4iP recently invested in ScraperWiki, a platform to scrape, store, aggregate, and distribute unstructured public data in more useful, structured formats.

OK, so I admit I usually lose most people at this point so I’ll explain why this investment is so exciting for me and for 4iP.

So, what is it?

At its heart ScraperWiki is a data store. The outputs of the scraper code are stored online and accessed via a .csv, GoogleDoc or an API. The ambition is to fill ScraperWiki with thousands of public data sets that can be used by developers, researchers, journalists, and public bodies. For an example and to find out what crimes Londoners worry about then read the ScraperWiki blog.

For the developer it is also a beautiful browser-based coding environment. It allows developers (“swikis”?) to extract information from websites, pdf and Word documents from the Internet and transform them into structured data.

The ScraperWiki team are working hard to make this experience simple to use and familiar to developers. Key to success is making this right for developers so the platform provides version-control, a console, shortcut keys, scheduling and access to ScraperWiki code libraries that make the job of web scraping much easier. If you’d like to get involved then get in touch for an alpha invite.

ScraperWiki geo-location libraries will allow a developer to scrape data and a location (a postcode, long/lat) and overlay boundary information (a constituency, a local police ward). I am really excited about the possibilities of this. It should produce some interesting and valuable data-sets.

Why 4iP?

I declare a personal weakness for all things open-data-ery and I once studied politics. That declared I can tell you ScraperWiki is an important element within the 4iP eco-system of investments. Everyone needs a bit of data in their lives and 4iP is no different.

The ScraperWiki team have a reputation for civic hacking, transparency and holding power to account. They are some of the people behind Public Whip (see how your MP votes), Planning Alerts (email alerts of planning applications near you), UNDemocracy (transcripts of UN meetings), FarmSubsidy.org (who gets what from the Common Agricultural Policy) and Rewired State hack days. They are a great team and they have all been a source of inspiration.

ScraperWiki have embraced the sustainability requirements of the fund with gusto and I see success ahead. A platform for scraping public data (i.e. it’s not the Scrapers’ data, but the Crown’s) was not an immediately obvious revenue generator but we worked together and figured it. We discussed a volunteer sustained platform, but the ScraperWiki team are now out and about talking to interesting people about transactional and service based revenues.

Public launch is set for the end of February but you can follow ScraperWiki on Twitter to keep tabs on progress or get in touch for an alpha invite.

Jamie Arnold (without imported items)

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Google facts and figures (massive infographic)

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4iP invests in ScraperWiki

So, what is it?

Why 4iP?

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