New Yorkers react to Citi Bike.
Author: Noel Hidalgo
betaNYC, a Code for America brigade for NYC: betaNYC May 2013 Newsletter
betaNYC, a Code for America brigade for NYC: betaNYC May 2013 Newsletter
It’s been quite the month! Here’s a brief update…
- Video from “Meet Code For America” meetup at OpenPlans. Thanks Joly and NYC’s Internet Society for taping the night.
- Last week, we had DoITT’s Andrew Nicklin and eight of his colleagues debut NYC.gov’s developer portal. It is currently in beta and be explored at < nyc.gov/developers >.
- Also, Volkan and Curtis took Andrew Nicklin’s Open311 made some moves on the nodejs project. Check out their work on GitHub.
- Our friends at Personal Democracy Forum have offered a 20% discount if you use the code “BigApps2013” – (“I highly recommend this conference!’ – Noel)
A call for betaNYC Community Ambassadors!
We are looking for a few good people to help assist with our event schedule and weekly hack nights. Your main responsibility will be to represent our community, help produce our events, and help on-board new members.
Other responsibilities will include: setting up event spaces, coordinating [food and beer], greeting attendees, making announcements, etc. You should be able to attend at least 2 of our Wednesday weekly hacknights a month, as well as be available for a monthly volunteer meeting.
If you are interested in this position, please fill out this form.
NYC BIGAPPS
There are just a few more weeks to submit to NYC BigApps. In the lead up to the June 7th deadline, there are a few more events… Including NYC BigApps CityCamp!
NATIONAL DAY OF CIVIC HACKING!
On 1 June, New York City will have FOUR events as part of a National Day of Civic Hacking.
- NYC BigApps CityCamp – Learn from NYC’s civic technology leaders, get expert advice on your application, and win a trip to the White House.
- EDesign Lab Open Source K12 Hackathon – Build or Contribute to to address compelling K12 learning needs with technology.
- Rockaway Beach Civic Hack Day – developing tools for the community and government to collaborate on rebuilding after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.
- NYCPublic.org Design/Hackathon – “Creating tools for School Parents”
“National Day of Civic Hacking is a national event that will take place June 1-2, 2013, in cities across the nation. The event will bring together citizens, software developers, and entrepreneurs from all over the nation to collaboratively create, build, and invent new solutions using publicly-released data, code and technology to solve challenges relevant to our neighborhoods, our cities, our states and our country. National Day of Civic Hacking will provide citizens an opportunity to do what is most quintessentially American: roll up our sleeves, get involved and work together to improve our society.”
Upcoming Events
- Wed, 5/22: Hacknight
- Wed, 5/29: Hacknight
- Wed, 5/29: NYC Schools’ Gap App Challenge Winners Demo Night
- Sat, 6/1: NYC BigApps CityCamp
- Wed, 6/5: Hacknight / Personal Democracy Forum Conference Pre-party
Community Announcements
How to submit to this newsletter?
Email Ashley at ashley.williams@codeforamerica.org
Submit your announcement, event, etc. by the 10th of every month. We will be sending newsletters out in the middle of every month.
A world without music is also a world without stories.
The Buycott App
Lets you check the connection of products to their parent companies to help you avoid buying from vendors such as the Koch brothers or those companies that don’t support LGBTQ rights.
And it’s super easy to use.
Today’s positive user response to the app has overwhelmed their servers. If you can’t get it today, try again later.
Read more:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2013/05/14/new-app-lets-you-boycott-koch-brothers-monsanto-and-more-by-scanning-your-shopping-cart/Get the app:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/buycott/id585933440?mt=8
Sandy was a complex storm, resulting in 72 direct deaths across eight states and at least 75 indirect deaths, damages in excess of $50 billion, storm surge in excess of eight feet and up to three feet of snow in some places. At close to 1,000 miles in diameter, it was among the largest storms ever to strike the United States. The storm caused impacts in 24 states.
“I was not going to let this feeling that we have no chance keep me closed inside the banlieue,” Mr. Benamer recalled
my only gripe is there’s not enough scooter parking.
http://vimeo.com/65576562
THIS IS WATER – By David Foster Wallace (by The Glossary)
(Source: http://vimeo.com/)
Written, directed and starring Vin, Multi-Facial is substantially auto-biographical, as the 18min short film serves as a meta-commentary on Diesel’s attempts to break into the biz. The title is a play on words; Multi-Facial=Multi-Racial, and the plot is comprised mainly of Diesel going to acting auditions and failing to be considered for gigs due to not meeting some form of type-casting criterion. Coming from an Italian/Black ethnic background Diesel finds himself at the distinct disadvantage of not being dark enough, or gangsta enough, or guido enough for whatever role he auditions for. Despite his impressive musculature, Diesel desires to be taken seriously, and tries to impress with his range and commitment to the craft. Ultimately, to his frustration, he finds that casting directors of commercials and music videos don’t rate such ambitions very highly.