Stories

Kin Lane

Adopt A Federal Government Dataset

When I pulled the over 5,000 datasets from 22 federal agencies after the implementation of  Read more →
Kin Lane

Hacker Storytelling - Ed-Tech Funding

I just finished the basic setup for a project that @audreywatters and I have been working on together. A while back Audrey said she wanted to better under...
Kin Lane

Salesforce Hackathon: Y U No Understand, Bigger != Better

kinlane-productions2kinlane-productions2 I'm reading through the some of the news about the Salesforce Hackathon, and while I'm disappointed in the outcome, with a bounty that big I'm not surprised. The event organizers are focused on the one thing in a hackthon you can ...
Kin Lane

Salesforce Hackathon: Y U No Understand, Bigger != Better

I'm reading through the some of the news about the Salesforce Hackathon, and while I'm disappointed in the outcome, with a bounty that big I'm not surprised. The event organizers are focused on the one thing in a hackthon you can scale, which will not actually scale any...
Kin Lane

Crowd-Sourced, Real-Time City Bus Location Network

We have anywhere from 1 to 25 people on a city bus at any time. Every one of these folks have a cell phone in their pocket. I think we can assume at least a handful of them possess smart phones. With this technology, why don't we know where each bus is in real-time? We know that each bus has a tracking device on it, so knowing the location is...
Kin Lane

Walmart: The Market Will Work Itself Out

When I read stories like Walmart Holding Canned Food Drive For Its Own Underpaid Employees, I can't help but think about the statement I've heard from numerous conservative friends, that "the market will work itself out". That somehow markets are this magical force that...
Kin Lane

On Losing My Storytelling Voice

photo credit I'm totally thankful for the experiences I've had over the last 90 days in Washington D.C. as a Presidential Innovation Fellow, and even m...
Kin Lane

Why I Exited My Presidential Innovation Fellowship

Since this blog acts as kind of a journal for my world, I figured I should make sure and add an entry regarding my exit of my Presidential Innovation Fellowship, affectionately called PIF program. In June Read more →
Kin Lane

Being The Change I Want To See In The Presidential Innovation Fellowship (PIF) Program

kinlane-productions2kinlane-productions2 I just wrote a post on why I left my Presidential Innovation Fellowship (PIF). Overall I think PIF program is a pretty amazing vehicle for brin...
Kin Lane

What If All Gov Programs Like Healthcare.gov Had A Private Sector Monitoring Group?

The Healthcare.gov launch has been a disaster. I cannot turn on CNN or NPR during the day, without hearing a story about what a failure the technology and implementation has been for the Affordable Care Act(ACA). I have writt...
Kin Lane

Private Web Application Running on Github

I wanted to launch a small web application in stealth mode. I also wanted it to run completely on Github, using Github Pages. I was able to setup a Github repository, as a private repo, then was able to launch a Github Page for the same repository and make this branch public.<...
Kin Lane

Knowing Your HTTP Status Codes In Federal Government

Photo Credit: Runscope I've been working on open data and APIs pretty heavily since Read more →
Kin Lane

Transparency Is Not Just About Github, Crowdsourcing, Open Source And Open APIs

kinlane-productions2 I wrote a piece on the rollout of Healthcare.gov, and while there are numerous illnesses in the government that contributed to the launch being such a failure, my analysis took it up to t...
Kin Lane

Added Video of My API Talk at #OpenVA at University of Mary Washington

I gave a talk as part of the Mind the Future discussion at the #OpenVA gathering on the University of Mary Wasington campus last Monday.   My talk was focused on helping educational institutions the role APIs will play in the future of education, and helping ensure web literacy across our society. You can find the slides from my talk, along with Read more →
Kin Lane

Securing Site That Runs on Github Pages With JSON Backend In Private Repository

I have been deploying websites that run 100% on Github, using Github Pages and Jekyll for a while now. I'm pushing forward with different approaches to deploying sites and applications using this model, and my recen...
Kin Lane

Thoughts On Being An Employee

I am entering my first day as a furloughed government worker. I've been suiting up and going to work each day for almost two months. I spend each day going from meeting to meeting, working to carve out 15 minutes here and 15 minutes there to get actual work done. Today is the first day I didn't suit up and go anywhere. I rolled out of...
Kin Lane

Lack of Transparency Is Healthcare.gov Biggest Bottleneck

If you pay attention to the news, you have probably heard about the technical trouble with the launch of the Affordable Care Act, 50 state marketplaces and the central Healthcare.gov site. People across the country are encountering show-stopping bugs in the sign up process, and if ...
Kin Lane

End To A Very Tough Week in Washington DC

It was a really tough week in Washington DC. We came into the office Monday morning to learn that in addition to facing a possible government shutdown, that about 30% of the workforce in our department at the VA was moving on, due to a change in contract. While these folks had an idea the contract was being renegotiated, the...
Kin Lane

I Am Lucky. I Am Furloughed.

This is a post from my fellow Presidential Innovation Fellow Robert Read. His post the other morning on his Facebook stream really moved me. I thought it summed up this whole mess very well and wanted to share it with you! I'm lucky. I'm furloughed, but my kid's education doesn't depend on it. I don't live month to month. I'm not at ...
Kin Lane

Content and Data Management Via Github Pages

I'm pushing forward how I'm using Github to build prototypes and even full blown applications. I've been publishing all of my public sites using Github + Github Pages for most of the year, but this last week I've taken my usage of Github to new levels. Using two important JavaScript libraries I'm able to use Github as an application platfo...
Kin Lane

HTML to Markdown API

I'm slowly getting my blog world in order after the move from my own proprietary blogging platform to using Github + Jekyll hosted using Github Pages. I've been using HTML pages for blog posts at AP...
Kin Lane

To The Audrey Watters Haters

I've had the joy of watching a lot of you bash on my girlfriend, from the misogynistic douche bags telling her to get back in the kitchen because she questions their technology startup, to the recent @FakeAudreyWatters Twitter account spending a good portion of their day mocking her.
Kin Lane

My First Day in Washington DC As Presidential Innovation Fellow

Tomorrow, will be my first official day in Washington D.C. as a Presidential Innovation Fellow. I'm super excited, yet also very calm about what is happening. It seems like it is so meant to be, that I don't have any questions or reservations, I just want t...
Kin Lane

API Integration - Introduction

API Consumer Guide - API Integration Prepared By Kin Lane August 2013

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Kin Lane

API Discovery - Introduction

API Consumer Guide - API Discovery Prepared By Kin Lane July 2013

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