Last May, we launched free Community accounts on ScraperWiki. We’ve since found that the limit on number of datasets isn’t enough to convert heavy users into paying customers. This matters, because we want to invest more in improving the product, and adding new tools. Today, we’re pleased to announce that we’re introducing a new Free Trial […]
ScraperWiki and Enemy Images
This is a guest blog post by Elizaveta Gaufman, a researcher and lecturer at the University of Tübingen. The theme of my PhD dissertation is enemy images in contemporary Russia. However, I am not only interested in the governmental rhetoric which is relatively easy to analyse, but also in the way enemy images are circulating on […]
ScraperWiki’s values and how to brainstorm yours
“You need to write down your values, they’re deeper than your vision or your mission” says nearly every cheesy article about how to set the direction of an organisation. We finally decided to have a go, nearly all employees together one afternoon tea time last week. It took about half an hour, and was great […]
The best data opens itself on UK Gov’s Performance Platform
This is third in a series of posts about the UK Government’s Performance Platform, cross-posted on the OKFN blog as it is about open data. Part 1 introduced why the platform is exciting, and part 2 described how it worked inside. The best data opens itself. No need to make Freedom of Information requests to pry the information […]
Live-graphing the UK Government’s agile auction
Hold your nerve! Hold your nerve! Stay at 49! I really think it’s over this time. It had been intense all day, an adrenalin rush. Tens of thousands of pounds potentially at stake. Watching carefully in shifts with no more than a minute of distraction. Luckily Aidan held his nerve, the auction did close this […]
Underneath the hood of Government’s Performance Platform
In the previous post I described what the UK Government’s new Performance Platform (made by GDS) is for. Today’s question is, how does it work? I’ve found out two ways. Firstly, thanks to Alex Muller from GDS, who talked me through the platform. Secondly, all the code is freely available on Github, which is pretty. Component parts There […]
3 reasons the Government’s Performance Platform is exciting
The UK Government (via GDS) is gradually rolling out a new performance platform. It’s exciting for lots of reasons, and getting less attention than it deserves. Here are three reasons I’m excited. 1. It makes government services easier to use To me, the most exciting part is that it will make it easier for me, […]
Scrape anyone’s Twitter followers
Following our popular tool which makes it easy to scrape and download tweets, we’re pleased to announce a new one to get any Twitter account’s followers. To use it, log into ScraperWiki, choose “Create a new dataset” then pick the tool Then enter the name of the user you want (with or without the @). If they […]
9 things you need to know about the “Code in your browser” tool
ScraperWiki has always made it as easy as possible to code scripts to get data from web pages. Our new platform is no exception. The new browser-based coding environment is a tool like any other. Here are 9 things you should know about it. 1. You can use any language you like. We recommended Python, as it is […]
Uploading a (structured) spreadsheet
We’ve made a new tool to help you upload a structured spreadsheet. That is to say, one that contains a table with headers. I’m trying it out with an old spreadsheet of expenses from when I worked at mySociety. If your spreadsheet isn’t consistent enough, it tells you where you’ve gone wrong. In my case, I […]