Social Entrepreneur API search engine sample data?
Andrius Kulikauskas
I was very encouraged by today's conference call about development of
the Social Entrepreneur API search engine.
http://www.socialentrepreneurapi.org I share news with the Kiyavilo
Msekwa's working group "Learn How to Learn"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learnhowtolearn/ where we're working on
the Minciu Sodas http://www.ms.lt and Worknets http://www.worknets.org
web interfaces among other projects.
How might I access the raw data (or sample data) returned by the search
engine http://search.socialentrepreneurapi.org ?
I'm interested to start trying to show such data as specified by the
Social Actions mockups (for use with the Plone content management
system) and perhaps try work on some widgets. And also see how to
present our own network's people in such formats. Perhaps other
developers might work with me.
I found an XML format and a list of fields and other links which I have
here:
http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?SocialEntrepreneurAPI
The Social Entrepreneur API search engine provides information about
social entrepreneurs who are sponsored or endorsed by institutions such
as Civic Ventures, Draper Richards Foundation, ideablob, PopTech, Schwab
Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and Skoll Foundation.
SocialEdge.org is the Skoll Foundation's network for social
entrepreneurs. Social Actions is a non-profit consultancy that has
created a database of actions that people can take that are aggregated
from more than sixty social action websites. They are offering some
funding to present the data with an interface and widgets. Here are the
specifications and discussion:
http://groups.google.com/group/social-actions-dev/browse_thread/thread/4953c43e9f58b38e
They are keen to foster open collaboration. Social Actions has created
dozens of interfaces but would like to encourage a network of developers
working openly. They were supportive of trying out ideas such as:
* Trying to include in the work all interested developers rather than
choosing "winner takes all". I think this would encourage people to
work on the parts of the project they are most interested in. It would
discourage those who are primarily looking for money and encourage those
who might relate their part of the project with their other interests.
It would also encourage developers to include friends who might work for
less. Thus more would be accomplished by a larger group that invests in
each other.
* Providing a set amount of funds (say in $1,000 increments) and seeing
what a developer can achieve with that, and then reevaluating and
providing more work as desired. Typically, 80% of development is
straightforward and 20% is a headache and often pointless. It's much
cheaper and more fruitful to encourage the developer to optimize what
they can do - and they can focus on relevant functionality, sometimes
unforeseen - then to impose a checklist with unforeseen stumbling
blocks. If those stumbling blocks are essential, nevertheless, then
budget so that another developer can take over.
* Encouraging long term relationships so that developers who receive
work are willing to do some work for free when there is no money, but
are remembered when more funds become available. Thinking of each other
as co-investors and encouraging developers to look for synergies with
their other projects and networks.
In that spirit, I'd like to start some work for free to present the
search engine data.
I'm encouraged to work towards connections. For example:
* John Brennan, a developer in the conference call, is the founder of My
Action Map http://www.myactionmap.org for describing philanthropy in
terms of actions taken.
* Ricardo of Learn How to Learn is simpliflying the publication of
ebooks for viewing on DVD players. For example, the database of social
entrepreneurs could be published on a DVD and distributed through our
network in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, perhaps in local languages.
http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?HowToPrintToJpegPagesForDvdPlayers
* Minciu Sodas worked for Leon Benjamin to engage UK online communities
on behalf of Mornflake cereal. We created a directory, in the Public
Domain, along with the responsiveness of each community to our
outreach. We showed that a company could benefit more by giving us
resources to reach out and help other online communities and thank them,
rather than having us promote them directly.
http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?UKOnlineCommunities (I share also with
Leon's working group Voiceful http://groups.yahoo.com/group/voiceful/ )
Wealth is relationships. The Social Entrepreneur API search engine can
help us get to know each other, include each other and thereby generate
true wealth.
Thank you for including us!
