Year: 2012

The Launch of Open311 in Chicago

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This afternoon the Mayor’s Office released two new resources for the people of Chicago:

The Smart Chicago Collaborative helped write the application for Chicago to become a Code for America city focused on complying with the Open311 standard, and we have funded this project from the start.  John Tolva, Chicago CTO and Smart Chicago Advisory Committee member, has been deeply supportive of the project and has shepherded it through to completion. Chicago Chief Data Officer and Commissioner of the Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) Brett Goldstein, along with Director Danielle DuMerer, has been instrumental in getting this project done, as were others at DoIT and people at Motorola Solutions and Connected Bits. Audrey Mathis, Director of 311 Services, has been great to work with as well.

None of this would be possible without Code for America, the ground-breaking organization founded and led by Jennifer Pahlka. The amount of work achieved under this grant is kind of stunning:

  • 311Labs: A space where your dreams of the possiblities of 311 data can become a reality!
  • The Daily Brief:  Explore and filter 311 service requests by neighborhood, service name, and status
  • Open311 Status: a site that shows if Open311 APIs are down or have performance issues, and provides Public APIs uptime, comprehensiveness and citizen utilization
  • Civiz: A polyglot Platform as a Service civic application
  • Civics Garden: Reflect, record—and be reminded of—your civic deeds and contributions
  • And all the normal code, design, documentation, and logo contributions you’d expect when you suddenly find yourself in front of smart Web people who can get things done

The Chicago Code for America fellows— Jesse Bounds, Angel Kittiyachavalit, Ben Sheldon, and Rob Brackett deserve a ton of credit for drilling down into a set of tools that make sense for the particularities of Chicago while being broadly useful as reusable code for other municipalities. They moved the 311 movement forward in ways that will be felt for years to come. They are technically top-notch, excellent communicators, and real-deal project managers, all of them. They listened to our needs and were able understand the unique technology setup that lied beneath a simple desire to see the current status of a pending service request.

So get out there and track your favorite service request:

311 Service Tracker

Elsewhere:

Online system to track 311 calls
By Fran Spielman, City Hall Reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, September 14, 2012

The technology upgrade will make the process of calling 311 to get a pothole filled, a tree trimmed or a broken streetlight replaced like using FedEx to send a package, under the plan, first disclosed by the Chicago Sun-Times last spring.

Mayor Emanuel Launches New Online “Open311” System to Improve Government Accountability and Service Delivery
 Press release from Mayor’s Office of the City of Chicago, September 20, 2012

The Open311 technology was developed through a partnership between the City’s Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) and Code for America, and was funded in part by the Smart Chicago Collaborative.

Code for America, a non-profit loosely based on Teach for America, recruits the top talent from the technology industry to give a year of service to build innovative web applications for city governments.

Code for America selected the City of Chicago as one of only eight cities to be a part of its 2012 national fellowship program, thanks to Chicago’s demonstration of cutting-edge thinking and its willingness to invest in long-term change through the development of new web-based technology.

Mayor’s Office Video: Open 311 in Chicago

Here’s an information chart created by the Mayor’s Office:

New Open 311 Information Chart

City Reveals New And Upgraded 311 App
CBS Chicago, September 20, 2012 6:50 AM

“That’s what we’ve built – it’s called Service Tracker,” city Chief Technology Officer John Tolva said on the CBS 2 Morning News Thursday. “So whether you call in, or whether you e-mail, or use an app, you get a number just like a package, and you can track it all along the way, and you’ll get an e-mail saying it’s done.”

Chicago Launches 311 Service Tracker
WBEZ | 91.5, by Robin Amer, September 20, 2012

Chicago Chief Technology Officer John Tolva said the new service will help make city government more accountable and more transparent, something Mayor Rahm Emanuel promised upon taking office. “You need to be able to see where [a service request] is at every step along the way – not just whether it’s open or closed,” Tolva said. “Our residents and our businesses deserve to know that.”

City launches new 311 Web site
WGNTV.com, Mark Suppelsa,6:13 p.m. CDT, September 20, 2012

Chicago residents have a new way to request city services all with the click of a mouse. The city revealed its new open 311 website today which allows people to submit pictures of problems. And soon there will be an improved app.

Open311Launch

Lastly: a =n incomplete list of news stories covering the work:

List of Apps For Metro Chicago Applicants

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Last year the State of Illinois,  Cook County, and the City of Chicago announced its first-of-its-kind application development competition, “Apps 4 Metro Chicago Illinois (A4MC)”.  This was the first government-sponsored apps competition in Chicago, and the first anywhere that included collaboration among three different units of government. Here’s a press release about the competition from the City.

