Manual data

[Daniel Roberts]

So my understanding is that the first and last name data in Alabama are manually set rather than using any scraped data. Is that just because they are not exactly available from somewhere (although the full name is)?

On a related question, is there a push for states to use a more readable xml format? I've noticed that at least one legislative website uses XLST which makes the raw data highly machine-readable. I am actually a lobbyist in Alabama and would be happy to push them to adopt a standard if one exists. It would honestly be easy to find a legislator who wanted to champion an open government initiative if we had to use a legislative instrument.

[Andy Lo]

The legislator name data should still be automatically scraped and parsed.  However, we have properties for certain records locked from automatic updating on the production side for various reasons.  For bills, having a plaintext format available is probably the most important thing.  If you're looking for a good example of delivering data in easily accessible formats however, the updated NY Senate site and Open Legislation API (released in early October) are great.