Health

Kyla Williams promoted to Director of Operations

Smart Chicago

Kyla Williams has been promoted to Smart Chicago’s Director of Operations. Kyla has been an integral part of Smart Chicago’s work helping to manage our finances, contracts, and grants. Kyla also runs all of our health initiatives including the Chicago Health Atlas and the Smart Health Centers.

Smart Chicago will be taking on more projects in 2015 and Kyla’s new role will be to help manage all of our operations going forward and will continue to spearhead our health initiatives.

You can follow Kyla on Twitter at @SmartChgoKyla.

Launch of Chicago Health Atlas 3.0

Smart Chicago

Last week we launched our third major update to our Chicago Health Atlas project.  This is the most robust version of the Atlas released since its debut in 2012. The Atlas is funded and receives significant thought leadership from the Otho S. A. Sprague Memorial Institute. Sprague, and their Executive Director Jim Alexander, has shepherded this program for years.

Chicago Health Atlas, along with all of our other health products like Foodborne Chicago and Smart Health Centers, is managed by Smart Chicago Director of Operations Kyla Williams with lots of help from Program Coordinator Sonja Marziano.

Chicago Health Atlas 1.0

Chicago Health Atlas 1.0

The first version of the Atlas was a simple lookup tool for existing data. DataMade, a local firm that builds custom visualizations, deploys civic apps, and trains people to work with open data, has been an essential tech partner all the way through to this version. The site is based on the Derek Eder’s wildly influential and immensely useful Searchable Map Template. Derek was also important in helping me move from the Weave (Web-based Analysis and Visualization Environment) platform and set up a structure that met Smart Chicago’s vision for the site.

Last year we conducted a CUTgroup test on the Atlas and found that users were a little confused with the original navigation.

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Rakesh Dubbudu: My stay with Smart Chicago Collaborative

Smart Chicago

Editor’s Note: The following post is from our international fellow Rakesh Dubbudu. Rakesh spent a few weeks with us learning about civic innovation in Chicago. Rakesh works as an open data advocate in India as one of the co-conveners of the National Committee for People’s Right to Information.

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Before I arrived in the USA, I was unsure of the learning & exchange during this trip. Though my interest centered on good & effective governance using technology & data, I was unclear about the specifics. During the orientation in Washington DC, I came to know that I would spend three weeks in Chicago with the ‘Smart Chicago Collaborative’. It was time for a quick google search to check what Smart Chicago was doing. I understood a little about Smart Chicago’s work.

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Chicagoflushots.org keeps going viral

Christopher Whitaker

Last week, Socrata created another version of Tom Kompare’s Chicago flu shot app that runs on the Socrata API. Developed in partnership with the Chicago Department of Public Health, the app is hosted on Smart Chicago’s servers. (A service we offer to any civic app developer in Chicago.)

"Get a Flu Shot" Sign on the Door of 37th Ward Alderman Emma Mitts' Ward Office

When the Kompare first launched the Flu Shot App, it quickly spread to several other cities. Because Kompare’s app utilized Google Fusion Tables – a free tool that lets apps tap manipulate data – it was easy for cities that didn’t have a data portal yet to take advantage of the app.

With the Socrata release, any city that’s released their flu shot information onto their Socrata data portal can easily create their own flu shot app. The open source repository was recently used to launch a flu shot finder in Raleigh, North Carolina in partnership with the local Code for America Brigade.

Here’s an incomplete list of news stories covering the app:

  • Online Tool Maps Flu Shot Locations – NBC Chicago – 10/29/2012
  • City of Chicago adopts flu shot app built by civic hackers – Code for America – 11/06/2012
  • Need a Free Flu Shot? Chicago Has an App For That! – Blackline Review – 11/7/2012
  • Civic app for finding flu shots goes viral – GovFresh – 1/17/2013
  • How Open Source Civic Technology Helped Flu Vaccinations Go Viral – TechPresident – 1/15/2012 (Paywall)
  • Flu Apps Spreads – Code for America – 1/17/2012
  • Spread the Code to combat the flu – digital.cityofchicago.org – 1/26/2013

You can get the whole scoop on Socrata’s website here.

mRelief: Mobilizing social service relief in Chicago

Christopher Whitaker

Last week marked the launch of mRelief,  a site that simplifies the social service qualifying process with an easy-to-use form that can be accessed online and through SMS. Residents can check to see if they’re eligible for a variety of programs including food stamps, medicaid, WIC, and more. Here’s the press release by mRelief creators on day of launch.

mRelief is made by an all-woman team hailing from different backgrounds and walks of life dedicated to making an impact with technology. Smart Chicago has supported mRelief under our CivicWorks Project funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

mrelief

mRelief is already deployed at the Martin Luther King Jr Community Services Center. The Community Service Centers are run by the City of Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services.  DFSS Community Service Centers help individuals and families in need access a wide range of resources from shelter, food and clothing to domestic violence assistance, job training/placement and services for the formerly incarcerated. Staff members are using mRelief to help streamline the process of evaluating their eligibility. The mRelief team has also partnered with Purple Binder to refer residents to other useful local resources if they are ineligible for public assistance.

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