Open source on Digital.gov

18F practices in action (spoiler: this stuff works)

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

How well do 18F software development practices work? The 18F team reflected on a recent project for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) .gov registry to gauge the effectiveness of six recommendations aligned with what they actually did.

Reconsidering the consent form: the least user-friendly aspect of UX research

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Open Data, Design, and Development (ODDD) team has replaced signed consent forms with a more accessible user research agreement process, offering multiple opt-in points. This ensures informed consent and participant autonomy. Explore why and how the ODDD team implemented this comprehensive participant consent process in their user research.

Who is controlling your control system?

Tue, 31 Oct 2023 09:39:00 -0500

Best practices for security administration of control systems and their components. Specific guidance and lessons learned from a federal information system manager.

18F Checks in With the Dawson Project at the U.S. Tax Court

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 09:52:00 -0500

In December 2020, the United States Tax Court introduced DAWSON, a modern open-source case management system developed with assistance from an industry partner and 18F. DAWSON streamlined Court operations and changed the way the public interacts with the Court.

The 18F Engineering Sandwich for Cloud-based Web Apps

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 13:20:00 -0500

The 18F Engineering Sandwich for Cloud-based Web Apps—18F Engineering is often thought of as a technology shop, but that’s too broad. There are very few technology choices we actually make at the project level, so, more often than not, we combine a limited set of technologies to make our applications. To explain this, we’ll use the metaphor of a sandwich shop.

Help Us Improve Digital Forms

Thu, 14 Jul 2022 12:32:00 -0500

Open-source Information Architecture Design: Using the Tools You Have To Conduct Card Sorting and Tree Testing

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 11:30:00 -0500

Learn how we used GitHub to conduct a card sort and tree testing to improve the information architecture for onrr.gov.

Webinar Recap: U.S. Web Design System October 2021 Monthly Call

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 10:26:00 -0500

In this recap of the October 2021 U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) Monthly Call, the USWDS team shares how their community can help teams solve problems together, and what tools and channels we can use to ask questions, get answers, and provide useful feedback.

Discovery BPA Evaluation Process: How to Operationalize this Practice

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 11:20:00 -0500

This guide provides acquisition professionals the steps and resources needed to operationalize the evaluation process developed for the Discovery BPA.

Spotlight Story: Pioneering Open Source at the CFPB

Thu, 23 Jul 2020 13:00:00 -0500

U.S. Web Design System

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 19:00:00 -0500

A community for anyone building federal websites with the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) or considering it for a future project.

OpenGov

Thu, 24 Aug 2017 03:30:00 -0400

The Interagency Open Government Community of Practice is where we talk about transparency, open-participation, and collaboration across agencies.

Resources.Data.gov

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

An online repository of policies, schema standards, tools, best practices, and case studies to provide agencies with resources for federal data management.

Code.gov

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A collection of federal source code including open source software.

Data.gov

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications.

U.S. Web Design System

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A toolkit of principles, guidance, and code that helps agency digital teams build accessible, mobile-friendly government websites for the American public.

USWDS Monthly Call - September 2024

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 14:00:00 -0500

The U.S. Web Design System team will share their exploration of Web Component-based design systems and best practices.

USWDS Monthly Call - March 2023

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 14:00:00 -0500

Making sense: Cognition, perception, and design

USWDS Monthly Call - February 2023

Thu, 16 Feb 2023 14:00:00 -0500

Join us as we take a deep dive into USWDS design tokens. We’ll cover: what they are, how they’re used, and how you can adapt them to your branding needs.

USWDS Monthly Call - January 2023

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 14:00:00 -0500

Join the Design System team as we tackle your most commonly-asked questions.

USWDS Monthly Call - December 2022

Thu, 15 Dec 2022 14:00:00 -0500

A look back at what took place in the Design System in 2022.

USWDS Monthly Call - January 2022

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 14:00:00 -0500

New resources for developers who are new to USWDS.

USWDS Monthly Call - December 2021

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 14:00:00 -0500

Get started with the design system and a how-to demo of template creation and a prototyping approach.

USWDS Monthly Call: October 2021

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 14:00:00 -0500

This month’s topic: Community, Connection & Contribution. How can our community help teams solve problems together?

Federal Source Code Summit: Towards a Source Code Community

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 08:30:00 -0500

This summit brings together the federal community to share success stories and best practices for utilizing federal source code and open source software, and examine the implementation of the Federal Source Code policy.

