Jay Nath is Chief Innovation Officer for the City and County of San Francisco. In 2012, Code for America launched the first-ever Civic Startup Accelerator, focusing on companies and products that served a broader public purpose. Since then, incubators and accelerators have come online to add to the growing ecosystem of civic startups emerging inRead… Read more »
I’ve been a programmer for a while and I’ve built some nifty things. I’ve also been ridiculously fortunate. I’ve been able to live in San Francisco for around five years now and work in an industry where I’m in high demand. I’ve met a lot of really wonderful, intelligent people in my field and haveRead… Read more »
There are currently 31 Code for America Brigades in the U.S. This morning at TEDx Cities, I announced that we’re expanding our program internationally — starting Brigades in Ireland, Japan, and Poland. These Brigades are all headed by volunteer Brigade Captains. Since civic hacking is catching on, everywhere, we’ve made it easy for anyone, anywhereRead… Read more »
On May 27 this year I received wonderful news: I had been accepted as a Google Summer of Code student at Code for America! That meant that I was going to spend the next three months working a the project whose idea I had submitted just days before. My idea was to create a wrapperRead… Read more »
In 2012, Code for America launched the Brigade program, enacting 16 local chapters. Today we’re excited to announce the addition of 15 new Brigades supported by 28 new Captains. These Brigade Captains will work to collaborate with government to build and foster community where they live. Each Brigade has the support of a municipal partnerRead… Read more »
At Code for America, the concept of safe-spaces is a necessity. We’re committed to building apps that are “by the people, and for the people” and we recognize that in order to do that, we need to make room for every single person. We must honor each others experiences and engage in a way thatRead… Read more »
What happens when public infrastructure becomes part of the “Internet of Things?” In an opinion piece in the New York Times today, former Chicago Chief Data Officer Brett Goldstein explores the policy and privacy implications of smart cities: We all interact daily with public infrastructure — roads, parks, mass transit, water supplies. Increasingly, this infrastructureRead… Read more »
Code for America Yearbook is an ongoing series of my interviews with 2013 Fellows about their year at CfA. Last week I sat down with Sheila and here’s what he had to say. Name: Sheila Dugan Fellowship City: Oakland, CA Hometown: North Charleston, SC Current Neighborhood: Lake Merritt, Oakland Role: 2013 Fellow DOB: 5/26/85 Q:Read… Read more »
“I think I just spent 1½hrs playing this.”—Mick Thompson, private correspondence Earlier in the year, we built a game called Click That ’Hood for two simple reasons: to learn the neighborhoods of Louisville (my fellowship city), and to learn some geovisualization techniques. Half a year later, with 98 cities across 12 countries, I am lookingRead… Read more »
One of the success stories in Chicago’s civic innovation community is the rapid spread of health related apps that have come out of both the volunteer civic technology community and paid development efforts. This started last year with Tom Kompare’s Chicago flu shot app that helped Chicago residents find free flu shots near them. (LaterRead… Read more »