Comments on: Building DataTO.org – An Overview

By: DataTO.org – Adam Thody – DemoCamp Toronto 24 « Tech Scene

DataTO.org – Adam Thody – DemoCamp Toronto 24 « Tech Scene — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:24:42 +0000

[...] Thody also wrote a blog entry about the process of building this site which is worth a read. He works for [...]

By: Thody

Thody — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:38:30 +0000

Hey Malcolm, constraints in what respect? Thus far the only constraint to speak of has been time and budget.

By: Malcolm Bastien

Malcolm Bastien — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:45:08 +0000

Were there any constraints in developing the website? Or will there be as we hopefully see more integration with the city and the site?

By: Thody

Thody — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:33:09 +0000

Gerry, that’s a great quote, and I couldn’t agree more. Thanks!

By: Robert Giggey

Robert Giggey — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:14:46 +0000

Congratulations on the execution of this idea. I’d agree with a number of the comments regarding the sharing of this site with other cities. I’m positive that others would benefit from following this concept of a community led space when we go down this path.

By: Gerry Kirk

Gerry Kirk — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:33:26 +0000

Great story, Adam, about working with severely limited constraints to focus on delivering value in quick turnaround. Reminds me of a quote I saw recently on Twitter from LinkedIn founder – If you aren’t embarrassed by your first release, you’ve waited too long.

By: Thody

Thody — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:42:16 +0000

Stephen, to clarify, we’d like the source to be openly available for others to use and modify to their liking for their own uses.

However, contributed source would be carefully managed, so as to maintain a high level of quality throughout the DataTO application. Trust me, the last thing I want is for it to turn into a mishmash of bad code, and feature bloat, which is the death of so many open source projects.

By: Mark Kuznicki

Mark Kuznicki — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:36:20 +0000

I will add that the domain is owned by me on behalf of the community and that I see the site as an important community asset. Other places have already asked about adapting it for their cities, which Adam and I would love to support however we can.

Longer-term, a good community sponsor could really help make it sing in a sustainable way. For now, we really appreciate the contributions of Adam and his employer.

By: Stephen van Egmond

Stephen van Egmond — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:12:58 +0000

Adam-
Thanks for the reply.

Personally, I’m not aware of functional websites that have done well as an open-source platform. For instance, consdier http://www.php.net: even though the site is for an open-source product, the site is not itself opensource.

(AFAIK!)

By: Thody

Thody — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:11:48 +0000

Stephen & Oshoma: I work for Architech, and they sponsored the project by donating my time for that week, and subsequent maintenance/development has taken place partly on Architech time, and partly on my own time.

I would submit that nobody “owns” it per se. Mark and I are currently managing its operation and ongoing development, but the desire is for this to be a community project. The remaining question is how to best orchestrate such a project.

The hosting has been arranged by Mark.

There has been talk of open sourcing the project. I feel there is much to be gained by sharing this platform with other cities, and having the global developer community contribute to it. Again, this is now more of a question of how best to go about it. In the mean time, I’m committed to moving the development side of things forward both as a representative of Architech, and on a personal level.