Operating Cloud Services Efficiently with Business-Driven IT

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 14:00:00 -0500

Program managers, IT acquisitions leads, and business-minded IT professionals will receive in-depth guidance to improve cloud efficiency, optimization, and effective cost controls.

Federal Source Code Study Series

Wed, 27 May 2020 11:00:00 -0500

Federal Source Code Study Series — Read the first article of the Federal Source Codes Study (FSCS) series. The FSCS was a three-year study that examined the federal government’s effort in implementing the Federal Source Code Policy and open sourcing software.

Experimenting with the Micro-Purchase Threshold

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 09:30:00 -0500

Through the use of an open-source procurement process, we created an experiment others can replicate to encourage Agile thinking.

Intro to Cloud Foundry on Cloud.gov

Tue, 31 Mar 2020 15:00:00 -0500

In this workshop, we demonstrate the basics of using the Cloud.gov platform as a developer.

Federal Crowdsourcing Webinar Series, Episode 7: Crowdsourcing for Code

Tue, 11 Feb 2020 14:00:00 -0500

Learn how the Code.gov team, and every day contributors, are helping the U.S. government to expand its repository—and application—of open-source code as part of Code.gov’s Open Tasks initiative.

SUCCESS STORY: The U.S. Web Design System 2.0 from GSA

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 11:00:00 +0000

Code.gov breaks down the latest USWDS 2.0 release with highlights of the most important features that will help teams build better websites for the American public.

An Introduction to the U.S. Data Federation

Wed, 17 Apr 2019 14:00:00 -0500

Find out how the U.S. Data Federation’s work can help you. The team will give an introduction to the problems the U.S. Data Federation seeks to address, describe its approach, and share its vision for the future of the initiative.

Q&A With Ryan Day About GSA’s API Strategy

Wed, 27 Mar 2019 13:00:00 -0500

These new API standards will make it easier for GSA staff to launch and maintain good APIs.

Free & Open Source Software in Government with Code.mil

Tue, 05 Jun 2018 12:00:00 -0500

Join the Code.mil team for a discussion on open source in government and a look at the important work they have been doing on Code.mil to enable greater adoption of open source at the DoD.

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)

Thu, 29 Mar 2018 03:30:00 -0500

Working to advance the cause of APIs in the federal government.

Workshop: Making Government Websites with GitHub, Federalist & U.S. Web Design Standards

Tue, 12 Dec 2017 08:00:00 -0500

Come learn how to create a simple, compliant government website, using Federalist, GitHub and the U.S. Web Design Standards.

Vets.gov: A Modern Software Development Environment in Government

Mon, 03 Jul 2017 15:36:05 -0400

When people think of government software, they often think of COBOL and PowerBuilder 5, with manual software deploys every three to six months on a fixed number of machines in a government-run data center. This perception is sometimes justified, but sometimes entirely wrong. Regardless, the perception makes many developers reluctant to work for the government

Curate the Best Thinking Available

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 03:00:06 -0400

When I joined the code.gov project, I had just over a month to make an impact on the project. The most pressing work seemed to be defining a software metadata schema — a way for agencies to format the details of the software they’ve built. In August of this year, the Federal Source Code Policy

New Trademark App Open Source Code on GitHub

Fri, 18 Nov 2016 03:00:31 -0400

Improving the way the government delivers information technology (IT) solutions to its customers isn’t just a goal, it’s our mission. We at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office know that by publishing our open source code, the public can help us come up with new and better IT solutions. In advance of the new Federal

The Digital Transition: How the Presidential Transition Works in the Social Media Age

Wed, 02 Nov 2016 12:00:25 -0400

Take a look at how we plan to preserve and pass on the digital history of the Obama administration. President Obama is the first “social media president”: the first to have @POTUS on Twitter, the first to go live on Facebook from the Oval Office, the first to answer questions from citizens on YouTube.

The New Vote.gov: Leaner, Faster and Multi-Lingual

Wed, 28 Sep 2016 11:00:27 -0400

One year ago this week, we launched vote.gov (also known as vote.usa.gov). It’s a concise and simple site with a single mission: direct citizens through the voter registration process as quickly as possible. It was created by a joint team of USA.gov staffers and Presidential Innovation Fellows, all of whom work within the General Services

NASA Space Apps Challenge: 2016 Global Winners!

