US Government Announces National Day of Civic Hacking

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US Government Announces National Day of Civic Hacking

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday January 23, 2013 @07:37AM from the does-not-involve-hondas dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Yesterday in a post at the White House website, the U.S. government announced that June 1-2 would be the National Day of Civic Hacking. 'Civic Hacking Day is an opportunity for software developers, technologists, and entrepreneurs to unleash their can-do American spirit by collaboratively harnessing publicly-released data and code to create innovative solutions for problems that affect Americans.' It will be a joint project with Random Hacks of Kindness, Code for America. Activities are being planned in many cities across the country, and you can also sign up to host your own event. It's nice to see the government use the word 'hacking' in a positive way, since most uses of the term these days involve malicious activity."

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Not the car?? by KFK2 · 2013-01-23 07:40 · Score: 5, Funny

And here I thought it was about hacking Honda Civics.. enough people do that you'd think there'd be a holiday for it already.
The feds promoting 'hacking'? by paiute · 2013-01-23 07:41 · Score: 5, Insightful

Color me surprised. Or maybe code me surprised. I thought the term 'hacker' was forever lost, stained by the media beyond redemption.

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Liberate Data by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-23 07:44 · Score: 5, Funny

"Liberate data that can inform better problem solving in every community."
I propose we make a script that downloads all the research journals that we can, then makes massive online library of them that anyone can access. Oh wait. That doesn't end well.
Apparently one Aaron Swartz was not enough. by scorp1us · 2013-01-23 07:47 · Score: 3, Interesting

Be careful out there. This isn't a true call to hacking, it is a call for free labor.

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Re:Apparently one Aaron Swartz was not enough. by phantomfive · 2013-01-23 07:50 · Score: 4, Insightful

This isn't a true call to hacking, it is a call for free labor.
I don't mind donating my labor for free sometimes if it makes the world a better place.

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Re:Apparently one Aaron Swartz was not enough. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-23 07:54 · Score: 4, Funny

Yes. I like roads.
Re:Apparently one Aaron Swartz was not enough. by scorp1us · 2013-01-23 08:01 · Score: 3, Informative

Roads are predominantly state projects. And though you might claim the feds help fund them, it's only because the feds confiscate via the income tax then give it back for compliance with federal initiatives.

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Memories by Mikkeles · 2013-01-23 08:03 · Score: 4, Funny

Why am I reminded of this Dilbert?

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