Media advisory: Local hackers to bring civic technology to City Hall

For immediate release
May 17, 2013

Local hackers to bring civic technology to City Hall

The City of Austin and its community partners will host the first ATX Civic Tech Expo May 23 to demonstrate websites and apps that have been developed by this civic collaboration.

The free public event will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the City Hall Atrium, 301 W. Second St. The expo will provide hands-on exhibits of innovative civic tools and services. Members from the community and City departments will be on hand to answer questions about the showcased technologies.

These innovative tools range from a means to help new bicycle commuters find a supporting buddy (bike-buddy.open-austin.org) to real-time indication of flood conditions and road closures (www.atxfloods.com).

Some of these civic tools emerge from "hackathons," events where technology-savvy people gather to brainstorm or "hack out" new ideas. Hackathons throughout the country have focused on issues ranging from civic needs to commercial start-ups to fashion. Austin has seen an increasing number of civic hackathons such as the ATX Civic Hackathon III last February.

"Civic hacking is the new civic engagement," said Chip Rosenthal of Open Austin, a local volunteer group that advocates for open government, open data and civic technology. "Many people in Austin are both technically skilled and active in the community. Civic hacking allows their local government work better for them."

The May 23 expo will include a one-day hackathon where local volunteers will develop new tools for civic benefit. This will give Expo visitors a first-hand view of the civic hacking process.

The expo and hackathon are sponsored by Open Austin, the City of Austin, St. Edward’s University’s Office of Information Technology and Austin Free-Net. Representatives of each will be available to discuss their civic technology efforts.

Open Austin (www.open-austin.org), founded in 2009, is affiliated with Code for America, a national non-profit that uses technology to help governments work better, as the local "civic brigade."

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