The A4MC competition was run by the Metro Chicago Information Center, which closed in March 2012. The A4MC website is no longer available on the Internet. Here’s a list of as many entries as we could cobble together, along with some basic info about the apps, listed in alphabetical order. We’re certain that we’re missing some things and we’d love to hear any updates about your apps or new projects. Please write me at doneil@cct.org with updates!

42nd Ward Crime answers the question: How safe is your block in the 42nd Ward. Select a block, give your email address and at no charge an alert will be sent to the user’s email automatically whenever an incident is reported.

AllSchedules gives you access to a huge collection of transit schedules, for different transport modes (bus, metro, train, tram ferry, etc.), in multiple cities around the world.

Bikes on Metra – “Can I bring my bike on Metra right now?” is an application that answers this question with a simple text display of “Yes, you can” or “No, you can’t” for each Inbound and Outbound Metra train.  This text display tells the user when a bike can or cannot be brought on board a Metra train, help the user find bike parking around Metra stations, and advise them on specific rules and tips for bringing bikes aboard.

Buster is a CTA bus and train tracker application that is designed for the subset of transit users that use the service every day as their main mode of transit.

Chicago and Friends is a social networking online magazine that connects the community through geolocation and Facebook.

Chicago City Crime is an Android application that provides a convenient and simple mechanism for users to quickly get crime information, based on their current location in Chicago. By becoming more aware of how many and what types of crimes have been committed around their area, this allows them to make informed decision and action that will benefit them and their community.

Chicago Crime Viewer  helps people find maps of crime in Chicago for a better understanding of neighborhood issues and trends. Quick access to this authoritative information supports real estate, commuting, and situational awareness decision making across the City of Chicago.

Chicago Lobbyists is an open data, open government, and open source project intended to improve the transparency of interactions between the City of Chicago and lobbyists and their clients.

Chicago Local Guide is an Android app meant to help local people as well as tourists find interesting places and points-of-interest near them; locate specials and promotions from local businesses; get updates on cultural, social, and technology events around Chicago; and hear breaking local news.

The Chicago Metro Information (CMI) Real Time Screensaver is an application designed to turn any unused computer screen into an electronic billboard displaying “up-to-the-second” data images for the Chicago Metropolitan Area, such as the forecast, street traffic, and public transportation schedules.

Chicago Recycle Helper is a web application that helps people locate recycling drop-off points for various materials in the Chicago area.

Chicago River Viewer is an interactive mapping web application designed as a one-stop resource, so that anyone interested in learning more about the Chicago Area Waterway System.

Chicago Rider is designed to get you the information you need quickly. See nearby stops, favorite stops, and real time bus schedules at a glance.

Chicago Service Request  is a web application that allows you to store additional information about a service request either as a picture, mapped location, and/or note.

Chicago TIF Viewer is a unique map viewer allowing free access to data and services with three features: Tax Increment Financing District Information, Ward Contact Information and US Census 2010 Unemployment Rates.

Chicago Wards I-Map is an interactive map of Chicago which provides ward information for every square foot of the city, which includes the ward number, alderman’s name, telephone number, and office locations.

ChicagoTXT is a text message feature that allows the user to get upcoming train and water taxi departure times to any phone.

ChiTxt provides residents a way to access city information without the need of an internet connection. Anyone who has a cellphone with standard text-messaging can use ChiTxt to get information about city services like health facilities, soup kitchens, and more.

Chicago Public Library (CPL) Mobile is designed to provide easy access to Chicago Public Libraries’ (CPL) resources everywhere for users on mobile devices and tablets.

Crime Alert is a cross-platform web application that serves to alert users of crime in their community and surrounding area as rapidly as possible, and receive information that is relevant to their lives.

FasPark helps drivers find street parking in real time.

FixIt! is a mobile app that allows Chicagoans to report issues, like public property damages, that require city attention. It automatically requests confirmation from participating citizens who are in the area and uses their responses to highlight critical reports while sifting out erroneous ones.

FOIAshare brings together FOIA request logs so viewers can share insight on the information that they have requested, view trends and search for records.

GoChicago grants users the ability to make a list of the places in Chicago they’d like to see, view directions to each place on a map, or call the place for more information.

Got Game?  is designed for residents to choose an activity, find parks near them that support the activity and schedule a game, enabling people to meet up and use the facilities at the parks near them.

