Archive for the openlylocal Tag

SFTW: How to scrape webpages and ask questions with Google Docs and =importXML

Here’s another Something for the Weekend post. Last week I wrote a post on how to use the =importFeed formula in Google Docs spreadsheets to pull an RSS feed (or part of one) into a spreadsheet, and split it into columns. Another formula which performs a similar function more powerfully is =importXML. There are at least 2 distinct journalistic uses
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Posted by Paul Bradshaw on Jul 29, 2011
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New UK site launches to tackle lobbying data

I’ve been waiting for the launch of Who’s Lobbying ever since they stuck up that little Post-It note on a holding page in the run-up to the general election. Well now the site is live – publishing and visualising lobbying data, beginning with information about “ministerial meetings with outside interests, based on the reports released by UK government departments in October.”
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Posted by Paul Bradshaw on Nov 15, 2010
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Open data meets FOI via some nifty automation

Now this is an example of what’s possible with open data and some very clever thinking. Chris Taggart blogs about a new tool on his OpenlyLocal platform that allows you to send a Freedom of Information (FOI) request based on a particular item of spending. “This further lowers the barriers to armchair auditors wanting to understand where the money goes,
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Posted by Paul Bradshaw on Oct 04, 2010
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