Category Archives: New Media

Got an app idea to help students get to College? Here’s the contest for you!

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I love this idea from the US Department of Education. I hope to see some Minnesota names among the winning app developers. As someone who is looking at college for kids in a few years, I hope someone creates an app to find the best financing for students!

In effort to inspire students to pursue an education beyond high school, First Lady Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher Initiative and the U.S. Department of Education (ED) launched the Reach Higher Career App Challenge to promote the development of mobile apps that will help students navigate education and career pathways, including career and technical education (CTE). …

OCTAE is eager to see the innovative solutions that our nation of solvers will bring to the challenge. The submissions period was opened on October 7, 2015 and closes on December 7. The challenge enables developers, educators and data mavens to compete for a share of the $225,000 cash prize pool.

You can find all the information about the Reach Higher Career App Challenge on Challenge.gov and enter the challenge at ReachHigherChallenge.com.

Increased broadband providers led to increase in hate crimes

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I debated about sharing this not-great news about broadband, but it seemed like an opportunity to promote digital and information literacy. According to EurekAlert…

New research from Carlson School of Management Professor Jason Chan and NYU Stern Professors Anindya Ghose and Robert Seamans finds that broadband availability increased the incidence of racial hate crimes committed by lone-wolf perpetrators in the United States during the period 2001-2008. The addition of a single broadband provider led to as much as a 20 percent rise in racial hate crimes in areas where racial tensions were especially high.

Ouch! There were a number of other factors that also contributed to the rise – broadband does seem to play a role. The research indicates that broadband had little effect on recruitment efforts of known hate groups – but seemed to embolden the lone wolves as the excerpt above notes.

One issue is that people can really hone the news and information that they choose to receive online. One preventative measure might be digital literacy training and public service announcements. In library school I took a whole class in how to teach people to qualify resources, to understand authorship, ownership and purpose. We can start in the schools where the audience is captive but it seems like there’s a need to reach a broader audience too. The goal would be to recognize information versus option as well as to understand hate speech.

Another preventative measure is to combat the messages of hate with messages of tolerance or appreciation of diversity. Now granted that’s difficult because as I just said, each user can really filter the information we get online but maybe we go offline to address the issue.

One interesting aspect of the research is that they found that this wasn’t true in all communities and in researching the different communities they found that the ones with elevated hate crimes had searched for racially charged phrases. Ars Technica explains…

However, one major factor altered the relationship between rising broadband access and rising hate crimes. “Counties that have higher racial tendencies tend to have a higher effect,” study co-author Jason Chan said in a phone interview with Ars Technica. Meaning, if a county has more population segregation by race, added broadband correlated with a much higher rate of hate crime. The same was true if a county’s Internet users searched for more racially charged phrases online—often with the words “hate” or “jokes” attached. If not, then the impact, while present, was far less significant.

It seems like that information might be useful to pinpoint communities that could use help fighting hate crime. We could use the technology to find those communities and as an early warning system to future. That’s where to focus prevention efforts.

It also opens a Pandora’s Box of using search results (in aggregate or honed) by geography to get a snapshot of what’s going on in a community. Wouldn’t it be fun to know who is Minnesota is searching for broadband?

Willmar Hack2.o: apps for bikes, fires, encrypted email and zebra mussels

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grouppicOver the weekend I attended the Hack2.o in Willmar. It was hosted by WorkUp (a coworking space in the area), Kandiyohi EDC, Ridgewater College, Minnwest College and the Blandin Foundation. Many of the attendees had a connection to the local college, some were tech-interested residents and a few of us came from out of town – the Twin Cities and Iowa.

While there are similarities, each hack I attend has its own personality – especially in a rural area. The gist remains the same – to gather folks who are interested in developing technology to solution specific problems. Often there’s a civic slant and that was the case in Willmar. People came with ideas on how technology could solve local issues and four teams formed to solve the following:

  • How can I receive, save and store encrypted email in a way that keeps the contents private to the email provider?
  • How can we reduce “false” fire alarms by helping citizens tell fire departments that they are going to build a campfire?
  • How can we better manage and monitor our local, free bike share program?
  • How can we keep lakes clean by helping people identify, report and remove zebra mussels and other invasive species?

I’ll include the PowerPoints and videos from the event below and just share some high level notes. First, the event was really fun. It’s so nice to see a roomful of people who are willing (happy even!) to give up a weekend to work on projects to make their communities better. Technology is inspiring greater civic participation! Some people are passionate about an idea. Some people want to code. Some people want to practice what they are learning. (I used to be the librarian for the National Service-Learning Library so I love that doing to learn aspect.) I think the draw of techies is obvious.

