Monday, June 29, 2009

Bloomberg Unveils Gov't Apps Contest

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is taking a page from White House Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra's playbook by announcing a new annual competition that will let his tech-savvy constituents repurpose raw government data to create innovative Internet applications. The forthcoming "Big Apps" project will be housed on NYC.gov and while the size of the initial data dump was not specified, Bloomberg told the Personal Democracy Forum's annual conference it would be "huge." "The point of collecting data is to manage information effectively... so why not allow the private sector to help us do so?" he reasoned during a keynote via a Skype video call.

Kundra spearheaded a similar project called "Apps For Democracy" while serving as chief technology officer for the District of Columbia government and in May launched Data.gov, a Web site that offers raw feeds of information from a range of federal agencies. Bloomberg's contest will offer cash prizes, publicity and networking opportunities to those who take part, he said. The billionaire businessman said he will also take the winners of the contest out to dinner "and we'll definitely order some apps." The 2008 D.C. government competition produced 47 applications in 30 days using open source programming for iPhones, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, Google Maps and others.

During his speech, Bloomberg touted other examples of how the Big Apple has embraced technology to make life better for residents. The city's "311" information service is available in 170 languages and even has its own Twitter account, he said. Messages sent through the micro-blogging site complement the NotifyNYC emergency alert system. Additionally, the team behind NYC.gov/311 has entered into an agreement with Google to analyze Web data and optimize the site's content. Bloomberg described the initiative as a "grassroots attempt at Web design." The mayor also jokingly pledged to offer citywide Wi-Fi "as soon as somebody's willing to pay for it."

Meanwhile, D.C.'s second wave of Apps For Democracy is underway. This year's contest, which ends Wednesday, is focused on making it easier for Washingtonians to request city services such as vacant property inspections, tree removals, street repairs, and non-emergency public safety assistance. Applications will create neighborhood-centric Web sites where residents can come together and submit city service requests to improve their communities. Like the first Apps For Democracy contest, the new competition will cost the District $50,000 and, if successful, will save hundreds of thousands of dollars in development costs, according to a city press release. All the applications developed through the contest will be freely available for use by other state and local governments.