7 ms·

Show HN: FOIA Mapper – a search engine for offline government records

• mgalka 11y ago
  This idea was my entry in the Knight Foundation News Challenge in Jan. Just completed a working version and launched earlier this week. The purpose is to help Freedom of Information requestors (journalists mostly) find the info they're looking for.
  • brudgers 11y ago
    Curious as to the technology stack and if the source code is open.
    • mgalka 11y ago
      Pieced together with duct tape at the moment. The site is wordpress with a bunch of php/mysql and JavaScript added thoughout. Most of the work went into getting the data (lots of FOIA requests) and pulling it out of PDFs.
      • brudgers 11y ago
        Nothing wrong with what works. In the long run, it might be aesthetically? intellectually? satisfying to let the theme of transparency drive decisions about the code base...or not. Anyway, thanks.
        • mgalka 11y ago
          Completely agree. Maybe will focus on that as the next round.