{"id":1814,"date":"2015-06-17T16:44:36","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T16:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=1814"},"modified":"2015-06-17T17:24:06","modified_gmt":"2015-06-17T17:24:06","slug":"civic-hacking-why-does-it-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/civic-hacking-why-does-it-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Civic Hacking: Why does it matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Facebook Like Button v1.9.6 BEGIN [http:\/\/blog.bottomlessinc.com] -->\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Finspiredtoeducate.net%2Finspiredtoeducate%2Fcivic-hacking-why-does-it-matter%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height: 30px; align: left; margin: 2px 0px 2px 0px\"><\/iframe>\n<!-- Facebook Like Button END -->\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/hack4change.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1450\" src=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/hack4change.jpg\" alt=\"Hack for change picuture\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/hack4change.jpg 640w, http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/hack4change-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Civic hacking has become a potent movement for engaging coders, designers, and technology professionals in challenges that matter to the community. \u00a0 Computer hacking tends to have a negative connotation. \u00a0Some call civic hacking &#8220;hacking gone good&#8221; since it&#8217;s really about community service and place making.<\/p>\n<p>I had the good fortune to participate in the <a href=\"http:\/\/hackforchange.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">National Day of Civic hacking<\/a> on June 6th at <a href=\"http:\/\/sparkmacon.com\" target=\"_blank\">SparkMacon MakerSpace<\/a>. \u00a0I want to give a shout out to the organizations that made the event possible: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tagonline.org\/chapters-and-societies\/middle-georgia\/\" target=\"_blank\">TAG Middle Georgia<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/lbaware.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">LBA Ware<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.infinitynetworks.net\/\" target=\"_blank\">Infinity Network Solutions<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spinen.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Spinen<\/a>. \u00a0 I especially want to thank the team that organized the event\u00a0for their investment of time in organizing challenge mentors, making people feel welcome, and supporting our makers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hackForChange.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1414\" src=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hackForChange.jpg\" alt=\"Hack For Change\" width=\"374\" height=\"374\" srcset=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hackForChange.jpg 374w, http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hackForChange-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hackForChange-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hackForChange-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 374px) 100vw, 374px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Some argue that civic hackathons have little value since it&#8217;s rare to find apps that find their way into full implementation and \u00a0achieve impact. \u00a0I, however, feel that civic hackathons offer our communities a number of benefits.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Building a tribe change makers:<\/strong> It&#8217;s great to meet like mind technologists who care about making a positive impact\u00a0in their community. \u00a0Hackathons enable you to meet new people, make connections, and learn about the deeper needs of your area. \u00a0Through the experience, you learn about new tools, practices, and strategies for doing rapid prototyping.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Local Data, Local Impact:<\/strong> Democracy only works when citizens are engaged. \u00a0 I appreciate that the civic hacking movement helps us to learn about local concerns and empowers us to do something about it. \u00a0Being a geek about data, it&#8217;s also fascinating to learn about the <a href=\"http:\/\/data.gov\" target=\"_blank\">open government API&#8217;s and data sources<\/a>\u00a0that can support civic apps.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Voting with your code:<\/strong>\u00a0It&#8217;s interesting to see what problems makers care about. \u00a0 In a typical hackathon, there&#8217;s a broad range of issues, data and topics to choose. \u00a0The team tends to select projects based on skill level, their engagement in the topic, and challenge difficulty.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Building a community of support:<\/strong> During our hackathon event, it was cool to see how different teams mentored and supported each other. \u00a0Everyone has different strengths in terms of design or technology. \u00a0 I can honestly say that everyone learned from each other. \u00a0 In our hackathon in Macon, it was nice to see the experienced hackers\u00a0mentoring\u00a0the new developers and helping them\u00a0feel welcome.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In our hackathon in Macon, GA, one team created an mobile app serving Peace corp team members to help them to know about safety and security alerts as they travel to various countries. \u00a0 Another team of hackers helped propose and prototype applications that would help high school students with learning vocabulary for SAT\/ACT .<\/p>\n<p>We had some important discussions on the real impact of hackathons. \u00a0 In general, how do we care, feed, market, and grow various hackathon ideas? \u00a0How do you care for the hacks from a software maintenance point of view? \u00a0How do you intentionally organize the challenge ideas and data sets? \u00a0The team from Spinen made some strong arguments for making a home for these concerns. \u00a0I&#8217;m interested in seeing how this idea can grow.<\/p>\n<p>Are you interested in contributing a challenge problem for future hackathons for SparkMacon Makerspace? \u00a0Feel free to contribute your ideas here:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/1LGo6bzOCwrqQPAP5dIpw3XXEhT1qJd--USaEVX741Os\/viewform\" target=\"_blank\">Submit a hackathon challenge idea to SparkMacon<\/a><\/p>\n<p>To help contribute to this conversation locally for Middle Georgia, I have compiled most of the challenge problems, data, resources, and links from previous SparkMacon hackathons and HackForChange events. \u00a0At a minimum, it would be cool to create a backlog of challenge ideas that can be used in future Middle Georgia hackathons and SparkMacon Open Make events.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1c7flTjoif0EC6fvbVBFTszQfAI0BFZdNXzkDNrMUHAs\/edit?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\">Middle Georgia Civic Hacking Projects and Resources<\/a><\/p>\n<p>To close, here&#8217;s some links sharing the impact of civic hacking in communities. \u00a0 I think it&#8217;s work that matters. \u00a0 I believe it&#8217;s a cool way to innovate our communities and create engagement. \u00a0 What do you think?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.codeforamerica.org\/apps\/\" target=\"_blank\">Code for America Apps<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.codeforamerica.org\/brigade\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.codeforamerica.org\/brigade\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/hackforchange.org\/challenges\/\" target=\"_blank\">HackForChange Challenge Problems<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.codeforamerica.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/08\/hackforchange2015\/\" target=\"_blank\">Impact of HackForChange 2015<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/technical.ly\/2015\/06\/09\/6-awesome-projects-years-national-day-civic-hacking\/\" target=\"_blank\">6 Awesome Projects from National Day of Civic Hacking<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Top Stories on InspiredToEducate.NET<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Learning To Code<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=1319\">Easy Data Visualization with Google Charts and JavaScript<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=795\">Learn to Build Your Own Conversational Bot using ChatScript<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a 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ScriptCraftJS<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<!-- Facebook Like Button v1.9.6 BEGIN [http:\/\/blog.bottomlessinc.com] -->\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Finspiredtoeducate.net%2Finspiredtoeducate%2Fcivic-hacking-why-does-it-matter%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height: 30px; align: left; margin: 2px 0px 2px 0px\"><\/iframe>\n<!-- Facebook Like Button END -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Civic hacking has become a potent movement for engaging coders, designers, and technology professionals in challenges that matter to the community. \u00a0 Computer hacking tends to have a negative connotation. \u00a0Some call civic hacking &#8220;hacking gone good&#8221; since it&#8217;s really about community service and place making. I had the good [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,6,24,17,18,16,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1814"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1816,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814\/revisions\/1816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}