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How to use APIs from Twitter, Google & Facebook to find data, ideas Katharine Jarmul by Katharine Jarmul Published Aug. 8, 2011 1:27 pm Updated Aug. 9, 2011 12:02 am As more and more journalists are finding, APIs are a great way to get data for your Web applications and projects. An API, or application programming interface, enables software programs to communicate with one another. (Chrys Wu wrote a helpful intro here.) To give you a better understanding of how they can help you, I've outlined some of the best APIs for finding content and explained how you can use open-source programming tools to glean information from them.

Part 2 of the Open Data, Open Society report is now available online Posted on September 1, 2011 by marco Open Data, Open Society is a research project about openness of public data in EU local administrations by for the Laboratory of Economics and Management of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa. The first report of the project, released in October 2010 under a Creative Commons cc-by license, can be downloaded from the website of the DIME project (PDF) or read online as one HTML file on the Sant'Anna School website (*). The conclusions of the project, a shorter report titled "Open Data: Emerging trends, issues and best practices" and finished in June 2011, are now available online under the same license at the following locations: single HTML file PDF format, Sant'Anna school PDF format, DIME website Another part of the project, the Open Data, Open Society survey has been extended until the end of 2011. Thank you in advance for announcing the survey to all the city and regional administrations of EU-15 and, if you want, to add further translations of its introduction!

Mapping Sheets Another favorite Google Drive add-on of mine is definitely Mapping Sheets. With this add-on, you can make better use of any geographical data you may have in your spreadsheet. If you've ever wanted an easy way to quickly plot locations from your data onto a Google Map, this is it. drive addons8   5 Google Drive Add ons You Need To Use Using it is ridiculously easy. Just make sure you've got a list of addresses and other related data in your sheet, and then trigger this add-on. You'll see a form where you tell it what columns in your sheet to use for creating the map. drive addons9   5 Google Drive Add ons You Need To Use Once you submit it, the add-on creates the map right in the sheet for you so that you have a useful visualization of all of that data.

When you go to a conference, there are typically several talks going on at the same time, and you can always tell there's a popular paper coming up when you see people leave a bunch of rooms at once and head straight into one. There's also the unfortunate case when someone speaks, and there's only a handful of people in the room, all in the back staring at their laptops. Open Data City visualized this activity during the German internet conference re: publica. Open Data City used MAC addresses and access point connections to keep track of where devices went. So a person might be in a room connected to the nearest access point, disconnects as he leaves, and then reconnects as he reenters another room, which provides the flow. It's fun to watch the conference play out even if you didn't attend. Each dot represents an attendee, and as the animation plays the dots migrate from room to room. Click and drag over the dots to select specific people. [Thanks, Michael]

An interesting example of yet another "next generation" data analysis and presentation tool. You can see the demos at http://www.lavastorm.com/ Emphasis is on visualizing the data analytic method while doing the analysis.

Google Refine is a power tool for working with messy data, primarily for * detecting and fixing inconsistencies * transforming data from one structure or format to another * connecting names within your data to name registries (databases) Use Google Refine when you need something ... * more powerful than a spreadsheet * more interactive and visual than scripting * more provisional / exploratory / experimental / playful than a database

They Rule Overview They Rule aims to provide a glimpse of some of the relationships of the US ruling class. It takes as its focus the boards of some of the most powerful U.S. companies, which share many of the same directors. Some individuals sit on 5, 6 or 7 of the top 1000 companies. It allows users to browse through these interlocking directories and run searches on the boards and companies. A user can save a map of connections complete with their annotations and email links to these maps to others. They Rule is a starting point for research about these powerful individuals and corporations. Context A few companies control much of the economy and oligopolies exert control in nearly every sector of the economy. The people who head up these companies swap on and off the boards from one company to another, and in and out of government committees and positions. These people run the most powerful institutions on the planet, and we have almost no say in who they are. This is not a conspiracy, they are proud to rule, yet these connections of power are not always visible to the public eye. Karl Marx once called this ruling class a 'band of hostile brothers.' They stand against each other in the competitve struggle for the continued accumulation of their capital, but they stand together as a family supporting their interests in perpetuating the profit system as whole. Protecting this system can require the cover of a 'legitimate' force - and this is the role that is played by the state. An understanding of this system can not be gleaned from looking at the inter-personal relations of this class alone, but rather how they stand in relation to other classes in society. Hopefully They Rule will raise larger questions about the structure of our society and in whose benefit it is run. The Data We do not claim that this data is 100% accurate at all times. Corporate directors have a habit of dying, quitting boards, joining new ones and most frustratingly passing on their name

I think this data must be very useful to the people in Occupy Wall Street

The new online Who Owns What Database launched by the Institute of Security Studies in Cape Town on Friday is making the assets and private interests of all elected officials available to the public for the first time. Originally launched in September 2009, the database of politicians' assets and onterests contained approximately 9000 financial disclosure records submitted between 2004 and 2010 by elected members in the National Assembly, National Cabinet, nine provincial legislatures and metropolitan councils. The database has recently been extended to include the latest financial disclosure records of elected local councillors from municipalities across the country. "What this means is that the public can access the financial disclosure forms of all elected politicians online," Collette Herzenberg, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, said at the launch of the database.

Another good model for other nations to emulate/build on. Congrats to the friends in SA.

FusionTablesLayer Builder This wizard helps you create the HTML for a map with a FusionTablesLayer and search element (either text-based search or select menu). After creating your map, you can copy and paste the HTML code in the textarea below to display the map on your own website! Please submit bug reports here: Issue Tracker

Click on the "Add another feature" drop-down to add additional layer or search box