The draw for non-techies is less obvious but in the land of the coders, someone who can manage a project, create a flowchart, write, present or cheerlead becomes pretty valuable. If in your real world you work (or want to work) with tech folks, I think it would be a valuable exercise in how techies collaborate. There is a lot of brainstorming, a lot of talking things through, a lot of charts. This weekend, there weren’t a lot of egos. There was a lot of listening and a lot of mutual learning. If a hack event comes to your town and you’re interested but feel you aren’t that technical – come and see what you have to offer.

On a community level, I think the draw has obvious and less obvious benefits. First, I think all of these projects will continue. So Willmar has four new tools in their arsenal. Second, a handful of us came to town. A larger handful went out, bought drinks, had a good time and would come back. Connections were made. I know I’ll stay in touch with a few – even if only via LinkedIn or Twitter but the human network is there. More importantly the local tech community got a chance to build a rapport. They have learned together and I suspect will continue to do so.

Often when we talk about digital inclusion or digital training we think about the elementary level, such as showing seniors how to use email or an iPad. But it’s important to seed the training at the graduate level too, such as learning to use Python for digital recognition. For a community the investment is having the space, hosting the event, getting people to the door. Willmar has a great space – it was nice to see it get used and I think an event like this draws in more people.

Continue reading →

Social Media Rockstar Event: Sept 16 at Jackpot Junction (Morton MN)

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I have heard great things about this event in the past…

The Social Media Rockstar Event is a one day conference featuring the best in social media and digital marketing experts. The Redwood Falls and Willmar Social Media Breakfast Groups bring the best of the social media marketing community to our backyard, rural Minnesota.

2015 Rockstar event on September 16th, 2015 at Jackpot Junction Casino Hotel Meeting and Event Center in Morton, MN.

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the speakers…

Rockstar Speaker Presentations

Without further ado…here are the rockin’ session topics. Click on each presentation to learn more.

Jason Falls – Digital StrategistMining for Gold: How Discovering Insights Through Social Data Can Explode Your Business with Jason Falls

Most marketing campaigns are developed around guesswork. The brand or agency in question makes broad assumptions about audiences and their behaviors because qualitative market research is often cost prohibitive. But thanks to social technologies, every marketer now has access to cost effective consumer research — that of online conversations — that can uncover the important insights that drive your customers to engage and even purchase.In this exploration of social listening and monitoring techniques, Jason Falls will explain the difference in monitoring versus listening, show examples of insights gained by analyzing online conversations and illustrate how you, too, can take the guesswork out of digital and even broad scale marketing campaigns.

Marcus Sheridan – The Sales LionThe Digital Consumer: How Today’s Buyer Has Changed and What Your Business Must Do About It with Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion

More than any other time in the last 100 years, the buyer of today has made a dramatic shift in the way they make purchasing decisions. Unfortunately, many companies haven’t adapted to this shift and are ill prepared for the continual evolution of this “digital consumer.” In this talk, Marcus Sheridan brings clarity to the way buyers have changed and exactly what companies must do to not only align themselves with this shift in buyer patterns, but take advantage of the digital age as well.

If you like to be engaged, challenged, and moved—You’ll love this keynote with Marcus Sheridan!

And a few sessions specifically on agriculture…

Wanda PatscheHow to use the Power of Social Media in Agriculture with Wanda Patsche

Learn how to use social media as a platform to bridge the disconnection between agriculture and consumers. Learn why using social media in agriculture is both different and similar compared to other businesses. And learn why it’s imperative for all farmers to become involved in social media. Audience members will be shown what key messages work with consumers and how to use those messages in various social media channels.

Moo, Oink, Gobble: Calling Attention to Agriculture Online with Michael Crusan

This presentation discusses the obstacles both agriculture and government experience when trying to engage an online audience.  If your social media accounts are meant more for education and outreach, you need a strong plan to capture attention.  Whether posting for your peers or wading into a new online audience, you’ll learn different approaches to ignite your platform.  Plus, we’ll discuss how to handle negative and critical responses online.

Martin County students create tourism app for the county

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KEYC (and Fairmont Sentinel) report on a fun program supported by the Blandin Foundation…

Martin County Recorder Kay Wrucke says, “What they are doing is creating an app for the Martin County website to be used and it covers sites and spots in Martin County to come, if a visitor come in or even Martin County residents.”