Mon, 27 Jun 2016 14:00:49 -0400

We’re thrilled to announce the Space Apps 2016 Global Award Winners!! These projects well represent the best of the best innovative thinking this year. Congratulations to all the teams. We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming NASA launch in Florida.

Collaboration and Innovation, Beyond Government Borders

Fri, 10 Jun 2016 10:00:09 -0400

How to start an innovation movement: Connect innovators with fellow innovators, and find more innovators to collaborate with.

The Data Briefing: Three Significant Events in Federal Open Data This Past Week

Wed, 23 Mar 2016 10:00:52 -0400

Three recent stories demonstrate how opening up federal government data and using agile methods to create federal government software can spur innovation while saving tax money and helping the American public.

Leveraging American Ingenuity through Reusable and Open Source Software

Thu, 10 Mar 2016 01:29:38 -0400

Summary: Today, we’re releasing for public comment a draft policy to support improved access to custom software code developed for the Federal Government. America has long been a nation of innovators. American scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs invented the microchip, created the Internet, invented the smartphone, started the revolution in biotechnology, and sent astronauts to the

Why People Contribute to Federal Tech Projects (And How You Can Provide a Good Experience)

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 10:00:56 -0400

Author’s note: Anyone can contribute to the development of the Open Opportunities platform via the project’s GitHub repository. The Open Opportunities program itself is only open to federal employees. Open, agile software development projects can improve government initiatives. As discussed in last week’s article on agile projects in government, the Open Opportunities platform has benefited

Open Source Micro-Purchasing: An Experiment in Federal Acquisition

Fri, 16 Oct 2015 13:36:47 -0400

18F is an open-source team. We currently have hundreds of publicly available repositories, with dozens under active development. We’ve had numerous contributions from colleagues within government, and contributions from members of the public. But in the next few weeks, we are going to run an experiment: we want to contract for contributions. And we want

18F’s Style Guide for Open Source Project Documentation

Mon, 03 Aug 2015 10:00:04 -0400

We routinely publish our best practices in the 18F Guides, and today we’re happy to launch a new one: the 18F Open Source Style Guide. The Open Source Style Guide is a comprehensive handbook for writing clear, accessible, and user-friendly documentation so that

Trends on Tuesday: Trends in CMS

Tue, 07 Jul 2015 11:57:30 -0400

A Content Management System (CMS) allows people to easily publish, maintain and update information online. Choosing a CMS (or deciding whether you need one at all) is one that many agencies have faced. It’s not an easy choice because there are many solutions available to content managers. As government agencies, the majority of content we deliver is

US, Canada, and Mexico Collaborate to Improve Open Government and Digital Services

Fri, 13 Mar 2015 11:10:14 -0400

Many forces are converging to strengthen the political, economic and commercial ties that bind the United States, Canada and Mexico. The GSA Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies (OCSIT) has anticipated this drive toward collaboration for decades, building a network of links among the three nations’ Chief Information Officers and other national technology and data experts.

Saving Energy, One Green Button at a Time

Wed, 04 Feb 2015 10:00:18 -0400

Conserving energy is not a shot in the dark. Millions of people can now shine a light on their electricity usage as a result of a dynamic public-private partnership based on open data. The goal of the Green Button Initiative is to provide electricity customers with access to their energy usage data in an easy-to-understand

Challenge & Prize Competition Round-Up

Tue, 23 Dec 2014 10:00:54 -0400

Recap of the 2014 Challenge and Prize competition events hosted by DigitalGov

Large Scale Development Culture Change: Google and the U.S. Government

Mon, 22 Dec 2014 10:05:52 -0400

As part of 18F’s mission to deliver effective, user-centric services focused on the interaction between government and the people and businesses it serves, we are also committed to demonstrating how open source and agile-inspired methodologies are critical to an effective, efficient, modern delivery process. We believe these methods produce better software and services at lower

Keeping Peace Corps Volunteers Healthy, One Text at a Time

Mon, 03 Nov 2014 13:53:23 -0400

Today, refilling your medicine cabinet with bandages and over the counter medicine from your local drugstore may seem like a trivial task, but for Peace Corps volunteers working in remote villages around the world, this task can be much more challenging. As we take steps to forge a 21st century

Pillbox Google Hangout for Developers

Mon, 06 Oct 2014 11:00:48 -0400

Tuesday, October 7 at 2pm ET, the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health will host a Google Hangout to talk about developing with the API, data, and open source code from Pillbox. I (Pillbox project manager), Mark Silverberg of Social Health

Strategy Pivot Yields Results: DigitalGov.Gov Six Months Later

Fri, 12 Sep 2014 12:00:02 -0400

Six months ago, we launched this DigitalGov.gov platform to support federal agencies in delivering 21st century digital services and information to the public. It seems a good time to share some of the thinking that went into the development of the platform, and what we’ve learned so far.

