Divvy Savvy at Open Gov Hack Night

This is a guest post from our igniTech intern, Lissette Lagunas, who is joining us for the summer. Lissette will be writing about the different breakout groups at hack night, starting with Transportation.

How many of you use Divvy as your means of transportation? How many riders have ever had the issue of stations being empty when you need it or full when you want to return it? At Open Gov Hack Night, the Transportation Breakout Group discussed these issues to find solutions for smooth riding. Open Gov Hack Night happens every Tuesday starting at 6 pm at 1871,  located on the 12th floor at 222 W. Merchandise Mart Plaza.

Divvy bike sharing station
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Environmental Group at OpenGov Hack Night

This summer, Smart Chicago Collaborative is participating in the IgniteTech Summer Program. Smart Chicago Interns Jessica Waller and Lissette Lagunas will be attending the OpenGov Hack Nights and writing about the different breakout groups. – Dan O’Neil

Environmental Group at OpenGov Hack Night

Many people already in the technology industry or wanting to join the industry come together for a presentation and a breakout group every Tuesday night from 6pm to  8pm at the Merchandise Mart plaza in downtown Chicago, Illinois. This group is all about  the environment ,things that happen in the environment and the different cause and effects done in the environment.

Environment Group-Scott Beslow

Recycle

Breaking Out

At the end of hack night presentations, people break out into different groups to work. Scott Beslow leads these sessions but everybody has a part. Anybody can join this group but they have to be willing to consistently show up to the group. Environmentalists must have the will power due to always having a task to do. The group does insists on everybody joining the group to at  least get an idea of how you are able to help the City of Chicago.

Running the Training

Environmentalists get started by introducing themselves by their names and what they feel needs fixed in the Environment. Everybody has the free will to talk, give their own inputs and ask questions. Here is one resource that Scott Beslow gave out several times to the Environment Group it is called the NOAA  quality controlled local climate  data base.

What the Environment group learned this week

Chicago Deep Tunnel Project header
This week during the session, the Group updated all new-comers on what exactly the Environment group does and what it stands for and believes in. Scott Beslow explains that there are separate programs in the group that are currently in progress. The newest of the 2 projects is the Recycling Program, this program attracts many people but unfortunately it is so organized that new-comers have nowhere to go. Everybody has a task in the recycling program. On the other hand, the Sewage Program, the oldest of the 2 programs, always has places for new-comers to go.Many people are looking forward to going back to OpenGov Hacknight and joining the Environment Group and finding out what they plan to do and what they have already achieved in doing to better the City of Chicago and its Environment.

To get involved

If you would like to join us for a way to communicate with others and learn new ways of advancing your experience in cleaning up the environment and City of Chicago in many different ways, please check out our website for a way to sign up. The Environment Group will be looking forward to seeing you.

Smart Chicago + IgniTech Summer Program

Over the summer, Smart Chicago has been hosting two young people as part of the Youth Service Project’s IgniTech Summer Youth Employment Program.  The goal of this program is

“is to provide youth with meaningful experiences in the Technology work sector, both in training and awareness to prepare them for future opportunities in their academic and professional future.”

ignitech

Youth Service Project runs multiple youth-based programs in the greater Humboldt Park community. Through this 10 week program, Youth Service Project will offer

“supportive services to 20 ‘out of school youth,’ ages 16-24, who live in the Greater Humboldt Park community.  Each youth will receive $9 an hour for 20 hours of career readiness training, 36 hours of technology education, 36 hours of technology exploration activities, and hours of a technology employment experience, for a total of 210 hours.”

Interning at Smart Chicago

Lissette and Jessica have been with Smart Chicago for up to 15 hours a week to help with different projects. We have an interest is being open and flexible to ideas that they bring to us about the projects they want to participate in during their 10 week program. Tasks that they will be helping with includes:

  • Through the Chicago School of Data project Smart Chicago hopes to develop a collaborative  framework and tools for improving connections across the Chicago data ecosystem. Duties for this project could include:
    • Help create an inventory of data collecting and visualization tools that will be useful to organizations participating in this project
    • Other project tasks including research and collection of information
  • Assist with OpenGov Hack Nights (every Tuesday from 5:00 – 8:00) and other Meetup events:
    • Work with Christopher Whitaker, Smart Chicago Consultant, to ensure event is setup and runs smoothly
    • Create content about events, including social media, live-streaming, blog posts, etc
  • Assist with Civic User Testing Group in terms of analysis, tests, and proctoring, as needed
  • Contribute to the Hive Mapping Cooperative, an effort to provide teens the ability to collect, manage, analyze, visualize, and share geo-referenced data through open source software. Duties may include:
    • Document youth using open source software, including challenges or successes
    • Help to create a survey to gather information on programs
  • Contribute to other projects and tasks as needed or of interest as indicated by youth