The creation of the app is being used as a learning opportunity to teach high school students how to program applications through programs available online.

App Camp Instructor Laurie Aaronson says, “Teach the students not only to be consumers of technology, but to also be developers.”

Eleven students are taking part in the eight–day camp, which wrapped up today.

It was made possible through a grant the county received.

In addition to app for the county, they are also given the tools to create apps of their own.

But the students are using what they learned as a stepping–stone for their future.

Student James Hodge says, “It will look good on college applications and it is a good thing to know for yourself and teach others.”

Imagine if you sent a text to your local government – and they read it?

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There are at least three things I love about this story

  1. It takes place in Minnesota
  2. It’s a project that started out at a Code for America event
  3. It’s a way that technology can increased civic engagemen

The details come from Minneapolis St Paul Business Journal …

GovDelivery has acquired Textizen, a Philadelphia-based startup that lets government agencies communicate with the public through text messaging.

St. Paul-based GovDelivery didn’t disclose terms of the deal.

Government agencies can use Textizen to send texts containing surveys, event reminders, project updates and other notifications. It also allows governments to receive and analyze messages sent by residents.

The company previously participated in nonprofit Code for America’s incubator program, which funds and mentors government-technology startups.

“The Textizen team has demonstrated that it can use interactive text messaging technology and creative problem solving to help improve government and engage citizens,” GovDelivery CEO and founder Scott Burns said in a news release. “Textizen’s capabilities allow us to help government succeed in the critical area of driving individuals to take action.”

My secret wish – GovDeilvery hired the Textizen staff (that is true) and they moved to the Twin Cities and infused new enthusiasm, skills and experience into the local civic coding scene!

Social media bridges gap between weekly rural newspapers and news

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According to the Rural Blog…

Rural areas typically only served by a weekly newspaper are seeing an increase in Facebook pages that offer up-to-the-minute local media alerts, Able Allen reports for Mountain Xpress in Asheville. In the past year in rural Western North Carolina, “almost a dozen local alert pages (some with affiliated websites) have cropped up in various rural counties in the region, and some are already attracting followers in numbers comparable to the established print outlets’ circulation figures.”

The local shift reflects a national trend, with a Pew Research Center study saying 30 percent of adults say they get their news from Facebook, Allen writes. The difference in rural areas is that the news is localized, mostly concerning traffic, weather, Amber alerts, arrest reports and information about public events and meetings.

Social media (Facebook, Twitter even an online blog) seems like a natural fit to keep rural areas in the know between editions of a weekly newspaper. It’s something worth considering if your community doesn’t have an online news channel. It’s free, which is almost a necessity. (I am on the board of an online newspaper in the Twin Cities. I know newspapers can be tough to sustain.) It just relies on people reporting the story.

There may be some decision making there. Do you allow anyone to post news? Or do you continue with the newspaper model and find an editor to post or at least approve/disapprove citizen input. I suspect the answer will be different for different communities.

Webinar Archive: Free Blandin Webinar July 9: Creative Spaces, Creative Places

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Thanks to everyone who participated in the webinar this week. Below is the archive, description and PPTs.

Does broadband promote creativity? Not alone it doesn’t but it can be an ingredient that spurs or supports a community effort. You also need people to make it happen. In this webinar we’ll hear from people who have promoted creativity in their community at least in some part through technology. We’ll learn about what they are doing, how they started it and what it has meant to the community.

Matthew Marcus and Aaron Deacon on Kansas City Startup Village: A community situated around the first neighborhood to get Google Fiber in KC but built by local entrepreneurs to be fertile ground to grow startups from KC and beyond. They community grew organically as if something was in the air. Hear their story and think about how we can replicate that here.

Fred Underwood on Duluth Maker Space: A sustainable multi-field community workshop for local artists, inventors, experimentors, teachers, learners (Makers!) of all ages. It opened last Fall. They have classes available and open space with cool tools for folks who want to use them.  Imagine a place in your community where makers can meet and collaborate.

Carla Lydon on East Central Regional Library: The library offers a range of services that make the library building a place to learn and use technology such as popular digital petting zoos, where patrons can get a chance to use various tablets. They also provide a range of remote services that make everyone in the community more creative – no matter where they are locates.

Free Blandin Webinar July 9: Creative Spaces, Creative Places

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Free Blandin Webinar
July 9 at 3:00-4:00
Register!