Heads-Up Chicago pulls together up-to-date information of all the FREE Admission Days at local Chicago Museums and “Kids Eat Free” Days at local Chicago Restaurants, into a clearly outlined monthly calendar and daily planner format. This software will help parents to easily plan their family trips into the city, while helping Chicago organizations and institutions gain exposure while playing a part of creating memorable experiences for families within the Chicago Metro area.

IBikeChicago is an Android app built to support and enhances the biking community in Chicago. The application allows the users to locate bike routes, bike racks, and bike shops in the City of Chicago.

IFindit Chicago is an Android app that is designed to help low income and homeless Chicago residents connect with critical resources such as medical clinics, food pantries, shelters, etc in an easy to use, comprehensive and sharable format.

InThirty is an application used to see what Chicago city transportation resources that a user can access within a thirty-minute train, bus, or bike ride.

LIGHT BULB FINDER empowers consumers to make informed choices based on their own lighting needs and financial priorities. The app estimates the energy savings from changing the bulb and how long it will take for the new bulb to pay for itself. It also calculates a home’s total energy savings potential and environmental impact for recommended bulb replacements.

Green Habit (GHabit) is a social network with a simple goal to inspire people and organizations to create a greener and sustainable habitat. By inspiring green habits, each individual will take action to recycle, reuse and reduce waste, conserve resources, live a healthy lifestyle, demand eco-safe products, be innovative and implement new ideas, and energize the green movement.

MassUp.us  is “Chicago’s Social Cycling System” web application that serves communications and navigation information needs for social and personal bicycling. It broadcasts maps, news, weather and more, for smartphones and text messaging. MassUp.us is also used for details about local events (“masses”), to find riders, check conditions, record, share and chat.

Metro Chicago Farmers’ Markets is a tool helping residents find farmers’ markets, identifying and plots on the map, the nearest open farmers market to the current location.

Mi Parque is a bilingual participatory placemaking web and smartphone application that helps residents of the community contribute and share their vision for the future of Little Village’s new parks.

“Mom, We’re Bored” is an application for anyone with children aged 2-12 to help find activities kids will love, going on right now, nearby.

OkCopay is a comparison search engine for medical care that allows users to search for the procedure they need, compare local providers, and view their actual prices. OkCopay hopes to be a trusted resource all Chicagoans can use to find the medical care they need.

OwtSee is an Android based and a web based application that presents information about the Chicago parks and community events in one convenient place.

See How Mobile is an application that calculates how ‘mobile’ any Chicago address is. It determines the distance to the nearest El, Metra, bus, or highway, and then tells good (or bad) those distances are compared to every other location in the city.

Recycle City Chicago is an application that helps Chicago residents recycle by finding the closest recycling drop-off facility and driving direction to that location.

SpotHero is an application that efficiently connects parking demand and parking supply. We allow parking spot owners to earn income by renting their spot when it’s unoccupied.

Spothole is an ongoing project to create tools to enable Chicago residents to more conveniently participate in the process of maintaining their neighborhoods’ streets, starting with Logan Square.

SweepAround.US helps Chicagoans find out when residential street sweeping will next occur in their neighborhood, and allows them to sign up for email or text message reminders or subscribe to calendar feeds.

Taxi Share Chicago is an application designed to increase efficiency, reduce CO2 emissions and cut down on already congested streets and highways.  The app allows users to find each other and share a cab to popular destinations around the city and to the major airports.

Techno Finder  helps you find public WiFi near your location by using a cell phone or home phone, the web, or smart phone.

Thank you Officer is a web-based application initiative with the goal to mail a physical personal thank-you card to every police officer in Chicago, and let them know that we appreciate them.

TrailBlaze Chicago records and anonymously reports your bicycle tracks, allowing you to vote for new paths simply by carrying your phone while you bike.

Transit Stop: CTA Tracker is a quick and easy access to bus and train arrival time estimates for every Chicago Transit Authority bus and train stop.

Transitsocial -Transit Social is a unique and new place to search public transportation and socialize.

TreKing (Chicago) is an Android app that supports all four major transit systems in Chicago.

Vacant and Abandoned Building Finder is a tool for helping people and organizations find buildings in Chicago that are not in use and are potentially hazardous to the neighborhood.

WasMyCarTowed.com is a single-serving website that lets Chicagoans quickly answer the question, “Was my car towed?”

What’s Driving Costing You in Chicago? is a compact simple tool designed to educate divers about their driving costs. This tool provides map data including optional live traffic conditions and specific route information between start and end locations.

