Open APIs for Open Government

Ethan Phelps-Goodman
Sunlight Foundation
ethan@sunlightfoundation.com

About Sunlight Foundation:

• http://sunlightfoundation.com/
• http://sunlightfoundation.com/about/

Two examples of what we do—Influence Explorer and OpenStates:

• http://influenceexplorer.com/politician/harry-reid/b875d19789ce4c88b276a607202b362c
• http://influenceexplorer.com/organization/news-corp/5ef7cbb9b1344042884f5c699eaabaa0
• http://ca.opengovernment.org/people/32-william-monning
• http://ca.opengovernment.org/sessions/20112012/bills/ab-89/votes

Nearly everything we do is powered by open APIs. Some API calls powering previously shown pages:

• http://transparencydata.com/api/1.0/entities/b875d19789ce4c88b276a607202b362c.json?apikey=oscon11
• http://transparencydata.com/api/1.0/aggregates/pol/b875d19789ce4c88b276a607202b362c/contributors.json?apikey=oscon11
• http://transparencydata.com/api/1.0/aggregates/org/5ef7cbb9b1344042884f5c699eaabaa0/registrants.json?apikey=oscon11
• http://openstates.sunlightlabs.com/api/v1/legislators/CAL000107/?apikey=oscon11
• http://openstates.sunlightlabs.com/api/v1/bills/ca/20112012/AB%2089/?apikey=oscon11

We’re interested in getting data out of stand alone sites and into tools and sites people already use:

• https://inbox.influenceexplorer.com/
• https://checking.influenceexplorer.com/
• http://poligraft.com/BrUR

The Inbox Influence API will let you easily add political influence data to any tool:

• https://inbox.influenceexplorer.com/contextualize?text=something%20about%20anthony%20weiner&apikey=oscon11

Lots of opportunities in to make mobile apps:

• http://www.texlege.com/
• https://market.android.com/details?id=com.sunlightlabs.android.congress

Or data visualizations:

• http://clearcongressproject.com/

Or CMS and blog integration:

• http://drupal.org/node/942428

For more information on Sunlight Foundation:

• Our projects: http://sunlightfoundation.com/projects/
• Our APIs: http://services.sunlightlabs.com/
• Our developer community: http://groups.google.com/group/sunlightlabs

We also have many great partner organizations:

• Center for Responsive Politics (http://www.opensecrets.org/)
• National Institute for Money in State Politics (http://www.followthemoney.org/)
• Participatory Politics Foundation (http://www.opencongress.org/)
• http://maplight.org/
• http://www.govtrack.us/
• http://www.votesmart.org/