Does broadband promote creativity? Not alone it doesn’t but it can be an ingredient that spurs or supports a community effort. You also need people to make it happen. In this webinar we’ll hear from people who have promoted creativity in their community at least in some part through technology. We’ll learn about what they are doing, how they started it and what it has meant to the community.

Matthew Marcus and Aaron Deacon on Kansas City Startup Village: A community situated around the first neighborhood to get Google Fiber in KC but built by local entrepreneurs to be fertile ground to grow startups from KC and beyond. They community grew organically as if something was in the air. Hear their story and think about how we can replicate that here.

Fred Underwood on Duluth Maker Space: A sustainable multi-field community workshop for local artists, inventors, experimentors, teachers, learners (Makers!) of all ages. It opened last Fall. They have classes available and open space with cool tools for folks who want to use them.  Imagine a place in your community where makers can meet and collaborate.

[Just added 7/7/2015!] Carla Lydon on East Central Regional Library: The library offers a range of services that make the library building a place to learn and use technology such as popular digital petting zoos, where patrons can get a chance to use various tablets. They also provide a range of remote services that make everyone in the community more creative – no matter where they are locates.

Silicon Valley losing app ground to Korea – an open door to rural areas to compete?

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Over the weekend the NY Times ran an article on app development and use in Korea. The super quick take –

  • Korea creates better apps
  • the Korean market is a few years ahead of the US market for app use
  • Korea dumbs down apps to send to America because the US doesn’t have sufficient wireless broadband to use the apps
  • Americans don’t use phones to pay for things; Koreans do

There are two reasons I think the article is worth reading. The article explains why Americans like sinlge-purpose apps and Koreans use multipurpose apps. In part because the US lacks bandwidth to support multipupose apps…

Even when Korean firms don’t encounter technological issues, the design gulch can confound their attempts to lure American customers. In 2014, Doyon Kim was tasked with taking Band, a South Korean mobile-messaging app, to Silicon Valley. Band lets friends chat, plan outings, share video files, split bills and even conduct informal polls about where to go to dinner. Doyon Kim says that the sheer number of Band’s functions confused users who were not accustomed to performing all of those tasks within a single app.

So, our lack of broadband is dumbing us down and holding us back. It’s having an impact on how we interact with the world – not just making us slower but causing us to do things differently. And this is from the NY Times – imagine what the difference is in a rural community where just getting a signal can be a challenge!

The article also outlines what the US should consider to improve mobile app development, which would be a good market…

One thing Silicon Valley hopes to learn is how to get Americans to actually pay for things on their phones. …

Silicon Valley might also learn how to cater to more customers in more countries around the world. Most Korean companies have been internationally minded since their inception, aware of their own limitations: South Korea is such a small market that entrepreneurs are forced to consider how they might adapt to business abroad.

But without a more affordable, better mobile web, even the best new offerings from American entrepreneurs will be stuck in the past. Perhaps one of the biggest lessons Silicon Valley’s innovators should learn from South Korea is that to radically change how everyday people live their lives, they’ll need to convince their nation to invest in infrastructure, so that we can actually use the services they want to sell us.

One silver lining is the open field. Investors are looking outside of Silicon Valley. That could be good news for innovators in other areas – including communities in rural Minnesota. BUT we need the bandwidth to mimic the test case that the market experiences in Korea and other parts of the world. We can’t continue to aim at yesterday’s market and solve yesterday’s problems.

I am reminded of the Red Hot Hack in Red Wing in 2014. The winning app was one that previewed a PDF file in a matter of seconds (as opposed to the minute it takes to open a PDF reader). It’s simple but I’m sure many of us have rolled our eyes having to open several PDFs to find the right file. The judges asked the developer how hard it was (easy, he said) and why he hadn’t done it before. The answer? Because the bigger bottleneck is usually bandwidth, not computer speed. They have fiber in Red Wing, bandwidth isn’t a bottleneck, subsequently they are poised to solve current and future issues with current tools.

Maybe that’s the open door – to communities with fiber.

BCBP Mobile adds device functionality to county web portal

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big stoneBig Stone Country received funding from the Blandin Foundation to provide mobile functionality to their GIS application. Their goal was to create a mobile application that was platform neutral, allowing users to connect to our GIS application, Pictometry and credit card payment integration.

Here is their story of development:

Application development started mid 2013 but due to some development challenges, did not become production ready until February 2014. We started by providing the three county offices mentioned above with iPads to use in the field. Each office initially received one tablet to use and test while in the field. The Assessor’s office found that it was so helpful, they soon requested a second iPad. The Environmental Officer said that he uses the iPad app frequently and considers it an invaluable tool.

