I was first introduced to Code for America when I stumbled across Jen Pahlka’s TED talk earlier this year. As she explained the concept of utilizing the most innovative web and mobile systems to empower a new breed of citizenship in the U.S., I immediately understood the significance of what CfA was working towards. Unfortunately,Read… Read more »
This year’s fellows have been hard at work building apps for their cities for almost six months now, and we’re starting to see the fruits of their efforts. Fellowship cities across the country — and the Code for America office — have been abuzz about product launches like Textizen in Philadelphia, Honolulu Answers in Honolulu,Read… Read more »
After attending both PyCon and OSCON, and manning the Code for America expo booth at both events, it’s become pretty clear that technical people are kind of shocked that Macon is a Code for America city. “Macon… Georgia?” is a question I’ve heard multiple times (with varying amounts of pause between city and state). InRead… Read more »
Headlines This week we tuned into a video about app for fruit gleaning, read about crowd-funding civic projects, talked to cool folks about a national civic hack day, and found out about a new public process for drafting open data legislation in Pittsburgh, PA. 1. Pittsburgh Open Data Legislation Wiki Code for Pittsburgh Brigade MemberRead… Read more »
While in high school, my grandfather suffered from a stroke. A social, fast-talking, and brilliant civil engineer, my grandfather recovered slowly and continued to feel isolated by his new circumstances. In moments of reflection, he discovered the willingness to try on new skills, including using the web. Although bright in many capacities, my grandfather, likeRead… Read more »
The core assumption of engagement applications is that people will do an activity consistently and repeatedly if you just structure the experience and incentivize it correctly — even if it’s asinine. The justification for civic engagement apps can be similarly foolish: people will perform a potentially beneficial activity that they aren’t currently doing if weRead… Read more »
John Tolva, is the CTO for Chicago and a Code for America partner. We ask John how Chicago got to being at the forefront of open government and how others cities can follow suit. “There is no reason city government can’t operate on the same principles of our hot digital sector”. For John Tolva, CodeRead… Read more »
Here’s what we tagged this week: What Data Visualization Can and Can’t Tell Us About Pennsylvania’s Voter ID Law | TechPresident Why is open civic data important? Azavea published results of analysis that suggests racial discrimination in Pennsylvania’s voter ID law, but lack of data prevents anyone from drawing firm conclusions. Penn study says neighborhoodRead… Read more »
Code for America is an amazing organization. It’s filled with people that are passionate about civic innovation and open government. For the past two years, as an active community member first and as a staff member second, I have had the pleasure and distinct privilege to work with the amazing people at Code for America,Read… Read more »
The Code for America Accelerator kicked off its inaugural program this week and welcomed seven civic startups from across the country for a whirlwind week filled with mentor advising, speaker sessions, networking events, and work. Joining us at our San Francisco office and via Skype were some of the biggest thinkers in government and technology.Read… Read more »