Its a web "portal". This implies that the data you seek is stored elsewhere on other websites.
On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 9:40 PM, Tom Johnson <t...@jtjohnson.com> wrote: > Just a gentle reminder: we hope you can come to today's WedTech and help us > figure out how to recover the peoples' data from the state government's web > site. > The SFComplex. Today (Wed, April 6) @ 12:15 p.m. > > -tom johnson > > ============================================================= > Friends: > There was some press hoopla in mid-Jauary around the introduction of the > www.sunshineportalnm.com The site was, we were told, supposed to let the > citizens of New Mexico have great access to the doings of the state > government. Unfortunately, the site's design and programming is such that > it is not even half a loaf, long sought in politics, but a very, VERY thin > slice in a very large loaf. For starters, (1) the site's opening page > lacks any sort of search engine and subsequent pages don't seem to reach out > to any meta data or relational data bases; (a) the site's taxonomy is > silo-ism to the head-scratching extreme, and (3) should one find what > appears to be a sought-after document, that document is only available as a > PDF file. > Consequently, the citizens of New Mexico are being double taxed: first, we > have paid >$300k for a site which is of minimal value in terms of finding > sought-after documents and second, if you find that PDF file you have to: > (a) extract the data, (b) clean the data after OCR-ing and (c) put it into a > word processor, spreadsheet, database or GIS application to begin any sort > of analysis. (All of this is because we have no way to find appropriate > files in the original format of creation.) > Ah, but it's possible solutions are at hand. > My friend David Collins -- one of the few reporters (formerly at The New > Mexican) who knows a bit from a byte or a bite -- has been wrestling for two > weeks with trying to suck data out of the NM state government's so-called > "transparency site," the www.sunshineportalnm.com > And he has made impressive progress. > > David has turned up some apps and FFox add-ons that are coming pretty close > to pulling the data off the site and getting that data into a form > appropriate for analysis. But while he is getting close, there are still > challenges that require the insights of experienced Flash, JavaScript and > Adobe Air programmers to actually retrieve the data in formats conducive to > analysis. > We will hold this WedTech on Wednesday, April 6 from 12:15 (so the ABQ crowd > can make the train north) until 1:15+ at the SFComplex. We will quickly lay > out the site's problems, then discuss progress thus far and conclude with an > open plea for suggestions as to how we can make the SunshinePortal truly > functional for the citizens/taxpayers of New Mexico. > Please join us on Wednesday this week at the Santa Fe Complex. > Tom Johnson > > -- > ========================================== > J. T. Johnson > Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA > www.analyticjournalism.com > 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h) > http://www.jtjohnson.com t...@jtjohnson.com > ========================================== > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