Our GIS vendor developed mobile maps compatible with an existing ESRI mobile app. Because the parent mobile app is actually developed by ESRI software, we were not able to track how many time the mobile application was downloaded and used. What I did to best track usage was put a counter on the county web site. Each time a user opened instructions for using the mobile app, our site kept count. Approximately one year after public deployment we have had 372 users view the instructions for using the mobile app. That is the closest I came to easily measuring our success with this app. We do know that our Environmental office has assisted hunters from out of town access and download the app.

You can access the County GIS site to download the app or access a web-friendly version.

Government apps developed through access to open data

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A couple of weeks ago someone asked me about government use of broadband. I’ve written in the past about some uses such as traffic control – especially in Dakota County. While I think that’s a great use of broadband, it’s not low hanging fruit; it requires a lot of investment, coordination and broadband. I wanted to come up with a list of applications that were easier to develop, deploy and frankly understand. I asked some friends at Smart Chicago, the Midwest hub for Code for America. They got me started and then I branched out to find more apps that might appeal to rural communities and local governments.

My secondary purpose is to create a list of potential projects for rural hack fests – maybe build a local appetite for holding rural hack fest (like the Red Hot Hack in Red Wing in March) and promote greater civic engagement.

app - flu shots

ChicagoFluShots.org – an interactive map of places to get flu shots, including hours open and noting free locations. If you allow the app to track your location, it will send you to the closest place to get your shot. The map application is hosted by the Smart Chicago Collaborative. The code behind this web application is free, open, and under a MIT License. If you can get info on flu shot locations in your town, you could replicate this map!

app - mrelief

mRelief – helps you check your eligibility for benefits in Chicago and Illinois. You answer a series of questions – it tells if you are a likely candidate for benefits. It is available in Spanish and via text messaging. The app was developed by an all-women team of developers and started at a hack fest type event. It’s an example of how developers can solve problems by talking to the frontlines. A description of the benefit of mRelief from their press release, “Before mRelief was integrated into the workflow of caseworkers at the King Center, Chicagoans were not preliminarily screened for benefits eligibility when seeking social services. mRelief’s questionnaire accounts for the requirements of several government benefits, including Medicaid and SNAP Benefits, so that staff can assist residents in need in a matter of minutes. Now applicants can rely on this quick pre-screen tool before taking valuable time to complete detailed application forms, gathering identifying documents, and waiting at the appropriate office for an interview.

app - mybuildingdoesntrecycle

MyBuildingDoesntRecycle – a website where you can report your landlord if the building doesn’t recycle. This is a nice example of an app making it easier for citizens to engage by telling them the law (in Chicago you must recycle if you have 5 or more residential units in one location) and providing a relatively easy way to report infractions. Part of the problem in Chicago is that the law isn’t enforced. This site helps report specific examples and provides information in aggregate so that policymakers and others can see magnitude of the problem. Again, this app was developed at a civic coding event and the code is available to others. Recycle may or may not be a big issue in some communities – but you could replace shoveling or mowing in place of recycling.

app - communitykc

CommunityKC – is another interactive map (you can see the similarity to other maps listed here) that shows community activities and projects tracked by location and type of project. The idea being that like projects in a community could collaborative and/or learn from each other. I could see this be a tool on a county-wide or regional scope in rural area both to encourage collaboration but also to reduce redundancies and fill gaps. The project was developed by volunteer software coders and web developers of the Kansas City Code for America Brigade. The Brigade meets every week to create digital apps that use public data fill a community need.

app - school bus

Where’s My School Bus – is a location information app allowing parents to track their child’s bus in real time. A student’s bus is displayed on a detailed map, showing both its recent and current location. This app is currently running in Boston, but the coding and infrastructure are available through the Code for America site. In fact there are a range of apps available and ready to be deployed locally on the Code for America site.

app - public art

Public Art Finder – helps users find public art through a mobile, map-based UI allowing them to view additional background information on individual artworks. Again, this comes from the Code for America site. It is my favorite app so far. It’s been deployed by a handful of big cities. I would love to see it developed on a county or statewide scope. I would be all over helping to make that happen in Minnesota!

Memex: like Google search but better

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Did you know that popular search engines only track about five percent of the content on the web? DARPA (the federal agency that developed the Internet) has apparently developed a search engine for the other 95 percent. According to InfoWorld…

Dan Kaufman, director of the information innovation office at DARPA, says Memex is all about making the unseen seen. “The Internet is much, much bigger than people think,” DARPA program manager Chris White told “60 Minutes.” “By some estimates Google, Microsoft Bing, and Yahoo only give us access to around 5 percent of the content on the Web.”