We are excited to have Lissette and Jessica join us  this summer– they have been a great addition to the team!

interns-2014

300 Videos and Counting: A Treasure Trove of Civic Innovation

One of the most important things we do here at Smart Chicago is to document.

With our latest upload, we’ve hit 300 videos on our Smart Chicago YouTube Channel. We’ve got hours of video about the #CivicSummer program, the CUTGroup, and our how-to videos. We also have recordings of civic technology events in Chicago including OpenGov Hack Night, OpenGov Chicago, and the Connect Chicago Meetups.

newsmartyoutubechannel

We now live stream all of our events straight from our YouTube Channel. Don’t miss a thing—  can subscribe to our channel here.

Join Your Colleagues as an Admin of Connect Chicago

One of our favorite programs here is Connect Chicago, the meetups we hold that help create a community of shared learning in the hundreds of public computer centers and community technology centers here in Chicago. Consider joining!

The Connect Chicago website is a listing of more than 250 places in Chicago where you can use a computer for free. If you work at one of these locations, you can sign up to be an admin for your page.

Here’s a list of all admins to date— 58 out of 260 locations and counting!

A Knock At Midnight
Altgeld Library
Archer Heights Library
ARK of St. Sabina
Arturo Velasquez Institute (AVI)
Association House of Chicago
Auburn Gresham Senior Satellite Center
Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council CTC
Bezazian Library
Breakthrough Urban Ministries
Bucktown-Wicker Park Library
Catholic Bishop of Chicago/St. Sabina ERC
Center for Changing Lives
Center of Higher Development – Lake Grove
Center of Higher Development – Magnolia
Center on Halsted
Charles Hayes Center
Chatham Business Association, Small Business Development, Inc.
Chicago Commons ETC
Community Job Training and Education Center
Community Job Training and Education Center
Douglass Library
Edgewater Library
Garfield Ridge Satellite Senior Center
Goodwill Industries Job Training Center
Greater Southwest Development Corporation
Harold Washington Library-HWLC
Howard Area Community Center
Indo-American Center
Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago (ICNC) Community Technology Center
Instituto Del Progreso
Jane Addams Resource Corporation
Kelly Hall YMCA
Kennedy-King College
Kennedy-King College
Lake Parc Place
Little Village Library
Lumity
Malcolm X College
Mather’s-More Than a Café (Higgins)
Mercy Housing- South Loop
Onward Neighborhood House
NEBC ( neighborhood empowerment for a better community )
Poder Learning Center
Renaissance Court at the Chicago Cultural Center
Roosevelt Library
Second Sense Beyond Vision Loss Technology Center (Access limited to people with vision loss)
SER Central States Little Village Center
GSDC Southwest REACH Center
Spanish Coalition for Housing
Spanish Coalition for Housing
Street-Level Youth Media Center
The Cara Program (West Loop Campus)
Metropolitan Family Services 63rd Street Corridor Center for Working Families
Metropolitan Family Services 63rd Street Corridor Center for Working Families
The Renaissance Collaborative
Whitney M. Young, Jr. Library
YWCA Parks Francis Community Technology Center

Chicago School of Data Interview: Illinois Sentencing Advisory Council

Next up in our Chicago School of Data interview series is the Illinois Sentencing Advisory Council (ISAC). The ISAC is a government agency created to collect, analyze and present data from all relevant sources to more accurately determine the consequences of sentencing policy decisions and to review the effectiveness and efficiency of current sentencing policies and practices.

Illinois State Capitol

Adam Garcia spoke with Nate Steinfeld who serves as Research Director for the ISAC about what the organization does and how they use data. Andrew Seeder did the transcription and pulled together threads, then Christopher Whitaker put together this post.

If you like what you’re learning here, consider joining us at the Chicago School of Data Days on September 19 and 20, 2014.

Eventbrite - Chicago School of Data Days

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