Here’s the announcement of winners:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 16, 2011

CONTACT:
Kathryn Auerbach – Metro Chicago Information Center
312-580-2597
kauerbach@mcic.org

APPS FOR METRO CHICAGO ILLINOIS WINNERS ANNOUNCED!
SpotHero wins Apps 4 Metro Chicago Grand Challenge, OkCopay is the Innovate Illinois Award winner and Recycle City Chicago and Chicago Recycle Helper with the Green Opportunities Award!

Mayor Emanuel’s Director of Social Media Kevin Hauswirth and Governor Quinn’s Chief Operating officer Andy Ross announced the winners of the Apps 4 Metro Chicago Illinois Grand Challenge and the Innovate Illinois Award today at Excelerate Labs. They were joined by the Delta Institute who announced the winner of the Green Opportunities App Award (GO Award). The Apps 4 Metro Chicago Illinois (A4MC) competition is facilitated by the Metro Chicago Information Center (MCIC), a nonprofit research, consulting and information resource committed to increasing the quality, quantity and accessibility of information, and guided by a fundamental philosophy that better information produces better decisions. The A4MC Competition is a collaborative open data civic applications competition which brought together software developers, nonprofits, and residents to create web and mobile applications over 300 data sets made available on the City of Chicago, Cook County, and State of Illinois data portals, and CMAP’s MetroPulse. The Apps 4 Metro Chicago IL Grand Challenge is the final, biggest, broadest and best round of the Competition. In this round apps could have any theme as long as they touched on Metro Chicago and the winners covered everything from local entertainment, transportation and leisure, to the environment, conservation and politics. The final round was decided by a Grand Challenge Judging panel comprised of experts committed to building Chicago’s entrepreneurial community and encouraging innovation. Grand Challenge Judge Troy Henikoff founder and CEO of Excelerate Labs further showed his support by hosting the announcement at Excelerate Labs.

The competition, which began six months ago on June 24th, continued the historic open data efforts taking place in Chicago, the Chicago metro area, and throughout Illinois. “I congratulate the winning app SpotHero, the other finalists, and all of the people who submitted applications during this successful contest,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “My administration is committed to providing unprecedented access to data so that our residents and tech community can create innovative apps that can improve the quality of life in Chicago as well as foster new business opportunities.”

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle recognized the Competition was intended to showcase the power and possibility that can stem from government and resident collaboration and combining data and technology. “The brilliant and innovative finalists in the Apps 4 Metro Chicago are all worthy of recognition,” said President Preckwinkle. ” We are entering a new age where citizens have the opportunity to create information technology that will dramatically improve how public data and services are delivered. We hope this collaborative effort will inspire even greater participation and will strengthen the relationship between the taxpayers and the government they elect to serve their interests.”

The Apps 4 Metro Chicago Illinois Competition also continued to drive economic development through innovation. “This Competition shows us the best of what can be created by Illinois’ innovators and entrepreneurs when they have access to everyday data that the government collects,” Governor Quinn said. “I commend both OkCopay and iFindit for using datasets made available on Data.Illinois.Gov to provide Illinois residents with valuable services that can improve their lives. Innovators like these spur economic growth throughout our state and nation and are the key to creating jobs and ensuring Illinois’ continued competitiveness in the 21st century economy.”

The Delta Institute of Chicago is an innovative leader in transforming the Great Lakes Region into the center of the green economy. Delta’s awards, totalling $2,500, went to the best apps that promoted green activity, such as energy conservation, waste reduction, recycling, consumption of foods from local, sustainable sources and other environmentally friendly practices. Due to a tie for first place, Delta split the $2,000 top prize between Recycle City Chicago and Chicago Recycle Helper. A $500 runner-up prize went to Light Bulb Finder.

After six months, over 70 submissions, amazing collaborations, and inspirational stories the Apps 4 Metro Chicago Grand Challenge Winners are ….

