Frontyard PlanningAlerts Hackfest

It's that time again - hackfest time!

From the 11th to the 23rd of April we will be in residence at Frontyard Projects (https://www.openaustraliafoundation.org.au/2016/04/01/openaustralia-foundation-in-residence-at-frontyard-projects/), culminating in this - one of our renowned hackfests.

Artists, designers and hackers are especially welcome.

During the Frontyard PlanningAlerts hackfest we’ll expand the coverage of PlanningAlerts by writing scrapers, work on the core project, and create art with public data. Bring a laptop if you need one to work - we'll supply power, internet, and lunch.

We hope you’ll join us - please RSVP to reserve your spot and so we can organise catering. We have very limited places at this special venue so please remember to update your RSVP if you can't make it.

Schedule

10:00 - Doors open
10:30 - Welcome and introductory talk
11:00 - Let the hacking begin
13:00 - Lunch (supplied)
17:00 - Show and tell
17:30 - Drinks at a local pub

Directions - How to get to Frontyard

It's easy to get to Frontyard by public transport. If you're coming by train Marrickville station is an easy 7 minute walk away (https://www.google.com.au/maps/dir/Marrickville+Station,+Marrickville+NSW+2204/228+Illawarra+Rd,+Marrickville+NSW+2204/@-33.9118298,151.1527879,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x6b12b062ddb2b541:0xb396c5dad50c4361!2m2!1d151.1532156!2d-33.9137484!1m5!1m1!1s0x6b12b0643971d4cf:0xfd04759e18342c41!2m2!1d151.1566589!2d-33.9099202!3e2).

There are also buses to Marrickville from the city (https://www.google.com.au/maps/dir/Central,+Haymarket+NSW/228+Illawarra+Rd,+Marrickville+NSW+2204/@-33.8966642,151.1639644,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m16!4m15!1m5!1m1!1s0x6b12ae2168dac7a5:0x55e79b4a664d3471!2m2!1d151.2065819!2d-33.8826209!1m5!1m1!1s0x6b12b0643971d4cf:0xfd04759e18342c41!2m2!1d151.1566589!2d-33.9099202!2m1!5e0!3e3). Hop on a 423 or a 426 and you'll almost arrive at the door.

Ideas for the day

We'll run two broad tracks at the hackfest. One design focussed and the other programming focussed. We encourage you to chop and change throughout the day. Here's some ideas of things to hack on to get you started:

•Fixing broken scrapers - check the list on the PlanningAlerts authorities page (https://www.planningalerts.org.au/authorities)

•Writing new scrapers - see the step by step instructions (https://www.planningalerts.org.au/how_to_write_a_scraper)

•Contribute to the Time Trumpet (https://twitter.com/equivalentideas/status/720807259941416961)

•Collaborate with other designers to redesign public notices like those used to advertise development applications (https://twitter.com/kattekrab/status/720493682051440640) (see Luke's comment below)

•Hack on PlanningAlerts itself. There's plenty of issues to work on (https://github.com/openaustralia/planningalerts/issues), see how many pull requests you can submit