Legislativedatabook

Welcome to The Legislative Data Book, in progress.

We (@grantcv1 and @aih) are writing a book on legislative data, and you are invited along for the ride. The book will gather knowledge we've built over more than a decade, working with legislatures worldwide to re-imagine the technology for drafting, publishing, and accessing legal information. Feel free to comment on the book as it is drafted (what would you like included, argue with us, point out great new ideas or technologies we haven't yet mentioned etc.).

The draft outline for the book is [hosted on Github],(https://github.com/aih/LegislativeDataBook/blob/master/TableOfContents.markdown), and below:

First draft assignment: @grantcv1 or @aih

• Why legislative data?
  • Role of legislation in law (historical and present)
  • U.S. law school bias favors case law
  • Convergence of law and technology
    • What is changing in legislaation now?
    • What is changing in technology now?
• Transparency and Open Government
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Opportunities

• What is legislative data?

  • Introduction
  • Scope: what's in and what's out @aih
    • In: Laws, bills, Congressional Records, Regulations, Court Opinions
    • Out: Legal briefs, FDA Nutrition Labeling
    • Neither Out Nor In: Committee Reports, Agency Opinion Letters

• Legislative Data, the ~~movie~~ vision @grantcv1

• Practice and Policy
  • Codification @aih
  • Drafting Guidelines @aih
• Technology @grantcv1
  • Data Formats: XML, HTML, JSON (oh my) @grantcv1
  • Data Standards
    • Intro: The Role of Formal and Practical Standards @aih
    • Legislative Data Schema (Akoma Ntoso, SLIM, others) @grantcv1
      • History
      • Options (pros and cons)
      • Current status and tips for practitioners
    • Identifiers @grantcv1
      • History
      • Options (pros and cons)
      • Current status and tips for practitioners
    • Amendment forms @grantcv1
      • History
      • Options (pros and cons)
      • Current status and tips for practitioners
    • Bill Amendment
      • History
      • Options (pros and cons)
      • Current status and tips for practitioners
    • Amendment of Permanent Law (Acts, Codes)
      • History
      • Options (pros and cons)
      • Current status and tips for practitioners
    • Resolvers @grantcv1
      • History
      • Options (pros and cons)
      • Current status and tips for practitioners
    • Other issues
      • Linked Data @aih (or invited expert? Any volunteers?)
      • Internationalization @grantcv1 or Patrick
• Wherein You Participate in Creating Open Legislative Data Standards and Making the Lawmaking Process More Transparent, Democratic and Efficient
• Resources...

Schedule

The calendar for drafting is on a public Google Calendar. As soon as I figure out how to embed it, it will go here:

Contact

Oh, there are millions of ways to get in touch with us. Among them, through our Github accounts (linked above), twitter (@arihersh, @grantcv1) and plain old email (e.g. our full names at gmail.com)