CivicApps and the Search for Ideas
I just found out that I won one of the two Best Idea awards given in the first annual CivicApps for Greater Portland contest; I was completely surprised and very honored. My idea is Community-Contributed Datasets.
CivicApps.org in a nutshell
Back in the old days, i.e. 2008, cities like Portland would create apps (interactive websites) for us like this:
The old way of making apps
They’d get a team together, look at the Datasets available to it, come up with ideas, and then build the apps. PortlandMaps, an awesome web app, was made this way. But there’s a new trend and Portland’s setting an example for other cities. First, the city adopts a policy of transparency, publishing all of its raw data in addition to the finished apps:
First, cities make their raw data available
Then, curious and entrepreneurial individuals, companies, and other organizations step in and independently create new apps. This frees up city resources and results in more apps and services coming online:
Then, 3rd parties can step in and contribute
This is the entire purpose of the CivicApps.org project and website: to enable this creative environment. By the way, this is the same idea behind the federal Data.gov project.
My idea: we can contribute data too
It occurred to me that many organizations have valuable data about the city. And some even have the expertise to publish the data in “open formats” just like the city of Portland is doing:
My idea: We can provide datasets too
For example, my project, OregonLaws.org, publishes a glossary of legal terms specific to Oregon. This is already up and running as a Dataset.
It will, though, take some work to implement my idea. Some questions to answer are; How will these 3rd party Datasets be integrated into the palette of “official” ones? How will the data be authenticated or verified?
The near future
The end result of all this is that the city could become a nexus of information. In addition to providing raw data about itself, it can act as a means of identification and authentication. There’s a precedent for the government acting in this role, e.g. the Secretary of State’s business registry performs a similar service.
Update
Oregon Business Magazine covered the CivicApps contest: Keeping PDX a Hot Spot for App Development
