On Saturday, civic hackers across the country are putting their heads together to hack away at solvable civic issues, during the National Day of Civic Hacking.
Here in D.C., several national government agencies are appealing to civic hackers to make good use of their data.
- National Day of Civic Hacking DC: Small Business Edition, organized by Code for America, will set the challenge: How might we help local small business owners increase their digital economy through open data solutions?
For the occasion, the U.S. Census Bureau will be unveiling its City SDK, a platform allowing data magicians analyze local and national statistics together. It’s also launching a two-month challenge to encourage developers to use the tool to address city sustainability issues.
Other participating agencies will include the U.S. Small Business Administration, BusinessUSA and the U.S. Department of Labor.
And if you’re looking for more action, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives is organizing its own hackathon. The goal: to make ATF’s broad-ranging fire data easier to handle, and specifically create mobile apps for the use of fire investigators. Sign up now: there are only 60 tickets and if you’re lucky, you’ll get to work on the “smoke production of Christmas tree” project.
