Blog
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This may seem obvious, but it bears repeating: the community resource directory data problem is complex, and complex things can be hard to understand. During my work as lead organizer of the DC Open211 project, I’ve seen that there are…
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Version 0.2 of Human Services Data Specification: what’s new, what’s ahead
UPDATE: Version 0.2 Version 0.4 of the Human Services Data Specification (i.e. the Open Referral model) is posted! While working through the ‘alpha’ specification (v0.1) we received in-depth feedback and suggestions from a great cross-section of perspectives, including community…
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Updates to our Strategic Framework: a summary of emerging changes
We’re just past halfway into the first year of the Open Referral Initiative, and I’ve just posted an updated version of our ‘Public Documentation’ — a living document that lays out the strategic framework of this project. You can read…
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Toward Seamless Information & Referral: A Polycentric Experiment
By Derek Coursen, Adjunct Faculty, NYU Wagner School of Public Service Multiple levels of government and a myriad of nonprofit organizations offer an ever-changing array of specialized services to people who need them. But who directs traffic through all that…
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Working together at the Open Referral Workshop
The community resource directory data problem is complex. It involves a diversity of actors (governments, funders, non-profits, technology vendors, researchers, and regular people) whose interests are sometimes in tension with each other. If we were to design a solution by simply…
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Welcome to the Open Referral Initiative
Information about health, human, and social services is an essential element of our public infrastructure. It is literally what one needs to ‘see’ the safety net. It should be reliable and easy to find, in all kinds of ways. But there’s…
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We Invite Your Comments!
This website is a living document. We would love your comments and feedback on how it can be improved to better explain what we’re doing with the Open Referral Initiative. Please add your comments to this post!