Founded in 2009, Code for America is a national nonprofit that partners with local governments and citizens to encourage civic innovation. Anchorage has a chapter, founded in October 2013, and they’ve been …. civic hacking! In February, organizers and volunteers met for a special work session that included exploring local crime data, writing short straight-forward answers to local government questions, testing People Mover bus data in web maps, and creating an inventory of local open data. And they continue to meet twice a month to discuss how citizens can contribute to making Anchorage a better place to live by tapping into and sorting available government open data.
We’ll catch up on the movement, both nationally and locally, with Code for Anchorage member Brendan Babb and Alaskan Becky Boone, a software developer currently serving as a Code for America Fellow in Denver, Colorado. (Lance Ahern, Anchorage’s information officer, has been felled by a bad case of the flu! Speedy recovery, Lance!)
GUESTS:
- Carter Bancroft, Code for Anchorage member
- Brendan Babb, Code for Anchorage member
- Becky Boone, Anchorage software developer, Code for America Fellow 2014
LINKS:
- Code for America, website
- Founder Jennifer Pahlka’s TED talk
- Code Across Anchorage, local Meet-Up link
- Anchorage Brigade, one of 58 across the US and globe
- Code for America, list of 2014 Fellows including Becky Boone
- Open data, why you should care (Government Technology website)
- Open Government (data.gov)
- Civic Innovation, the year of open data
- Sunshine Week events, March 16-22
- Anchorage Answers (Beta)
- Brendan Babb blog, source of additional useful links
- Click that ‘Hood (Alaska Indigenous Peoples and Languages )
- Alaska Open Data Bill, HB 337
- Alaska Energy Data Gateway, open data source on energy usage
- Anchorage Makerspace blog
- Anchorage Programming Workshop (for women who want to learn code)
PARTICIPATE:
- Call 550-8433 (Anchorage) or 1-888-353-5752 (statewide) during the live broadcast (2:00 – 3:00pm)
- Send email to hometown@alaskapublic.org before, during or after the live broadcast (e-mails may be read on air)
- Post your comment or question below (comments may be read on air)
HOST: Kathleen McCoy
LIVE BROADCAST: Wednesday, March 19 2014. 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. (Alaska time)
REPEAT BROADCAST: Wednesday, March 19, 2014. 9:00 – 10:00 p.m. (Alaska time)
SUBSCRIBE: Get Hometown, Alaska updates automatically — via email, RSS or podcasts
