Open Source San José

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <title>Open Source San José - FAQ</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="./assets/css/global.min.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="./assets/css/header.min.css"> <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" href="favicon.ico"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="./assets/css/footer.min.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="./assets/css/faq.min.css"> <script src="https://kit.fontawesome.com/a5c8bf6536.js" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans:400,400i,600,600i,700,700i&display=swap" rel="stylesheet"> <script src="./assets/js/app.js"></script>  <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-26B6FB8T8P"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-26B6FB8T8P'); </script> </head> <body> <div class="container"> <header> <a href="./index.html"> <img src="./assets/img/logonav.png" id="navlogo" alt="Open Source San José logo"> </a> <div id="menu-btn"> <i onclick="menu_toggle()" id="fa-btn" class="fas fa-2x fa-bars"></i> </div> <div id="navlinks"> <div id="links"> <a href="./index.html">Home</a> <a href="./volunteer.html">Volunteer</a> <a href="./about.html">About Us</a> <a href="./projects.html">Projects</a> <a href="https://www.opensourcesanjose.eventbrite.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Events</a>  <a href="./faq.html">FAQ</a> </div> <div id="sociallinks"> <a class="tooltip" href="https://discord.gg/XMrqrCfprT" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref"> <img src="./assets/img/social_logos/Discord_Mark.png" alt="Discord logo" class="socialnav" /> <span class="tooltiptext">Discord</span> </a> <a class="tooltip" href="https://www.opensourcesanjose.eventbrite.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref"> <img src="./assets/img/social_logos/Eventbrite_logo_blog1.png" alt="Meetup logo" class="socialnav" /> <span class="tooltiptext">Eventbrite</span> </a> <a class="tooltip" href="https://www.meetup.com/Code-for-San-Jose/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref"> <img src="./assets/img/social_logos/meetup-logo-m-swarm.png" alt="Meetup logo" class="socialnav" /> <span class="tooltiptext">Meetup</span> </a> <a class="tooltip" href="https://sfba.social/@opensourcesanjose" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref"> <img src="./assets/img/social_logos/mastodon.svg" alt="Mastodon logo" class="socialnav" /> <span class="tooltiptext">Mastodon</span> </a> <a class="tooltip" href="https://www.facebook.com/codeforsanjose/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref"> <img src="./assets/img/social_logos/f_logo_RGB-Blue_512.png" alt="Facebook logo" class="socialnav" /> <span class="tooltiptext">Facebook</span> </a> <a class="tooltip" href="https://twitter.com/OpenSourceSJ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref"> <img src="./assets/img/social_logos/Twitter_Social_Icon_Circle_Color.svg" alt="Twitter logo" class="socialnav" /> <span class="tooltiptext">Twitter</span> </a> <a class="tooltip" href="https://github.com/codeforsanjose/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref"> <img src="./assets/img/social_logos/GitHub-Mark-Light-120px-plus.png" alt="Github logo" class="socialnav" /> <span class="tooltiptext">Github</span> </a> <a class="tooltip" href="https://medium.com/code-for-san-jose" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref"> <img src="./assets/img/social_logos/Monogram.svg" alt="Medium logo" class="socialnav" /> <span class="tooltiptext">Medium</span> </a> </div> </div> </header> <main> <div class="small-hero" id="FAQ-title"> <h1>Frequently Asked Questions</h1>  </div> <div class="text-content" id="FAQ"> <h3>Do I need to know how to code to participate?</h3> <p> No, you do not need to know coding to participate. There are many ways to contribute non-technical skills, e.g. user research, design, blogging, social media, onboarding volunteers, event organizing, fundraising, etc. </p> <h3>Will Open Source San José teach me how to code?</h3> <p> No, Open Source San José is not a place that teaches members how to code. We are here on our free time to make progress working together, guiding one another. </p> <p> Check out online resources such as <a href="https://www.sjpl.org/blog/learn-how-code">San José Public Library</a>, <a href="https://www.sjpl.org/treehouseaccount">Team Treehouse</a>, <a href="https://www.freecodecamp.org/">FreeCodeCamp.org</a>, or <a href="https://www.sjpl.org/eresource/lyndacom">Lynda</a> to learn new skills. </p> <h3>How do I submit a project idea to Open Source San José?</h3> <p>Start by filling out our project proposal form here. <a href="https://forms.gle/ui7hCCaXCKXTVvN89" target="_blank" rel="noref noopener">Submit Idea</a></p> <p>After you submit a project proposal, our leadership team will review the project idea, discuss if the project fits our mission and if we have capacity to take on the project. If we have any questions about the project scope and proposal, we will reach out to you. If your project idea is approved, a potential next step is speaking at a Civic Hack night to pitch the project and recruit volunteers.</p> <h3>How did Open Source San José begin?</h3> <p> In March 2014, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kalengallagher">Kalen Gallagher</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mthong">Michelle Thong</a> co-founded Code for San José, a local Code for America brigade. In 2023, this group became Open Source San José as Code for America disbanded its brigade network. We are a group of volunteers who are passionate about using our skills to advance civic innovation in San José. Our members represent a range of skill sets and interests, e.g. web development, design, marketing, communication, event planning, researcher, community organizers, and more. We collaborate on technical projects that better our community, including websites, civic apps, data visualizations, and media projects. </p> <h3>What is Civic Hacking?