Blog

September 15, 2014

Say hello to the new Presidential Innovation Fellows

By Garren Givens

The third class of Presidential Innovation Fellows was sworn into duty last week by former CTO Todd Park. We are excited to welcome them into the 18F family.

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September 8, 2014

The encasement strategy: on legacy systems and the importance of APIs

By Dr. Robert L. Read , Michelle Hertzfeld

In 1986 a nuclear reactor known as Chernobyl released harmful radioactivity which spread over much of the western USSR and Europe. The core of this reactor remains a glowing, ineradicable mass of deadly radioactive lava in the middle of a large Exclusion Zone unfit for human habitation.

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September 4, 2014

A new look at the Freedom of Information Act

By Jackie Kazil , Shashank Khandelwal , Raphael Majma , Eric Mill , Victor Diaz Zapanta

As demand for information continues to grow, it is important to continue iterating the ways we refine the FOIA request process. Our effort is one of a number of commitments towards creating a more open, transparent government. We will explore how to supplement the work that has already been done by creating tools to improve the online FOIA requests process by designing for the user.

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August 21, 2014

Creating an open FEC

By Raphael Majma , Sean Herron , Noah Manger , Victor Diaz Zapanta , J. Amos Stone

A few weeks ago, FEC and 18F started to explore how campaign finance information can be better presented to the public. Over the past few weeks, we’ve begun learning all we can about the FEC, the process by which it collects and shares data, and how individuals outside of FEC use that data on a regular basis to gain insights into the workings of our democracy.

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August 12, 2014

The contributor's guide to 18F: code for the common good

By Dr. Robert L. Read

Transparency in coding makes code more secure. Open source development is development in the light, sometimes a harsh light, that shows every blemish. At 18F we strongly believe this improves the rapidity of our coding and the quality and security of the code.

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