Andrius
Andrius Kulikauskas
Minciu Sodas
http://www.ms.lt
m...@ms.lt
+370 699 30003
skype: minciusodas
Peter Deitz
The Social Entrepreneur API data can be accessed in HTML, RSS, ATOM, or
JSON at:
http://search.socialentrepreneurapi.org
Documentation for access the results in JSON is available here:
http://socialactions.pbworks.com/Social+Entrepreneur+API+-+Documentation
All the best,
Peter
Peter Deitz
Social Actions
Founder / Executive Director
http://www.socialactions.com
USA: 415-425-7482 | Canada: 514-824-3270 | Skype: peterdeitz
http://twitter.com/peterdeitz
http://www.linkedin.com/in/peterdeitz
http://my.socialactions.com/profile/PeterDeitz
Andrius Kulikauskas
http://search.socialentrepreneurapi.org/entrepreneurs.json?q=water
and in HTML at:
http://search.socialentrepreneurapi.org
But how do I access it in RSS or ATOM ? I don't see how.
Christine Egger, Thank you for your detailed notes of our phone call! and thank you for introducing us to Zach Berke, we're hoping to talk on Wednesday.
Andrius Kulikauskas, Minciu Sodas, http://www.ms.lt, m...@ms.lt
**************************************
Hi Andrius,
The Social Entrepreneur API data can be accessed in HTML, RSS, ATOM, or
JSON at:
http://search.socialentrepreneurapi.org
Documentation for access the results in JSON is available here:
http://socialactions.pbworks.com/Social+Entrepreneur+API+-+Documentation
All the best,
Peter
Peter Deitz
Social Actions
Founder / Executive Director
http://www.socialactions.com
**************************************
Hi SA Dev,
Below are notes from Friday's conference call in which Jill, Peter,
and I fielded questions from Andrius Kulikauskas and John Brennan
about the Social Edge/SE API search interface and widget project. They
and Zach Berke will hopefully be following up with proposals for
Social Edge's considering by the end of this week or early next.
Don't hesitate to use this thread, or the one Andrius posted after
Friday's call, for questions-updates-suggestions on this project:
http://groups.google.com/group/social-actions-dev/browse_thread/thread/fd8f6653a2398e23
Thanks!
Christine
**************************************
Friday, October 23, 2009
**Participants**
Andrius Kulikauskas, Minciu Sodas
John Brennan, JanisB
Jill Finlayson, Social Edge
Peter Deitz, Social Actions
Christine Egger, Social Actions
**Agenda**
-- Project background
-- Open Q&A
**Notes**
Jill provided some background for this project, explaining Social
Edge’s commitment to social entrepreneurs looking to start and scale
their venture. Facilitating connections between social entrepreneurs
and those who support them is very important. Social entrepreneurs
want to see successful models, and to some extent see how they can
complement or contribute to efforts going on in their area. For this
to be valuable, the social entrepreneurs need to have proven their
credibility via funders’ due diligence. The more data fields, and
options to filter and sort, that people can search by the more
valuable this project will be.
Jill stressed that they don’t expect this search interface and widget
to be the only window into the Social Entrepreneur API, but that they
want to make several versions of this that others can use. For
example, their might be a photo gallery display, text display, and
other immediate applications: a widget that participating
organizations could drop onto their website, showing just their social
entrepreneurs with perhaps a link to broader search results; perhaps a
customizable widget for Dowser, where social entrepreneurs involved in
microfinance, for example, could be shown next to an article on that
subject.
Q: Are there any language requirements for the project i.e. Python,
Ruby on Rails, PHP? A: No, the back end is up to the developer. Social
Actions has added API keys for access to the SA API and the SE API, to
that’s something we’ll need to provide.
Q: Does the data include details about the social entrepreneur’s
projects? A: It focuses on the social entrepreneur as an individual,
although certain fields like location would refer to where their work
is based.
John explained that he’s working on a project called ActionMap, using
an open standard called Project RSS, that would support individual
feeds and visualize social entrepreneur activities on a map. Jill
responded that a map-based interface would be wonderful.
Also mentioned: the social entrepreneur will occur in the database
multiple times if they’ve been funded by multiple funders, and we’ll
have to talk about how we can consolidate, not first priority.
Q: Can social entrepreneurs directly edit their profile? A: No, but
that’s something that might be possible in the future, if the
participating organizations as a group want to make that happen.
Q: What action do you want someone to take as a result of their
search? A: The primary purpose of the search interface is to inform.
Funders (fellowship and award programs) will search this for areas of
interest to them or the philanthropists they work with. We’re hoping
social entrepreneurs will be discovered and funded, or discovered and
written about in the media. It’s a discovery tool that – especially
with additional mash-ups – will convert discovery to action.
