Thoughts

Ideas, opinions, observations.

Screenshot of space photo of the day page on USA.GovFresh.

Civic hacking NASA (astronomy picture of the day)

Building a space photo of the day page using NASA's astronomy picture of the day API.

Luke Fretwell · November 3, 2022

Screenshot of Department of Interior page on USA.GovFresh.

Civic hacking the Federal Register

Building an executive branch agency list using the National Archives' Federal Register API.

Luke Fretwell · October 31, 2022

Civic hacking .gov domains

Building a simple .gov domain search tool with CISA open data.

Luke Fretwell · October 29, 2022

Screenshot of members of U.S. House of Representatives.

Civic hacking Congress (part 1)

Building congressional pages with the new Library of Congress Congress.gov API.

Luke Fretwell · October 26, 2022

RSS government

Defaulting to an open protocol to syndicate government information makes public communications universally accessible.

Luke Fretwell · October 18, 2022

Statue of John Harvard, Harvard University

Pedigree and public interest technology

The community that supports digital government services should be undeniably representative of everyone.

Luke Fretwell · August 16, 2022

Lincoln Memorial at night with car lights

Why and how I built Agile Government Leadership

AGL, which has since evolved into Technologists for the Public Good, was the testing ground for an experiment in what I now call an open civic community of practice.

Luke Fretwell · July 28, 2022

A meta tag on USAJOBS posts could substantially increase the visibility of federal government job opportunities

One simple piece of code to the U.S. government's employment website could go a long way in increasing social media reach.

Luke Fretwell · July 1, 2022

How California gets a return on its $25 million innovation investment

Time for Alpha 2.0.

Luke Fretwell · March 21, 2022

Father-son civic hacking: Open Data Day 2022

Kickstarting USA.GovFresh, beginning with Federal Register open data.

Luke Fretwell · March 10, 2022

Government open data in 2022

Once thriving, now barely surviving. Ideas on how we can breathe more life into it.

Luke Fretwell · March 4, 2022

Time for government to stop using Medium

A publishing platform that says it's an environment open to everyone doesn't provide equal access to all.

Luke Fretwell · February 17, 2022

Civic hacking for '100% .gov'

Re-imagining the government domain name registry experience.

Luke Fretwell · January 21, 2022

Making a chief data officers playbook more accessible

And suggestions for the CDO Council.

Luke Fretwell · January 14, 2022

Coding a COVID-19 dashboard (with my 13 year-old son)

Adventures in father-son civic hacking.

Luke Fretwell · January 11, 2022

Olay Regenerist beauty product held by a Black woman in her left hand as she leans on her elbow. The lid is openable with one hand and the model with a limb difference smiles at the camera.

What government can learn from Olay

Olay’s Open to Change advertising campaign is something government should take note of.

Luke Fretwell · November 15, 2021