Recently I reported on the things that worked in Brigade’s first year. I wanted to follow up with this report on what didn’t work and lessons learned over our past year of civic hacking. Next month, in the final installment of this series, I’ll comment on how these lessons are informing our direction and takingRead… Read more »

Code Across America takes place this weekend. On Saturday, Feb 23, the ATX Civic Hackathon III will happen in Austin, Texas. You can read about it here. Last year, Austin was a Code for America partner city. We hosted three fabulous fellows (Aurelio Tinio, Joe Merante, and Emily Wright Moore). While they were here, theRead… Read more »

This weekend, in 22 communities throughout country, hundreds of passionate citizens are coming together to Code Across America. “I’m coding for America because I want to radically alter the relationship between citizens and government.” – Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom “I code for America because I want innovation to be synonymous with city hall” – CfARead… Read more »

I’m coding for America because I believe that good UX design has the potential to transform our relationship with government – by building better citizen experiences, we can rebuild the understanding that, as Jen Pahlka says, government is what we do together. I’ve thought a lot about the meaning of something being public in aRead… Read more »

This post is Code for America’s first in a series fo posts for Huffington Post, as part of the JobRaising Challenge, which is also sponsored by the Skoll Foundation. CfA is one of 74 finalists in the challenge. The non-profits who raise the most support online are eligible for additional funding and other support. InRead… Read more »

Today, the White House has opened up applications for the second round of the Presidential Innovation Fellowship (PIF): whitehouse.gov/innovationfellows Just this past Friday, I had the chance to catch up with a number of the first set of “PIFs” as they are called. Clay Johnson, Adam Becker, and Ryan Panchadsaram came by the CfA officeRead… Read more »

“Not another hackathon!” Heard this lately? We have and we’d like to amend it: “Not another MEDIOCRE hackathon.” As hack events become more popular across the country (and ubiquitous in places with thriving tech communities) organizing one can seem daunting. But if you do it right, a productive hackathon can act as a catalyst forRead… Read more »

This morning, the Fellows discussed how applications we develop this year could be sustained after our fellowship period is over, as well as the challenges we might face in opening data sources from our partner cities and municipalities. Since our time as fellows is a short 11 months, we must be cognizant of how ourRead… Read more »

The Peer Network is designed to encourage the sharing of innovation best practices between municipalities. With the 2013 Fellowship cities and counties preparing for the fellows arrival, what better place to start than how to get the most out of the Fellowship? We recently asked Nigel Jacob, co-director of the Mayor’s Office of New UrbanRead… Read more »

“If we’re not documenting these experiences and sharing them, then how do we justify all these resources?” ~ Steven Clift (@democracy) speaking with fellows about the need to share learning In November, I wrote to the 2012 Fellows during their final week that it was the fastest year of my life in a long time.Read… Read more »