Python is increasingly being used for data science, but it’s still easiest to share results on the web. Luckily the Plotly team has written libraries for both Python and Javascript, and you can migrate from one to another by simply sharing the JSON used to build the chart. In this workshop we’ll be using the Python Pandas library in a Jupyter Notebook to do some basic data analysis. Then we’ll create some data visualizations with Plotly, and then transfer our final visualization to Javascript.

Are you new to Open Data Delaware, or maybe a long-time contributor looking for something to work on? Here are some ideas:

For Delaware Innovation Week 2017, we teamed up with our resident Mapping Guru, Stephen Hess. He gave us an awesome intro to digital mapping using JSON, and we’ve documented the whole tutorial.

While Ryan Harrington guided the Open Data Delaware group through an introduction to R, I worked on a Python based project — a graphical Census explorer. I started it the previous week, when the 2016 American Community Survey results were posted. I loaded the ACS data starting in 2012.

The day is almost here! The 2017 Open Data Challenge Hackathon has arrived! As promised, we’ve pooled together ideas from all our #dataNinjas and come up with a list of our favorite hackathon resources. Whether you’re a seasoned hackathon coder, or this is your very first time, we guarantee you’ll be able to find something helpful here. We’ve broken up the links into segments to make everything easy to find.

In just a few days, the 2017 Open Data Challenge Hackathon will begin! The 48hr event is sure to be something incredible for our local community. It will bring in partnerships with the Department of State, Government Information Center, Technology Forum of Delaware, Food Bank of Delaware, Network Delaware, and Tech Impact (as our fiscal sponsor). To say we’re excited is probably a vast understatement, and we want everyone participating to feel the same energy we do.

It’s only 4 days until our biggest even of the year: the 2017 Open Data Challenge Hackathon! We know it’s going to be an amazing weekend filled with inspiring ideas and ingenious projects. But ideas and projects need to have a design to make them useful. We pulled in the Wilmington chapter of Girl Develop It and First Ascent Design to give us some tips to keep in mind.

You’re working on your civic tech project. You’ve nailed a killer idea and your project management is solid. If you want to make sure you’re successful, you need to also make sure that you have an equally solid Content Strategy Plan.

One of the best parts of a civic tech project is seeing a community of people come together to successfully solve a problem. On the other hand, one of the worst parts of a civic tech project is wrangling that community of people in order to successfully solve a problem.

At the beginning of this month, we partnered with University of Delaware’s Horn Program to hear a talk by Professor Tony Middlebrooks. “Design Thinking and Civic Tech” was the title, and it was our first workshop of the year. Why are we excited? Because this talk marks the first of 5 workshop partnerships leading up to the 2017 Open Data Challenge happening the first weekend in June.

It’s hard to believe January is already over, but it’s been a great start to a new year for us at Open Data Delaware! The star of the show so far: Code & Coffee! Our new partnership with Delaware Public Libraries is proving to be an amazing opportunity for our group. In just one month, we’ve been able to meet, learn, work, and grow together more regularly than ever before.

This past month, the State of Delaware launched its Open Data Portal – an interactive, online repository of state issued datasets. While this may seem to be a small step forward for the state, the Open Data Portal has the potential to be a driver for economic development and innovation.

There is so much open data available - whether it’s on a national level, state level, or local level. With so much data available, it can be daunting to figure out what to do with it. How can you actually accomplish something that is both important to you and important to your community? It’s a tough question.

We’re excited to have you here at DataWorks! Before you dive into your work, take a moment to tell us about your team. Fill out this brief survey.. This will make it easier for us to keep track of teams throughout the day.

The First State will soon have its first open data hackathon: DataWorks 2016. On Saturday, June 4th, participants will be asked to solve challenges of the Delaware business community. The theme of this event is “Let’s Make It Easier to Do Business in Delaware.”

(Wilmington, Delaware) Open data is changing how citizens engage with government and public services. Now Delaware will experience its first open data hackathon.

Successful teams at hackathons need a variety of skills. Sure, it’s important to have teammates who can programming and design, but it’s more important to have a well-rounded team that can bounce ideas off each other, and delegate work for the final presentation.

When we speak of new technologies, there is an expectation of progress. It’s popular to think of this in terms of new companies or new experiences, but technology is also helping citizens to reevaluate government. Specifically, how we organize public services and provide for citizen engagement.

There’s a growing open data movement in Delaware. Governor Markell signed an open data directive, our Meetup group continues to gain traction, and more local politicians are embracing it. Day by day, more information is being shared, making it easier for people to connect with their communities. Perhaps we’re a biased source, but we think this is extremely important for Delaware.

Welcome. We’re enthusiastically preparing for DataWorks 2016 – the first open data live event in Delaware. This is part of a nationwide movement, National Civic Day of Hacking, and will be held at 1313 Innovation on Saturday, June 4th. If you’re interested in this blog post then you should attend! We’d love to see you. Learn more, register at, and please share our Eventbright listing.