National Day of Civic Hacking will take place June 1-2, 2013. Many local developers, entrepreneurs, and businesses will be working together to showcase the talent and strength of our community. As stated on their website, National Day of Civic Hacking event brings “the expertise and entrepreneurial spirit of those outside federal, state and local government to drive meaningful, technology-based solutions for federal, state and local government. It demonstrates what’s possible when we all work together to strengthen our society and our lives.”
Modeled after events like Code for America, Random Hacks of Kindness and Innovation Endeavors, National Day of Civic Hacking is designed to bring the community together to make a difference in the way we function. Among participants in Arizona will be Gangplank Chandler, a group workspace designed for innovation and community building, and Radio Campesina, a local radio network via Cesar Chavez Foundation.
David Monaghan, director of the Gangplank Labs Initiatives, said, “The event is a call to action for anyone who wants to make an impact.” Derek Neighbors, a co-founder of Gangplank added, “It’s all about creating an environment for meaningful collaboration between the public and private sectors. Innovation is alive and well in cities and towns across America – not just Silicon Valley.”
What exactly is a hacker? Trish Gillam, executive director of Gangplank explained, “A hacker is someone who uses a minimum of resources and a maximum of brainpower and ingenuity to create, enhance or fix something. Gangplank is all about maximizing local resources – tangible and intangible – to create a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts.”
For their participation, Gangplank Chandler plans “to organize and facilitate a hackathon and a brigade meeting. We will host any code created on GitHub and publicize details about the results of any teams that form up. If any companies or organizations are trying to find ways to release their data we will be happy to help with that, there is never enough oData in my opinion,” said Monaghan.
As far as the future of National Day of Civic Hacking, Monaghan says, “My hope is to not only have this type of event every year, but to follow-up throughout the year with the formed teams and continue to improve on existing projects [and create new projects].”
For more information on the Gangplank Chandler event click here.
For more information on the Radio Campesina event click here.
For more information about the national initiative, visit hackforchange.org.
For the public datasets
For the hacker challenges
Photos courtesy of National Day of Civic Hacking
