[DATAGOV Core] Interview Intake app — macOS test build 0.1.0 (your feedback welcome)

[fredd at trasformatorio.net]

Hi everyone,

I've been working on a small tool for the DTGV project and I'd like to share it with you.

It's called Interview Intake. It takes the audio of an interview from an SD card, encrypts it end-to-end, and files it in the shared project folder under a unique interview ID, together with the transcript and note files you fill in later. There's a second app for the supervisor side (project setup, researcher registration, escrow backup).

It's an early test build (0.1.0): it is not production-ready yet — but it can get there, and the quickest way is to have it tried by people other than me. So I'd be very grateful to anyone willing to give it a go and tell me what breaks, what's confusing, or what's missing. No pressure and no deadline — any testing, however small, really helps.

The instructions are attached (PDF). The two macOS apps are here (read-only folder):
https://nextcloud.trasformatorio.net/s/xydSrP2a7GLX9AE

One note on the GitHub link I shared earlier in the chat: please read it the same way — it is simply the same project in its open, canonical form, and the same instructions, together with the full technical documentation, live there too. The download folder and the repository are two doors onto the same thing; use whichever you find easier.

I chose to develop it in the open, on GitHub, because I believe free and open-source software is the sensible default for research tools. The code is public and MIT-licensed: anyone can read it, check how the encryption and the filing actually work, and see exactly which version they are running. For a tool that handles interview material, being able to verify that — rather than having to trust a black box — feels to me the only honest starting point, and it is what makes the work reproducible for the group.

It also has practical advantages. Every change is versioned and traceable, issues and suggestions can be reported in one place, and the project is not tied to a single person or machine: if someone else picks it up, or if we want to build on it in a future project, everything needed is already there. And because it is free to use, modify and redistribute, nothing locks the group into a paid product or a particular vendor — the software can be adopted, adapted, or simply set aside, at no cost and with no permission to ask.

If anything is unclear, or you'd like a quick walkthrough, just drop me a line.

Thanks a lot, and have a good week,

Federico Bonelli
Federico Bonelli Productions
fredd at trasformatorio.net
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