Stacking Up the Benefits of Openness

Wed, 10 Sep 2014 11:49:04 -0400

Open government, open source, openness. These words are often used in talking about open data, but we sometimes forget that the root of all of this is an open community. Individuals working together to release government data and put it to use to help their neighbors and reach new personal goals. This sense of community

Getting it Done with Open Opportunities: The Case of the Mobile Code Catalog

Fri, 05 Sep 2014 10:30:00 -0400

Imagine open source code, publicly available to share, that jump starts your agency’s mobile development efforts. Pretty neat idea, huh? Well last year it became a reality with the Mobile Code Catalog. This idea was the brainchild of Mike Pulsifer, who, as the Technical Manager for the Division of Enterprise Communications, Office of Public Affairs,

Open Source Content Management Systems and Responsive Web Design Webinar Recap

Wed, 03 Sep 2014 10:00:46 -0400

Most of us in the DigitalGov community recognize that responsive Web design is one approach to mobile first and most of us have a pretty clear picture of what it means—a responsive website will adjust to different devices, and the content will neatly change its layout from one screen size to another. But do you

Help the Public Find Your Information, Wherever and However You’ve Published It

Tue, 26 Aug 2014 11:00:35 -0400

As traffic to desktop .gov websites declines, how we publish our content increasingly matters. We need to meet people where they are as they seek information on the Internet. To do so, we need to adjust to the new world of mobile applications, social media, and instant answers provided by search engines. Freeing Content from

The Contributor’s Guide to 18F: Code for the Common Good

Fri, 15 Aug 2014 11:00:49 -0400

Introduction Transparency in coding makes code more secure. Open-source development is development in the light, sometimes a harsh light, that shows every blemish. At 18F we strongly believe this improves the rapidity of our coding and the quality and security of the code. We keep the code open to each other, which allows us to

Working In Public From Day 1

Mon, 04 Aug 2014 10:00:38 -0400

In the wide world of software, maybe you’ve heard someone say this, or maybe you’ve said it yourself: “I’ll open source it after I clean up the code; it’s a mess right now.” Or: “I think there are some passwords in there; I’ll get around to cleaning it out at some point.” Or simply: “No

Mobile Gov Code Chop Shop: Help Department of Labor Share Their App Functionality Gov-wide

Mon, 21 Jul 2014 14:00:01 -0400

You’ve just found a great open source fed agency app on the Mobile Code Sharing Catalog, and would love to use one of its cool functionalities for your own agency’s app. As federal agencies release more and more code to the open source

Plop Plop, Fizz Fizz, Oh What a Relief Social Media Is!

Thu, 17 Jul 2014 13:00:36 -0400

We often think of social media as a way to expand our audience, but some public health departments are using it as a new tool for tracking outbreaks of salmonella, e. coli, and other foodborne illnesses. It’s a familiar story: A nice meal out results in days of gastrointestinal discomfort when you realize only too

Broadcasting Board of Governors Use “Relay” Tool to Cover the World Cup

Thu, 26 Jun 2014 14:10:30 -0400

World Cup fever, everyone’s got it—even the Broadcasting Board of Governors‘ (BBG) Voice of America has reporters covering the event. For this year’s World Cup, VOA has teamed up with the Office of Digital and Design Innovation (a digital team inside

The API Briefing: Quick Guide to Using GitHub – FDA’s OpenFDA Research Project

Wed, 11 Jun 2014 10:00:12 -0400

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just released the OpenFDA Research Project. At the heart of the project is the OpenFDA API, which allows developers to perform searches on FDA’s drug information database. Coming soon is the ability to search FDA information on medical devices and information about food. Visit the