Peter explained that Social Actions has two databases – the Social
Actions API and the Social Entrepreneur API. Applications and mash-ups
for both are encouraged. A list of applications that build off of the
Social Actions API can be found here:
http://www.socialactions.com/share-actions
Most of them are open source, and a developer can take their code and
tweak them for this purpose. The Social Entrepreneur API isn’t action
oriented at this point – it’s rich information about the social
entrepreneurs – although there’s nothing stopping a developer from
creating applications that build action infrastructure on top of that.
Peter and Christine provided a quick recap of the kinds of
organizations that have voiced an interest in using the Social
Entrepreneur API: foundation service organizations, researchers,
social entrepreneurs themselves, academics, platform designers, etc.
Q: If the purpose is to help people connect with the social
entrepreneur, it would be simple to make the social entrepreneur’s
email or telephone number available. Are there plans to do that? A:
We’re serving multiple constituencies. The participating funders
(award and fellowship programs) want to be acknowledged for the work
they’ve done in vetting and awarding these social entrepreneurs, and
they want this resource to drive traffic to their site. Some of them
are fine having that contact information right up front.
Q: What’s the advantage of finding a social entrepreneur via the
Social Entrepreneur API over, say, Google? A: Google wouldn’t provide
a list of vetted social entrepreneurs working in a particular region
or issue area, but the point that the contact information – which
would be more immediately available through a direct search for the
entrepreneur’s name – is valid. A version of the Social Entrepreneur
API search results that shares the entrepreneur’s contact information
makes sense.
A complete list of the data points is in “social_entrepreneur_zip”
posted here:
http://groups.google.com/group/social-entrepreneur-api/files
Q: Why are you reaching out to developers for this project rather than
building it in-house? A: Social Actions’ model is to build out
collaborative infrastructures and encourage third party developers to
build on them. In the past, we’ve done this through events like the
Change the Web Challenge. In this case, Social Edge has a budget and
it’s part of their model, to get independent developers involved, draw
attention to them, and showcase this as an example of how easy it is
to launch projects like this.
Q: There are challenges to building a good relationship with a
developer, and designing a useful project, off of a specification
(technical description). Would you be willing to find developers who
identify something of value to them in this project, and give them a
chance to propose what they could do with some funding? That would
encourage an ongoing relationship with your developer community, too.
A: Absolutely. The overall objective for this project is to provide
Social Edge with a search engine. The spec provides the minimum of
what could be accomplished, and the idea of mashing up the API with
(for example) self-identified entrepreneurs, maps, and other data is
fantastic. This is the first step, and integral to building the
ecosystem of resources we envision for social entrepreneurs: a funders
database, social entrepreneur database, etc.
Social Edge has between $2,000 and $5,000 for this project, and is
interested in seeing what could be built for anything up to those
amounts. The developers who’ve voiced an interest so far are
encouraged to put their heads together, talk about what they’d like to
do with the Social Entrepreneur API in light of Social Edge’s funding
for the search interface and widget they’ve described and their own
interests (collaborating where beneficial), and propose related
projects for Social Edge to green light within the next week or two if
possible. The goal would be for a Social Edge interface and widget, at
a minimum, to be built within a month or so.
Proposed:
• Submit proposals by this Friday, 10/30
• Social Edge would take a week to review and decide
• Projects would be functional by the second week of December
:cde
Peter Deitz
You can access the Social Entrepreneur API and Social Actions API in RSS
and ATOM by replacing .json with .rss or .atom respectively.
All the best,
Peter
Peter Deitz
Social Actions
Founder / Executive Director
http://www.socialactions.com
http://twitter.com/peterdeitz
http://www.linkedin.com/in/peterdeitz
http://my.socialactions.com/profile/PeterDeitz
Andrius Kulikauskas wrote:
Andrius Kulikauskas
Thank you.
This url gives ATOM records:
http://search.socialentrepreneurapi.org/entrepreneurs.atom?q=water
But I don't get any results for the RSS:
http://search.socialentrepreneurapi.org/entrepreneurs.rss?q=water
Do I need to use a different url for the RSS?
Andrius