Friendly Code is organizing
Code Across Grand Rapids on February 21-22. The goal: bring together civic-minded developers, designers, city employees, and citizens to work on projects that use technology to increase citizen engagement.
Jonathan Pichot is one of the lead organizers of the Grand Rapids Chapter of Friendly Code, which is part of a national network of
Code for America Brigades.
He says the
Grand Rapids group, which was established just over 18 months ago, has about 15 active members and meets every other Tuesday in the downtown CoLab space, on the 3rd floor above SanChez.
Pichot says the projects that the group will develop at the weekend event will vary based on how the participants decide to prioritize the opportunities. "These will range from apps that text you [about] your trash pickup, to visualizations of public data, to drafting an open data resolution for the City of Grand Rapids. Open data is a trend on all levels of government," says Pichot. "It's happening all across the country."
The event will take place at the offices of Downtown Grand Rapids, Inc. Friday night will be focused on introductions, learning about the opportunities and discussing what projects to work on, with Saturday devoted to making the applications.
Pichot says the event is well supported by the city of Grand Rapids and will coincide with the public launch of a data portal by the city that will be a repository of data sets the city maintains and will provide "the fuel for building the applications."
The event is free and Pichot encourages anyone with an interest to attend, not just programmers and developers. You can register for the event here. "The objective is not only for government to be more transparent but to be more efficient and to make it easier to share information."
Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs News Editor
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