</h3> <p> Civic hacking is when citizens see something in the public realm that they can make better, and they take it upon themselves to create a solution. </p> <p> A civic hacker can be anyone – technologist, public servant, designer, entrepreneur, engineer – who is willing to collaborate with others to address local challenges and make their cities better for everyone. </p> <p> A hacker is someone who uses a minimum of resources and a maximum of brainpower and ingenuity to create, enhance or fix something. Although in some circumstances the term is used in a negative sense, the term is not inherently negative, nor does it even have to be related to technology. </p> <h3>What is Open Data?</h3> <p> Open data is data that can be freely used, reused and redistributed by anyone. The U.S. government defines open data as publicly available data structured in a way that enables the data to be fully discoverable and usable by end users. </p> <p> Governments around the US are opening their data, allowing civic hackers to build tools, apps and other solutions that benefit their communities. </p> <h3 id="openGov">What is Open Government?</h3> <p> Open government promotes greater citizen participation, collaboration, and transparency in government. This includes promoting government accountability via improved citizen access to public government information, decision-making, and representatives. </p> <p> Many public agencies already abide by open government laws that were developed in the 1970s prior to the Internet. These laws tend to be focused on making sure meetings are held in public and that agencies respond to requests for information. </p> <p> Today, open government increasingly overlaps with the idea that governments should provide citizens with open data on its actions, performance and decisions. </p> <h3>Open Data Sources</h3> <h4>Local Data Sources</h4> <ul> <li><a href="https://github.com/vta/GIS-Resources-Santa-Clara-County" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">GIS Resources in Santa Clara County</a></li> <li><a href="http://data.sanjoseca.gov/home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">City of San José’s existing data catalog</a> </li> <li><a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XQcEmeoR3JDb0xyg4iOnufAoE3X9VToupfXguZRyl9w/edit#gid=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Open Source San José’s San José Data Inventory</a> (this is a work-in-progress, please add to it!) </li> <li><a href="https://data.vta.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">VTA Open Data Portal</a> </li> <li><a href="http://capvmt.us-west-2.elasticbeanstalk.com/data" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Vehicle Miles Traveled Data Portal</a></li> <li><a href="http://mtc.ca.gov/tools-resources/data-tools/open-data-library" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">MTC Open Data Library</a></li> </ul> <p> Looking for local government data but cannot find it? Post a data request as a <a href="https://github.com/codeforsanjose/data-requests" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Github issue</a> and Open Source San José's municipal liaison, Michelle Thong, will help you track it down, if it exists. </p> <h4>Other sources in the region</h4> <ul> <li><a href="http://data.cityofpaloalto.org/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Palo Alto Open Data Portal</a></li> <li><a href="http://data-mountainview.opendata.arcgis.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Mountain View Open GIS Data Portal</a></li> <li><a href="https://data.smcgov.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">San Mateo County Open Data Portal</a></li> <li><a href="https://datasf.org/opendata/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">San Fransico Open Data Portal</a></li> <li><a href="https://data.oaklandnet.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Oakland Open Data Portal</a></li> <li><a href="http://egis-cofgis.opendata.arcgis.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Fremont Open GIS Data Portal</a></li> <li><a href="https://data.acgov.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Alameda County Open Data Portal</a></li> </ul> <h4>Federal Data Sources</h4> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.data.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">U.S. Government open data portal</a></li> <li>U.S. Census Data on <a href="https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">American Factfinder</a> or via the <a href="https://www.census.gov/developers/">Census API</a></li> <li>Third-party sources of U.S Census Data such as <a href="https://censusreporter.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Census Reporter</a> and <a href="http://www.socialexplorer.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Social Explorer</a> </li> </ul> </div> </main> <footer> <div id="foot-links"> <div id="site-map"> <h5>Site Map</h5> <a href="./volunteer.html">Volunteer</a> <a href="./about.html">About Us</a> <a href="./projects.html">Projects</a> <a href="https://www.meetup.com/Open-Source-San-Jose/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Events</a> <a href="./faq.html">FAQ</a> </div> <div id="social-footer"> <h5>Social Media</h5> <a href="https://discord.gg/hjSVPBsEhf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Discord</a> <a href="https://www.opensourcesanjose.eventbrite.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Eventbrite</a> <a href="https://sfba.social/@opensourcesanjose" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Mastodon</a> <a href="https://www.meetup.com/Open-Source-San-Jose/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Meetup</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/opensourcesanjose/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Facebook</a> <a href="https://medium.com/code-for-san-jose" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Medium</a> <a href="https://github.com/codeforsanjose/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Github</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/OpenSourceSJ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noref">Twitter</a> </div> </div> <div id="legal"> <a href="./index.html"> <img src="./assets/img/logonav.png" alt="Open Source San José Logo"> </a> <p>Got feedback? <a href="mailto:codeforsanjose@gmail.com">Let us know!</a></p> <p>&copy Open Source San José 2014 - 2024</p> </div> </footer> </body> </html>

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Open Source San José - FAQ