This is a living, growing document that will help you navigate all of our documentation on topics like membership, branding guidelines, project workflow recommendations, and more.
Welcome! We are glad you are here, and we would be happy to provide an orientation to who we are, how we do things, and what exactly we do.
Founded in 2014, the Civic Data Alliance (CDA) is Louisvilleās own commmunity tech organizaton and we are committed to transparent, accessible, and open data.
We create and facilitate innovative solutions to public problems through collaborative hackathons, coding education, and accessible civic engagement.
We are the publicās voice for open data. We advocate for, make use of, improve upon, centralize, facilitate understanding of, and report on, public data.
Civic Data Alliance is a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit entity through Code for America.
Before you do anything else, you need to read our Code of Conduct (CoC) and agree to abide by it by filling out and signing our membership form. Feel free to continue reading about our membership, projects, etc., but contributing requires agreement to abide by our CoC.
The CoC covers both CfA's requirements and additional inclusive CDA policies on attending events, contributing to projects, and participating in the Slack workspace. It is extremely important that you thoroughly read through the CoC, and reach out to a member of CDA leadership if you have any questions regarding it.
Our New User Guide is the best starting point for members who have signed our membership form and are ready to start contributing. It will give you a high-level overview of useful information like our contributing guidelines, where to find projects to contribute to, how to start new projects, and much more!
CDA is a totally volunteer organization, made up of community members, who fill several distinct roles in maintaining our relationships with the community, municipal partners, and our own membership-at-large.
You can more comprehensive documentation in our Membership Guide.
General members have signed our membership form and agreed to commit a small portion of their time to CDA events and projects. They are given access to our Slack workspace as well as relevant project contribution permissions on Github.
Members have fulfilled the requirements of general membership as well as agreeing to an additional commitment of time and responsibility in facilitating events, leading and coordinating projects, and being accessible to the community as facilitators of the communities goals and mission.
All CDA maintenance of policies, procedures, day-to-day activities is facilitated by Members who participate in thorough and transparent discussion.
Please refer to our Membership Guide for more information, or reach out to CDA Leadership with questions.
CDA typically follows the [Atlassian Gitflow Workflow]() to create robust history and easier maintenance on core repositories and projects. Our recommendation is that you use this flow or a similar one for any CDA-sponsored projects that you contribute to. We ask that you familiarize yourself with them and reach out to CDA Leadership if you have any questions.
If you are approached by a media representative or want to make an official statement regarding CDA as an organization, or a CDA sponsored project, refer to our Media Procedure and Protocols documentation for guidelines you should follow. If you have any questions regarding this process, please reach out to CDA Leadership for clarification.