/
2. [VIDEO] "Decoded Law 101":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Bzi6PaK78
3. [VIDEO] Top DC City Attorney on Why We Need Decoded Laws & Legislation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JKO70wdfb8
4. State Decoded Open Source Project on Github:
https://github.com/statedecoded