Google and Bing produce results based on popularity and ranking, but Memex searches content typically ignored by commercial search engines, such as unstructured data, unlinked content, temporary pages that are removed before commercial search engines can crawl them, and chat forums. Regular search engines ignore this deep Web data because Web advertisers — where browser companies make their money — have no interest in it.

Memex also automates the mechanism of crawling the dark, or anonymous, Web where criminals conduct business. These hidden services pages, accessible only through the TOR anonymizing browser, typically operate under the radar of law enforcement selling illicit drugs and other contraband. Where it was once thought that dark Web activity consisted of 1,000 or so pages, White told Scientific American that there could be between 30,000 and 40,000 dark Web pages.

As a librarian, I find this fascinating. It opens up so many research and ready reference doors. But is also means that we all really are producers as well as consumer of information – whether intentional and now the info we leave can be as valuable as the info we get…

In a demo for “60 Minutes,” White showed how Memex is able to track the movement of traffickers based on data related to online advertisements for sex. “Sometimes it’s a function of IP address, but sometimes it’s a function of a phone number or address in the ad or the geolocation of a device that posted the ad,” White said. “There are sometimes other artifacts that contribute to location.”

White emphasized that Memex does not resort to hacking in order to retrieve information. “If something is password protected, it is not public content and Memex does not search it,” he told Scientific American. “We didn’t want to cloud this work unnecessarily by dragging in the specter of snooping and surveillance” — a touchy subject after Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations.

Red Hot Hack March 21-22 in Red Wing MN

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red hot hackI am looking forward to the Second Annual Red Hot Hack…

We invite you to the 2nd annual Red Hot Hack.  Join us for a fun and collaborative event to help ignite innovation in our communities.

With representation from Red Wing Ignite, area investors, & local businesses.  Experience a weekend of idea generation, teamwork, networking, startup pitches, food and beverage. Participants will have access to our gigabit broadband internet and have the chance to develop their ideas on the “gig’s” infrastructure.

Learn from business mentors and entrepreneurs who are leading by example, establish new investor connections, and develop new technology to solve real world problems

The winner will present their idea at Demo Day in April at the Ignite Building in Red Wing.  The event is co-hosted by Mayo Clinic Business Accelerator and Red Wing Ignite.

Agenda:

Event starts at 8:30 am Saturday and goes until lunch on Sunday. Doors will be open all night for those teams that want to keep working. Winners will be announced during lunch on Sunday.

To learn more www.redwingignite.org/red-hot-hack

Hennepin County Geo:Code – Two upcoming open data/open gov/civic tech events

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I’m sharing this on hope that some folks can make it and so others might get some ideas to replicate…

Hennepin County and Open Twin Cities are proud to present Geo:Code; an open data code-a-thon hosted at Hennepin County Library – Minneapolis Central on Saturday, February 21st and Sunday February 22nd! This event is free and meals will be provided.

Transparency & Accessibility

Hennepin County is celebrating the first year of its Open GIS policy by taking part in International Open Data Day and Code for America’s CodeAcross. Residents are invited to explore government data, experiment with civic technologies, and collaborate with Hennepin County on solutions for problems facing your community. Inspired by civic technology principals, we’re excited to support the creation of a more transparent Hennepin County and information and services that are accessible to all residents.

Share Project Ideas and Data Requests

What issues and projects should teams work on at Geo:Code? What data do you want to see the county publish on its open data portal? Let us know at http://geocodehc.ideascale.com/.

Accessibility Jam

To support Geo:Coders who want an early start on their projects, MN.IT Services and Open Twin Cities are hosting a pre-event workshop on January 31st at the Minneapolis Central Library. Geo:Code Accessibility Jam will use Service Design to learn about accessibility and usability and their role in developing more effective civic technology and open data initiatives. Coming out of the Jam, you will be prepared to put what you’ve learned into practice at Geo:Code Code-a-thon, and will be familiar with a powerful process for creating technologies and services that are truly accessible to your users.

Where, When, and How

Location

Both events will be held at the Minneapolis Central Library – 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis,MN

Date & Time

  • The Geo:Code Code-a-thon will be February 21st and 22nd, 9am to 5 pm
  • The Geo:Code Accessibility Jam will be January 31st, 9am to 5pm

Participate

Follow and Tweet at @geocodehc and #geocodehc