Open source coding and the Obama campaign

[eridani]

http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/open-source-force-behind-obama-campaign

Almost all of our tools put user interaction and user creation first. Take events management systems. In the past they were made so an organization could post its official calendar online. We said that's great but not nearly as interesting as letting your supporters create their own calendars. So we created tools where the first priority was to make it easy for somebody coming onto the website to host a house party, or to arrange to pick up litter alongside a highway while wearing t-shirts for their organization: everything from the mundane to the innovative. We wanted to make it easy to create an event, schedule it, make it searchable, handle RSVPs, and for people to do their own fund-raising.

The two services we use most in the context of events are Google and Yahoo's mapping and geocoding APIs. We'll geocode your address with lon/lat, and use that to place nearby events.