Introductory Call for the Disaster Apps Challenge

Tue, 20 May 2014 10:00:08 -0400

The National Defense University (NDU) is hosting a conference call Friday, May 23, to spread the word about the Disaster Apps Challenge Competition, which opened yesterday. This call is open to the public, specifically the people who are interested

Packaging Up API Usability Testing for Agency Reuse

Tue, 20 May 2014 01:00:12 -0400

Over the past year, a GSA collaboration has seen a project that offers API Usability Testing to federal agencies go from the pilot stage to a regular, robust series. Already, 13 agencies and programs have participated, and several more participate with every monthly session

Designing in the Open Training Recap

Fri, 16 May 2014 15:03:07 -0400

During the recent redesign of Data.gov, the team developed a process that helped them respond to public feedback, track the actions and hold themselves accountable. In a DigitalGov University webinar, “Designing in the Open—Public Participation in Government Web Design,” Phil Ashlock, chief architect at Data.gov, and Jeanne Holm, Data.gov evangelist, shared how integrating feedback from

Analyzing Search Data in Real-Time to Drive Decisions

Wed, 07 May 2014 13:00:27 -0400

DigitalGov Search recently rolled out a new open source technology stack, which gives the team access to real-time analytics and dashboards to monitor search trends.

Search Is the New Big Data Recap

Fri, 18 Apr 2014 01:00:01 -0400

Search is easy, right? You type a term in a search box and the exact page you’re looking for appears at the top of the list of results. But search is hard and has many shades of grey. On April 10, 2014, Loren Siebert, our DigitalGov Search senior search architect, presented on: Complexities of recall

DigitalGov Search: Our Open Source Strategy

Mon, 24 Mar 2014 10:00:42 -0400

At DigitalGov Search, we keep an eye on on our what our government counterparts are up to, both in the U.S. and other countries. We recently came across Gov.UK’s philosophy on and approach to coding in the open. It caught our attention and we realized we should also articulate our open source strategy. Use and Contribute to Open

Alternative Fueling Station Locator App from the Department of Energy

Thu, 30 Jan 2014 02:25:56 -0400

So: You decided to purchase a car that takes advantage of more environmentally friendly fuel. Congratulations! Now, you need to find a place to fill the tank that offers more than just regular gas. The new Alternative Fueling Station Locator app from the folks at the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory is a must-try. The new iPhone app will

Best Practices for Open Source in Government (Using GitHub)

Wed, 06 Nov 2013 07:46:20 -0400

Working on getting your agency to release an open source policy? Awesome! But if you want an effective open source program, you have to tightly integrate open source into how your agency procures, builds, and distributes technology. You’re not alone! There’s a growing community of

Content Management Systems Toolkit

Wed, 30 Oct 2013 08:45:15 -0400

Improving the federal government’s ability to deliver digital information anytime, anywhere, on any device via open content is a key goal of the Digital Government Strategy. A content management system (CMS) can help your agency move to an open content model, making it easier for people to find, share, use, and re-use your information.

DATA.Gov: The Next Step is Yours

Fri, 19 Jul 2013 10:18:24 -0400

Americans are rocking open data! From getting people to the emergency room faster with iTriage to helping them navigate road and rail after a disaster, people are innovating, building businesses, and creating safer communities. As developers get more sophisticated and businesses get better analytics, Data.gov needs to change to support them in new ways and

Usability and Open Source Go Hand-in-Hand for Data.gov

Thu, 23 May 2013 07:49:12 -0400

Data.gov launched a major upgrade today, moving to a new catalog based on an open source data management system called CKAN. In the process of migrating to a new data catalog, Data.gov had the opportunity to do another round

The New Healthcare.gov Uses a Lightweight Open Source Tool

Tue, 07 May 2013 09:01:13 -0400

Last week, we told you about the upcoming relaunch of Healthcare.gov and its use of the Jekyll website generator. Jekyll allows users to build dynamic websites served by static pages. To help manage large websites using Jekyll, developers working on the new healthcare.gov published the ‘Prose.io’ editing interface

New Healthcare.gov is Open, CMS-Free

Wed, 01 May 2013 08:43:39 -0400

Recently HHS CTO Bryan Sivak outlined a new vision for healthcare.gov. The site will relaunch this June with a completely rethought design and architecture. The new healthcare.gov follows a new CMS-free philosophy. It will be a completely static website, generated by Jekyll. This shift will allow HHS to move away from