Blog post at http://tinyurl.com/tdata-app Please feel free to contact me with any comments, questions, suggestions, or requests: mark@marksilver.net

1. Transparency Data
Text App
Mark Silverberg (@Skram, mark@marksilver.net)
http://tinyurl.com/tdata-app

2. Data
Sunlight Foundation runs TransparencyData which
compiles data from two extensive sources

3. Communication Options
N/A;
voice
transcription doesn’t
work well with
VOICE TEXT
Transparency Data App
With this platform, there are so many ways to
get and share the data you need

4. Communication Options
Method Access
+1 (240) 242-7944
transparencydata
transparencydata
tdata@tropo.im
@tropotdata
possible with Tropo!

5. How To Search
First, how to get help:
Send → help narrow
• URL to blog post about
applications
• Additional
• Information about author (optional)search criteria
and data sources to narrow down results
Information
Provided (results are only printed
• Minimal query
parameters to the screen if there are
less than 9)
• How to get more help
(narrow)

6. How To Search
Minimal (required) query:
[2 letter state code] [contributor name]
Examples:
tx john smith
dc microsoft

7. How To Search
• Problem: Searching merely by state and
name can result in a lot of matches
• Solution: Additional Search Criteria
• The application anticipates the use and
delimiters of these, so order does not
matter
• However, the 2 letter state code must always

8. Additional Search Criteria
Criteria Value Syntax Examples
Minimum Integer >500
>[amount]
Amount (≥) amount >1000
Contributor’s One-word /dell
/[name]
Employer name /princeton
Recipient’s 2-letter state +tx
+[state]
State code +ca
Political 4-digit year [year] 2006
Cycle | means “or” [yr]|yr]|[yr] 2006|2008|2009

9. Another Search Criteria
Search by political seat.
• Federal seats:
president senate house
• State seats:
governor lower upper
• Combinations:
federal state

10. Example Queries
tx smith +tx >400
dc microsoft state 2007|2008
tx dell /dell state 2008 #99
Too many
matches (i.e. 99) still?
Include #99 to get all those
matches. Not

11. ca steve jobs

12. Ideas?
Requests?
Questions?
@Skram
http://marksilver.net
mark@marksilver.net
SkramX on Freenode IRC
http://tinyurl.com/tdata-app