About
=====

![Open Referral](assets/OpenReferral_Logo_Green.png)

The Open Referral Initiative develops data standards and open platforms that make it easy to share and find information about community resources. Learn more about the about at [OpenReferral.org](https://www.openreferral.org).

## Using this documentation

This documentation contains reference materials and guidance related to various aspects of the Human Services Data Specification (HSDS), as well as the Open Referral Initiative itself.

### Data Specifications

Pages inside the *HSDS Reference* section of the docs provide reference materials for HSDS. These materials are considered *normative* and should be given priority over all other materials about HSDS, excepting the canonical HSDS schemas provided on our [Github repository](https://github.com/openreferral/specification).

The contents of the *HSDS Reference Section* contains specifications for HSDS' data model, API reference, and HSDS Profiles. It also contains normative materials defining what it means to be conformant to HSDS, how identifiers of various kinds are used in HSDS, and how HSDS should be serialized.

### Implementation Guidance

The *HSDS Implementation Guidance* section provides additional materials about specific topics in HSDS. These materials are marked as *non-normative* – which means that adherence thereof is not strictly required in order to comply with the standard. These materials provide guidance to implementers, and should be considered a complement to the standard rather than technically part of the standard itself.

The contents of the *HSDS Implementation Guidance* may also be useful to data users who want to understand more about HSDS in support of their analysis.


### About the Open Referral Initiative

This documentation also provides materials about the Open Referral Initiative itself, which is distinct from HSDS. Pages in the *About the Open Referral Initiative* section do not directly describe HSDS, and therefore are not technically part of the standard.

The contents of the *About the Open Referral Initiative* section may be of interest for those looking to understand more about the wider Open Referral project as well as other standards which are relevant to HSDS.

## Our ecosystem

**Open Referral’s ecosystem** includes a range of working open source software applications that can be freely redeployed to work with HSDS-compatible data and/or APIs. Many of these tools can be found in [our Github organization](http://github.com/openreferral).

Learn more about the why's, how's, and who's of the Open Referral Initiative on [our website](https://openreferral.org/about/organizational-overview/), and browse all of our Project Documents on [Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B-5CZ4ZLjTHqfk12WTFUbVk1NjBYMjRaZTlZRlN1UjhWMS1MN0tLV3Q4ejY3TWpOYWwwVDg?resourcekey=0-V8QRlJu4Jlrw40yN1U_TKQ&usp=sharing)

**Join Open Referral's Community of Practice**

* We are formally convened [in this Community Forum](https://forum.openreferral.org/).
* You can also join [our Slack team](https://openreferral.org/get-involved/join-our-slack-team/).
* Sign up for our email newsletter [on our homepage](https://openreferral.org/).

## Get in touch

Questions not answered here? Suggestions for us?

[Email us!](mailto:info@openreferral.org) We can discuss directly, and/or invite you to join our [forum](https://forum.openreferral.org) where you can engage in the various topics and ongoing discussions surrounding Open Referral and HSDS.

## Site contents

Contents:

```{eval-rst}

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 1
   :caption: HSDS Reference

   hsds/overview
   hsds/schema_reference
   hsds/codelists
   hsds/api_reference
   hsds/serialization
   hsds/identifiers
   hsds/profiles
   hsds/conformance
   hsds/changelog
   hsds/hsds_faqs


.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 1
   :caption: HSDS Implementation Guidance

   hsds/use_cases
   hsds/mapping_guidance
   hsds/extending
   hsds/using_profiles
   hsds/field_guidance
   hsds/database_schemas

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 1
   :caption: About

   about/users-and-personas
   about/design-principles
   about/specification-governance
   about/credits
   about/privacy-notice
   about/license
```