San Francisco’s Open Data Efforts On Display

San Francisco’s aggressive open data efforts were on display this week, as civic and technology leaders took the stage at sf.govfresh, an event highlighting technology innovation in City government. City CIO Chris Vein (who also was recently interviewed by ideation solutions firm BrightIdea) and Department of Technology innovations manager Jay Nath explained how the City is leveraging innovators in and out of government to create a culture that creates valuable new applications at little to no cost. Jay’s presentation on Open 311 APIs is here.

The event on Wednesday night also features several local developers who’ve built mobile and Web applications using open data from San Francisco and other government agencies. These included Routsey, MomMaps, and Crimespotting. You can find the entire catalogue of apps built with SF data at the SF Innovations Showcase.

Lawrence Grodeska of SF Environment explained efforts to create a common standard for apps focused on recycling information and called on local developers to submit proposals to develop the next generation of SF’s “EcoFinder.”

Event host Adobe livestreamed the event, and a replay is available here.

Also on Wednesday, I was on air for John Moore’s Social Ecosystem Lab podcast to talk about the SF City Attorney’s social media programs and broader open government efforts in San Francisco. You can listen to that interview here.