This weekend: Software developers hack for government
At least 50 software developers from the San Francisco Bay area will gather this weekend to develop open government data software applications. The participants, who will compete for cash prizes at the event, will create apps based off of open government data, and the apps will be made available online for anyone to use.
San Francisco-based IT firm Granicus, is joining with CityCampSF to host a 24-hour Open Government Hackathon in San Francisco, December 10-11 at Granicus headquarters.
The prize categories include:
- $1,000 – Best demonstration app to reveal true impacts of clear cutting in the Sierra Nevada mountain range
- $1,000 – Best San Francisco open ethics application
- $500 – Best Open Meetings App using the Granicus Open Platform application programming interface (API)
- $500 – Best Legislative Data Search App using the Granicus Search API
- $500 – Best use of the Tropo Platform to enhance communication with government and public officials
- $500 – Scratch Your Itch – Open Innovation Award
“This is all about improving government and society as a whole via opening data to the public. The more we can demonstrate that open data is a technological advancement and a gateway to vast positive opportunity rather than a hindrance, the better off we become as a nation,” said blogger Tobias Cichon.
“We’re hoping to see our APIs unlock new ways for people to access and influence the policy-making process,” said Granicus CTO Javier Muniz. “Developers can easily access public meeting data including videos, topics, and other government actions to create a user-friendly way to follow government.”
Granicus is a cloud platform provider for government transparency, efficiency and citizen participation. It offers a cloud platform and product suites designed to help government agencies establish meaningful connections with residents while reducing operational costs.
CityCampSF is a group focused on innovation for San Francisco Bay Area governments and community organizations. The organization sponsored the Hack4Reno Hackathon in Reno, Nev., a few weeks ago.
Some of the other sponsors of the CityCampSF Hackathon include San Francisco’s Chief Information Officer Jon Walton; the San Francisco Department of Technology; environmental preservationist group
Forests Forever; the online newspaper,
CitiReport, and the developer of the Tropo API. All the organizations are encouraging innovative uses of data and APIs to solve community issues.
