faq.html

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title: Frequently Asked Questions
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    <h1>Frequently Asked Questions</h1>
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        <p>Anno Domini Collage</p>
        <p>Carolyn Ryder Cooley, Lena Wolff, Daniel Jesse Lewis, Jessie Rose Vala,</p>
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<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="{{ site.contact.share_idea_form }}"
            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/{{ site.contact.github }}/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>