3 upcoming API events

49 views
Skip to first unread message

Gray Brooks

unread,
Apr 24, 2013, 1:23:09 AM4/24/13
to us-govern...@googlegroups.com
Hi folks, 

There's a few events coming up if you're interested.  Click through to sign up and register.  
Feel free to forward to any others who might be interested.  

Gray



Lily Bradley

unread,
Apr 25, 2013, 2:22:05 PM4/25/13
to us-govern...@googlegroups.com
Does anyone have a data file about API usage (# calls by key or IP address) that I could play around with? 

I'm trying to understand what story I could paint in the future about our own data. Get a sense for how to describe success, and set goals/targets. 

Sorry I missed this mornings call.

lisa.w...@census.gov

unread,
Apr 25, 2013, 4:27:56 PM4/25/13
to Lily Bradley, us-govern...@googlegroups.com
Hi,
 
I don't have a file to share but one thing that has done well with our executives is a report that includes key growth over time with any events noted, like the launch, data releases, etc.  We also include in the report highlights of apps or tools built off the api.




Lisa Wolfisch
Chief, Web and Social Media Branch
Center for New Media & Promotions
U.S. Census Bureau
v: 301.763.5716

Connect with us:
TwitterFacebookYouTubeFlickr
And always on the web at census.gov

Learn about Census Mobile Apps for your smart phone and tablet!



-----us-govern...@googlegroups.com wrote: -----
To: us-govern...@googlegroups.com
From: Lily Bradley
Sent by: us-govern...@googlegroups.com
Date: 04/25/2013 02:22PM
Subject: Re: 3 upcoming API events

Muerdter, Nick

unread,
Apr 26, 2013, 5:44:11 PM4/26/13
to lisa.w...@census.gov, Lily Bradley, us-govern...@googlegroups.com
Hi Lily,

I don't have a shareable data file handy, but basically for each request the main things we track are:


* Full request URL
* API key used
* The e-mail address of the user associated with the API key
* IP address
* Response status code (success or error)

Using that information, we're then able to slice and dice our usage in various ways. Echoing what Lisa said, the highlights tend to be overall growth in usage or any interesting apps we've found using our data. But overall, here's probably the main things we look look at semi-regularly:


* Overall usage trends of the APIs (eg, how many API requests we have each day or each month)
* Individual API usage (how the traffic of API X compares to API Y)
* How many developers are using JSON vs XML for outputs
* How many new developers sign up for API keys
* Any new, interesting users of our APIs (this is a manual process of skimming the new accounts and looking for recognizable companies in the e-mail addresses)
* Particularly heavy users of our APIs
* Internal vs external traffic (using the IP address, how much of our API traffic comes from inside our organization vs outside)

Does that help? If you're still looking for some raw data to play with, let me know, and I might be able to come up with something to share.

Nick Muerdter
National Renewable Energy Laboratory


From: "lisa.w...@census.gov<mailto:lisa.w...@census.gov>" <lisa.w...@census.gov<mailto:lisa.w...@census.gov>>
Date: Thursday, April 25, 2013 2:27 PM
To: Lily Bradley <lilyb...@gmail.com<mailto:lilyb...@gmail.com>>
Cc: "us-govern...@googlegroups.com<mailto:us-govern...@googlegroups.com>" <us-govern...@googlegroups.com<mailto:us-govern...@googlegroups.com>>
Subject: Re: 3 upcoming API events

Hi,

I don't have a file to share but one thing that has done well with our executives is a report that includes key growth over time with any events noted, like the launch, data releases, etc. We also include in the report highlights of apps or tools built off the api.





Lisa Wolfisch
Chief, Web and Social Media Branch
Center for New Media & Promotions
U.S. Census Bureau
v: 301.763.5716

Connect with us:
[http://www.census.gov/mso/www/img/twitter.gif]<http://twitter.com/uscensusbureau>[http://www.census.gov/mso/www/img/facebook.gif]<http://www.facebook.com/uscensusbureau>[http://www.census.gov/mso/www/img/youtube.gif]<http://www.youtube.com/uscensusbureau>[http://www.census.gov/mso/www/img/flickr2.gif]<http://www.flickr.com/photos/uscensusbureau/>
And always on the web at census.gov<http://www.census.gov/>

Learn about Census Mobile Apps<http://www.census.gov/mobile> for your smart phone and tablet!


-----us-govern...@googlegroups.com<mailto:-----us-govern...@googlegroups.com> wrote: -----
To: us-govern...@googlegroups.com<mailto:us-govern...@googlegroups.com>
From: Lily Bradley
Sent by: us-govern...@googlegroups.com<mailto:us-govern...@googlegroups.com>
Date: 04/25/2013 02:22PM
Subject: Re: 3 upcoming API events

Does anyone have a data file about API usage (# calls by key or IP address) that I could play around with?

I'm trying to understand what story I could paint in the future about our own data. Get a sense for how to describe success, and set goals/targets.

Sorry I missed this mornings call.


On Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 1:23 AM, Gray Brooks <grayb...@gmail.com<mailto:grayb...@gmail.com>> wrote:
Hi folks,

There's a few events coming up if you're interested. Click through to sign up and register.

* April 25, 10am-11am - Monthly API Online Office Hours<https://docs.google.com/a/gsa.gov/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dExEc1A4Q3pjczdxVk14MXdnNExlTWc6MQ>: An open discussion for anyone working on or interested in Federal APIs. Held on Google Hangout (and conference call). Signup here<https://docs.google.com/a/gsa.gov/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dExEc1A4Q3pjczdxVk14MXdnNExlTWc6MQ>.
* May 1, 1pm-2pm - Learn How to Use and Create APIs<http://www.howto.gov/training/classes/learn-to-use-create-apis>: An online walkthrough of the outstanding MeasuredVoice presentation explaining APIs and offering a simple but powerful and scalable model for DIY web services.
* May 2, 11am-12pm - API Standards from the White House<http://www.howto.gov/training/classes/api-standards-white-house>: A thorough overview of the recently released WH API Standards<https://github.com/WhiteHouse/api-standards>, which offers a thorough model for agencies who are designing APIs.

Gray Brooks

unread,
May 13, 2013, 7:33:42 PM5/13/13
to us-govern...@googlegroups.com
A belated follow-up, but if you weren't able to join for these presentations they really were solid as hell.  Worth watching but also worth sharing with others to help them better understand APIs.  
  • Learn How to Use and Create APIs - Jed's explanation of APIs and their structure in URLs helps to convey a concept that many of us find fundamental to finally understanding APIs.  For any beginners, it's finally an explanation of how APIs work that clicks.  For advanced folk, it's well worth seeing to brush up on methods of teaching others about APIs.  Plus, the Google Docs mashup is just a darn useful tool to have in your belt.  
  • API Standards from the White House - This is one of the best shared resources I've seen across all of government.  Pretty much any agency can just take it and put it straight to work when designing APIs.  This presentation delves into the thinking behind designing great APIs and is chock full of best practices.  
Have a good afternoon, everyone.

Gray B.

P.S.  Just to make sure, I trust and hope everyone caught the Open Data Policy release last week.  More to come but if you haven't checked out project-open-data.github.io yet, I'd definitely recommend jumping on it.  
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages