Tomorrow morning Developers from Across the America will wake up ready to dedicate part of their weekend to making government data more available and accessible to the public. You Should Join Them. Here at Sunlight HQ, we'll be working on a bunch of different projects ranging from our own 50 State Project to the Voting Information Project. Out west, NASA employees are having an all-weekend hackathon at the Rainbow Mansion, freeing data from (dare I say it) SPACE!
Now is the time to sign up if you haven't already! This will be a really fun weekend. We'll also be online (we are now, actually so feel free to join us this afternoon if you'd like) on tinychat providing resources, data, and community to the people who need them. If you've already decided to join a hackathon in your area, that's great! When using twitter, flickr, et. al. remember to tag (or hashtag) your post #gah09.
If you haven't signed up, or there isn't an event happening in your area, not to worry you can still participate. Just join us in the chat or even better organize one today. And make sure to stay tuned to the blog throughout the day for new updates.
Continue readingIs There a Local Hackathon in Your Area?
Just two weeks after announcing the Great American Hackathon, there are a dozen events planned across the country. The great govtrack.us creator Josh Tauberer is organizing one in Philly. The big-data folks at Cloudera are hosting an event. ThoughtBot is holding one in Boston, as is Steven Clift in Minnesota. And there's a handful across the country too-- in towns like DC, Atlanta, and New York. Today, Mozilla announced that they were getting in on the fun.
This is a great opportunity not just to make a difference but to meet new friends. So if you're near one-- create an account and RSVP to an event. Plan on making a difference with your skills that weekend.
And if you're not-- now's your chance too! Start organizing and creating community in your neighborhood. Get developers together. Find them in your area. Reach out and start building a community to open up our government. Check out our organizing guide and start your own.
See you in person or virtually on December 12-13th!
Continue reading
59063
