Civic News

See all 2013 City Council transcripts in easy-to-read, searchable format

Every single word that's spoken at a City Council meeting is recorded, but the transcripts -- all that data -- are stuck in user-unfriendly PDF format.

The City Council Caucus room. (Photo by Flickr user @yule, used under a Creative Commons license)

Every single word that’s spoken at a City Council meeting is recorded, but the transcripts — all that data — are stuck in user-unfriendly PDF format.

So MySociety, a United Kingdom-based civic technology organization, turned them into something that’s easier to read and link to, and searchable, too. It focused on transcripts from January 2013 to March 2014. It’s part of MySociety’s “SayIt” tool, software that makes transcripts accessible.

See the transcripts

You can also see the same thing for the Federal Reserve Bank’s transcripts from 2002 or 2008 here.

MySociety’s founder Tom Steinberg visited Philadelphia last year and was impressed by its civic hacking scene. That’s one reason he wants to pilot SayIt in the city. He’s currently looking for an organizational partner. If you’re interested in opening up this type of data, contact them.

Companies: Philadelphia City Council

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