As the submission deadline has passed, we've been taking a look at the entries. You should too. They're really great. In total, we edged out our first Apps for America by just a few entries, ending up with 47 entries.
Continue readingApp for America Deadline a few hours away
We're having an exciting time watching great apps come in -- some great stuff! Remember, get your apps in before midnight pacific time today if you want to qualify! As they come in, we're going to vet them and make sure they qualify for the basic rules of the contest, then open it up for judging by our judges over the weekend.
The entries look great so far!
Continue readingOur Fifth Judge
I'm happy to announce our fifth and final judge in Apps for America 2 the Data.gov Challenge: Cyrus Krohn. Cyrus the Director of Local Programming at Microsoft and former Director of the Republican National Committee's e-Campaign Division during the 2008 election cycle. He was Slate magazine's first employee and launched the groundbreaking webzine in 1996. He brings a unique perspective of having both worked in politics, and worked with local data. We're happy to have him participating as the fifth and final judge.
So, there you have it-- you can follow all the judges on twitter, too:
Continue readingTen Great Government Web Sites
Joab Jackson at Government Computer News has, for the second year in a row, pulled together a compendium of 10... View Article
Continue readingThis Week in Transparency – July 24, 2009
Here are some of the more interesting media mentions of Sunlight and our friends and allies over the past week:... View Article
Continue readingThis Week in Transparency – July 17, 2009
Here are a few of the more interesting media mentions of Sunlight and our friends and allies from the week:... View Article
Continue readingData.gov is great
Yesterday, ReadWriteWeb posted a story titled Data.gov to Face a Challenger From Sunlight Labs. I've actually been asked a few times questions along the same lines: "Does this mean you're giving up on Data.gov?"
Ask OpenSecrets if they've given up on the FEC or ask Weather.com if they've given up on the National Weather Service. The answer is quite the opposite: we're only able to do the catalog because of Data.gov. Without it, Government wouldn't be investing in and publishing its own data to add to our catalog. We're doing what you're supposed to: build on the shoulders of giants.
In addition, this project, like Apps for America 2, helps to ensure the success and longevity of Data.gov. And who knows, maybe we can help influence the features and functionality of Data.gov while we're on the way.
Continue readingKickoff: The National Data Catalog
Sometimes you can get inspired by government. In our field it happens more than you'd think. Obviously all our new tools-- new things like TransparencyCorps and Congrelate along with CapitolWords have been inspired by government to a degree, but there aren't many ideas that we've actually stolen from government.
Continue readingWhy Government Spends So Much on Software and Employees
As the person in the world that is least likely to become a government contractor, I will publicly state the obvious. Government spends a lot of money on software. $8.5 million is the price tag for Recovery.gov which is reasonable given what the Government is asking for. The White House Content Management System has a 16 Million contract on it. Or how about the 15 million dollars various agencies have spent this year on Sharepoint.
Continue readingApps for America 2 Update
With just under a month to go, I thought I'd introduce to you Judge #4 of Apps for America 2: The Data.gov Challenge. Her name is Allyson Kapin, she's the founder of Women Who Tech and Rad Campaign. It is great to have her on board the judging team.
Like I said, there's just a month left to enter the contest. So get building. What we're doing is really important: if we are able to show Government what kind of innovation exists outside its walls, we may be able to create new change on the inside.
We have one more judge to announce soon, but get cracking!
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