Francis Irving Explained

Francis Irving
Alma Mater:University of Oxford (BA)

Francis Irving (born 1974)[1] is a British software engineer, freedom of information activist and former CEO of ScraperWiki.[2] [3] [4] [5]

Education

Irving studied A-levels in Biology, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics and General Studies at high school and was subsequently educated at the University of Oxford. He received a first class degree in mathematics in 1995 as a student at Lincoln College, Oxford.[6]

Career

Irving developed TortoiseCVS.[7] He co-founded Public Whip with Julian Todd and became a developer of the affiliated TheyWorkForYou website,[8] a project which parses raw Hansard data to track how members vote in the UK Parliament. Initially risking prosecution for re-using the raw data which was under crown copyright, the developers of Public Whip were later successful in getting permission to use it.[9] In 2004, Public Whip was recognised in the New Media awards.[10] In 2008, The Daily Telegraph rated TheyWorkforYou 41st in a list of the 101 most useful websites.[11] Irving together with Matthew Somerville wrote the code for FixMyStreet.[12]

Irving was also a senior developer of PledgeBank.[13] He collaborated again with Julian Todd to create 'The Straight Choice', a website (later renamed Election Leaflets) that archives election leaflets.[14] [15]

Irving served as campaign director of the Save Parliament campaign which opposed the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill.[16] [6]

Irving was one of two people to suggest the winning idea of a site through which Freedom of Information Act requests could be made in a mySociety competition for ideas for public interest websites to build.[17] He was later to become the main developer of the site which was called WhatDoTheyKnow.[18] Francis has won seven New Statesman awards for websites he has worked on.[2]

Iving has collaborated with Ben Goldacre at the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science on a European Union (EU) clinical trials tracker and software for tracking retraction in academic publishing.[19] He has previously worked for NC Graphics and Memrise.[6]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: gov.uk. Companies House. Francis Irving. Anon. 2020. London. https://web.archive.org/web/20240730114628/https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/zBkjDna7VGvPLqg7CWYYwGbpMFE/appointments. 2024-07-30.
  2. Web site: Francis Irving. newswired.com.
  3. Web site: Martin . Rosenbaum . Open Secrets: Victory for whatdotheyknow website . BBC. bbc.co.uk . 2010-06-09 . 2014-01-05.
  4. Web site: ScraperWiki nets $280,000 from Knight Foundation . 24 June 2011. 29 March 2012 . 31 August 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110831172356/http://www.how-do.co.uk/north-west-media-news/north-west-publishing/scraperwiki-nets-$280,000-from-knight-foundation-2011062411352 . dead .
  5. Web site: Irving . Francis . ScraperWiki: A story about two boys, web scraping and a worm | ScraperWikiScraperWiki . scraperwiki.com . 2011-05-05 . 2014-01-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130623124813/http://blog.scraperwiki.com/2011/05/05/scraperwiki-a-story-about-two-boys-web-scraping-and-a-worm/ . 23 June 2013 . dead .
  6. Web site: Francis Irving CV. https://web.archive.org/web/20240222053943/https://www.flourish.org/cv/. 2024-02-22. flourish.org. Francis. Irving. 2024.
  7. Web site: Companies . TortoiseCVS . 2014-01-05.
  8. The Silent State, Heather Brooke p128
  9. Web site: Make it work for us, Ms Tullo. 8 June 2006. theguardian.com. The Guardian. Heather. Brook . London.
  10. Web site: New Media Awards 2004. newstatesman.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20100507185311/http://www.newstatesman.com/nma/nma2004/nma2004winners.htm . 7 May 2010.
  11. Web site: Technology . The 101 most useful websites . https://web.archive.org/web/20081205083305/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/3356874/The-101-most-useful-websites.html . dead . 2008-12-05 . Telegraph.co.uk . 2014-01-05.
  12. Web site: Frequently Asked Questions . FixMyStreet . 2014-01-05.
  13. Web site: Public inquiry . The Guardian. theguardian.com . London . Alison . Benjamin . 10 January 2007 . 2 May 2010.
  14. Web site: Moore . Matthew . 'British pensioners' on BNP election leaflet are actually Italian models . https://web.archive.org/web/20090518153738/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/local-elections/5331700/British-pensioners-on-BNP-election-leaflet-are-actually-Italian-models.html . dead . 2009-05-18 . Telegraph.co.uk . 2009-05-15 . 2014-01-05.
  15. Web site: EU Withdrawal Bill – what your MPS said on your behalf – the Straight Choice. August 2018.
  16. Web site: Write to your Lord to Save Parliament | Save Parliament Blog . Bill111.wordpress.com . 31 October 2006. 2014-01-05.
  17. Web site: About . whatdotheyknow.com . 2014-01-05.
  18. Web site: mySociety's Freedom of Information site goes live . mysociety.org . 22 February 2008. 2014-01-05.
  19. Web site: RetractoBot: Because researchers need to know about retracted papers. retracted.net. Anon. 2023.

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