describe api key in readme

UrbanAnalyst · Sep 20, 2023 · 1e7f7f7 · 1e7f7f7
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diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Package: ushardship
 Title: Hardship Index from United States Census Data
-Version: 0.0.1.019
+Version: 0.0.1.020
 Authors@R: 
     person(given = "Mark",
            family = "Padgham",

diff --git a/README.Rmd b/README.Rmd
@@ -30,8 +30,9 @@ status](https://github.com/UrbanAnalyst/us-hardship-index/workflows/R-CMD-check/
 # US Hardship Index
 
 `us-hardship-index` is an R package for calculating a hardship index for
-specified US states. It includes the single primary function
-`hs_hardship_index()`, which accepts the two parameters of:
+specified US states, using data from the US Census Bureau's *American Community
+Survey*. It includes the single primary function `hs_hardship_index()`, which
+accepts the two parameters of:
 
 - "state" for the desired US state; and
 - "year" for the desired year (with values available since 2010).
@@ -57,3 +58,12 @@ action is provided by [the city of Chicago](
 https://data.cityofchicago.org/Health-Human-Services/Census-Data-Selected-socioeconomic-indicators-in-C/kn9c-c2s2/data),
 as a table of the six metrics plus their conversion to a composite hardship
 index.
+
+## Access to Census Bureau Data
+
+This package requires an API key for census.gov, which can be obtained from
+[the Census Bureau's website](https://api.census.gov/data/key_signup.html).
+This key should be stored as an environment variable named `CENSUS_API_KEY`,
+generally by specifying its value in the `~/.Renviron` file. Alternatively, the
+key can be set with the [`tidycensus` function,
+`census_api_key()`](https://walker-data.com/tidycensus/reference/census_api_key.html).
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ Active](https://www.repostatus.org/badges/latest/active.svg)](https://www.repost
 # US Hardship Index
 
 `us-hardship-index` is an R package for calculating a hardship index for
-specified US states. It includes the single primary function
+specified US states, using data from the US Census Bureau’s *American
+Community Survey*. It includes the single primary function
 `hs_hardship_index()`, which accepts the two parameters of:
 
 - “state” for the desired US state; and
@@ -35,3 +36,13 @@ of the index in action is provided by [the city of
 Chicago](https://data.cityofchicago.org/Health-Human-Services/Census-Data-Selected-socioeconomic-indicators-in-C/kn9c-c2s2/data),
 as a table of the six metrics plus their conversion to a composite
 hardship index.
+
+## Access to Census Bureau Data
+
+This package requires an API key for census.gov, which can be obtained
+from [the Census Bureau’s
+website](https://api.census.gov/data/key_signup.html). This key should
+be stored as an environment variable named `CENSUS_API_KEY`, generally
+by specifying its value in the `~/.Renviron` file. Alternatively, the
+key can be set with the [`tidycensus` function,
+`census_api_key()`](https://walker-data.com/tidycensus/reference/census_api_key.html).
diff --git a/codemeta.json b/codemeta.json
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
   "codeRepository": "https://github.com/UrbanAnalyst/us-hardship-index",
   "issueTracker": "https://github.com/UrbanAnalyst/us-hardship-index/issues",
   "license": "https://spdx.org/licenses/GPL-3.0",
-  "version": "0.0.1.019",
+  "version": "0.0.1.020",
   "programmingLanguage": {
     "@type": "ComputerLanguage",
     "name": "R",