- FEBRUARY 21, 2014
- Civic Data
Each week we will bring you a summary of what happened this week on our site, on Twitter, and in the wider world of municipal data. Suggest stories on Twitter with #ThisWeekInData.
International Open Data Day is tomorrow! See if your city is hosting one of the dozens of hackathons around the world. To coincide with this event, Code for America network members will be hosting CodeAcross 2014 events all weekend, organized around the theme of Beyond Transparency.
Emer Coleman has written on the concept of the “city as a platform,” clarifying some misunderstandings that increase complexity and cost: “The city does not need to provide the API itself - it needs to bring its datasets (static and simple) to the market and then let the market evolve new business models.”
Earlier this week, the President’s Chief Technology Officer reaffirmed the White House’s support of net neutrality. This statement comes after over 100,000 people signed a WeThePeople petition supporting the cause.
Despite support from the public and the White House, the FCC may yet encounter challenges as it begins to formulate new rules to encourage an open Internet. The FCC chairman has said such rules ensuring free flow of data are crucial to the public interest: "The Internet is and must remain the greatest engine of free expression, innovation, economic growth and opportunity the world has ever known."
Open Signal has released a report on global LTE network coverage and speeds showing the US to have the second-slowest download speeds in the world. As smartphone use continues to rise it presents an appealing mode to engage citizens, but only if the networks serving users can keep up.
New from our team
In Illuminating Housing Challenges with Data Rohan Mascarenhas details how some policymakers are responding to difficult issues like vacancy, homelessness, and blight with the aid of digital tools like analytics, crowdsourcing, and GIS.
Stephen Goldsmith writes on government-sponsored challenge competitions in Unleashing a Community of Innovators, featuring the GSA’s Challenge.gov, a recent winner of the Ash Center’s Innovations in American Government Award.
