Free Spirit Media Documakers Technology Session at Tribeca Flashpoint

Today Jacqui Cheng and I talked with the #CivicSummer youth working as Documakers for Free Spirit Media about open technology as it pertains to the media industry. We talked about the building blocks of the web and some specific technologies and standards that help media makers do their jobs.

Here’s a complete set of photos and some representative images:

Jacqui talked about different social networks and how they can be used to spread messages and find content:

Jacqui Cheng speaking to Free Spirit Media DocuMakers at Tribeca Flashpoint Academy for #civicsummer

The huge monitors and great equipment at Tribeca provides a great basis for the youth as they make their media pieces:

Free Spirit Media DocuMakers at Tribeca Flashpoint Academy for Smart Chicago Collaborative's #civicsummer

4 days after Divvy launch, an app prototype and an API presented at OpenGov Hack Night

Lots of Divvy bikes lined up on Daley Plaza on the eve of the launch of Divvy Chicago

 

Just four days after the launch of the Divvy Bike Sharing program, Chicago’s civic technology community had already put together a prototype app and an API using bike share data.

Chicago OpenGov Hack Night played host to representatives from both Alta Bicycles (The company that manages Divvy) and the Chicago Department of Transportation to talk about the new bike share program and the data that’s available.

divvydatascreenshot

 

A screenshot of the raw data obtained from the Divvy website.

The first data set, available at (http://divvybikes.com/stations/json), gives information on real-time usage statistics and availability of bikes per station.

This data set reflects the same format from other bike share systems across the globe. This enabled Chicago’s data to be merged into other bike apps such as Oliver O’Brian’s Global Bike Share Map.

globalbikeshareview
 

Locally, Ian Dees and Steve Vance have been hard at work building applications with this new data set. They have put together google document  that contains a list of resources for the civic innovation community who are interested in working with bike share data. Dees has built an API that makes it easier to access the bike data. Vance has already taken advantage of this API to provide bike share information in his Chicago Bike Guide. (As a reminder, this was presented to OpenGov Hack Night just FOUR DAYS after the launch of Divvy.)

Steve Vance and Ian Dees discuss apps that are built using bike share data

Daniel Gohlke from Alta bikes answered questions about the in and outs of the data as well as plans to release information on the most active routes and where people are biking. Gohlke’s stated that in most cities this data is released quarterly, but if CDOT wants to release this data at an increased frequency that it should be possible.

Daniel explains about the data provided by the Divvy system
Question and answer session with representatives from Divvy and CDOT

Given that Divvy was only launched for a little over 2 weeks ago, we’re excited about what’s to come in terms of potential uses for this data. John Tolva, Chief Technology Officer for Chicago, would like to see data from different transportation systems integrated into a single app:

“The speed with which our civic innovation community seized on Divvy data gives me great hope that a truly multi-model, hyperlocal journey planning service — across cabs, public transit, shared bikes — can be assembled fairly easily. Most of the data is there. All that’s needed is an intelligent stitching-together.”

For those interested in working on bike share data, you’re invited to attend the next OpenGov Hack Night – every Tuesday at 6:00pm inside 1871.

#CivicSummer Custom Session on Open Technology with the Mikva Aldermanic Fellows

Today Jacqui Cheng and I hosted the Mikva Aldermanic Fellows (“30 youth interning in Chicago aldermanic offices this summer. We are working to bring a larger voice to youth across the city.”) at the Chicago Community Trust.

Here’s a complete set of photos and some highlights of what we covered:

Jacqui reviewed the basics of the Internet, including TCP/IP, as a platform for talking about how open technology and standards can pave the way for innovation:

#CivicSummer Session with Mikva Challenge Aldermanic Fellows

The Trust board room, with its nearly 100-year history of Chicago leadership, provided a great setting for our session:

#CivicSummer Session with Mikva Challenge Aldermanic Fellows

The Aldermanic Fellows are staffed all across the city and come together periodically to share experiences:

#CivicSummer Session with Mikva Challenge Aldermanic Fellows

Vint Cerf looks on as Jacqui enlightens:

#CivicSummer Session with Mikva Challenge Aldermanic Fellows

I covered lots of examples of civic technology that helps Aldermen serve constituents, including Open311 and the yet-to-be published Chicago Works For You.

DXO and the Mikva Aldermanic Fellows

Here’s the presentation we used to guide our time together:

Civic Innovation Summer Aldermanic Interns Curriculum from Daniel X. O’Neil