1st SpotHero- $10,000
Spothero efficiently connects parking demand and parking supply. We allow parking spot owners to earn income by renting their spot when it’s unoccupied.
2nd TrailBlaze- $5,000
TrailBlaze Chicago records and anonymously reports your bicycle tracks, allowing you to vote for new paths simply by carrying your phone while you bike.
3rd OwtSee $3,500
OwtSee is an Android based and a web based application that presents information about the Chicago parks and community events in one convenient place.
4th Chicago Local Guide $2,000
Chicago Local Guide is an android app meant to help local people as well as tourists find interesting places and points-of-interest near them; locate specials and promotions from local businesses; get updates on cultural, social, and technology events around Chicago; and hear breaking local news.
5th Mi Parque $1,500
Mi Parque is a bilingual participatory placemaking web and smartphone application that helps residents of the community contribute and share their vision for the future of Little Village’s new parks.
6th FasPark $500
FasPark helps drivers find street parking in real time.
7th allSchedules $500
AllSchedules gives you access to a huge collection of transit schedules, for different transport modes (bus, metro, train, tram ferry, etc.), in multiple cities around the world.
8th OkCopay $500
OkCopay is comparison search engine for medical care that allows users to search for the procedure they need, compare local providers, and view their actual prices.
9th iFindIt $500
IFindit Chicago is an android app that is designed to help low income and homeless Chicago residents connect with critical resources such as medical clinics, food pantries, shelters etc.
10th Taxi Share $500
Taxi Share is an application designed to increase efficiency, reduce CO2 emissions and cut down on already congested streets and highways. The app allows users to find each other and share a cab to popular destinations around the city and to the major airports.

Innovate Illinois Winners:
Grand Prize: Okay Copay- $4,000
Runner Up: iFindit Chicago- $2,000

Green Opportunities Award:
Co-Winners- Recycle City Chicago & Chicago Recycle Helper ($1000 each)
Runner Up- Light Bulb Finder- $500

The Apps for Metro Chicago Competition, facilitated by the Metro Chicago Information Center (MCIC), was launched in June of 2011 in order to inspire the development of applications using 250+ data sets released by the City of Chicago, Cook County, State of Illinois, and Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. The Grand Challenge Round was open to all apps that used competition data and benefited the Chicago area. Support for the competition is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, Illinois Science and Technology Coalition, and Motorola Mobility Foundation.

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Two New Consultant Positions: Project Manager and Community Engagement Manager

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Update: Friday, August 24, 2012 at 5PM is our deadline for these slots.

Smart Chicago is looking to engage two consultants for Civic Innovation, a two-year project funded by the Knight Foundation and The Chicago Community Trust. The successful candidate will have a part-time contract with The Chicago Community Trust, a funder and sponsor of Smart Chicago, to perform this work over the course of the project. Here’s some background:

The Smart Chicago Collaborative is a civic organization devoted to using technology to make lives better in Chicago. Created by its founding partners (the City of Chicago, the MacArthur Foundation, and The Chicago Community Trust), Smart Chicago works as a center of gravity for municipal, philanthropic, and corporate investments in civic innovation.

Smart Chicago is looking to engage a consultant for a long-term, part-time project. The successful candidate will work under a contract with The Chicago Community Trust, a funder and sponsor of Smart Chicago’s Civic Innovation project, to perform this work over the course of two years.

And details on the positions:

Project Manager

The Project Manager will have primary day-to-day responsibility for managing this project. The successful candidate will have experience in one or more of our core areas of focus (government, technology, community) and will have experience in and passion for bridging gaps among communities. See full job description.

Community Engagement Manager

The Community Engagement Manager will work directly with nonprofits, churches, and community members to ensure that the information needs of Chicagoans understood and served by developers. The successful candidate will have experience in both technology and community development, and be able to help translate between technical and non-technical people. Useful software that serves communities is the ultimate goals of the Community Engagement Manager. The successful candidate will engage non-profit organizations on efforts to find community solutions that are based on public data and data collected by their own organizations. See full job description.

If you are interested, please send an email indicating your relevant background & skills and why you’re interested in filling one of these roles to Daniel X. O’Neil, doneil@cct.org.

Update: We have selected a consultant for the Project Manager position and we are actively planning how to approach community engagement in this project. Stay tuned to our project page for more.  –DXO, 11/13/2012

Agenda for OpenGovChicago Meeting, August 2, 2012

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

  1. Tom Feltner: Woodstock is moving the last 15 years of data to its portal by the end of the year. Licensing restrictions limit what source data can be made public. What aggregate data would be useful and what would be derivative?
  2. Barbara Iverson: Submit stories about Open Gov work in Chicago to Chicago Talks to help connect regular people on the street, “citizens” with civic projects and Open Gov work. Tell your story, and we’ll help you spread the word.
  3. Tom Tresser: Working to establish Civic Lab – Apps for Activists, Activist Speed Dating Night & The TIF Report projects.
  4. George Aye: Announcing the launch of a new crowd-designed transit app for the CTA.
  5. Francesca Rodriquez: Update on the City’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program
  6. Sharon Burns: The Field Museum, through a generous multi-year grant from the Grainger Foundation is developing new apps, ebooks and other outreach projects to enhance the revenues stream of the Museum. Are open scientific data sets interesting? Ideas welcome!
  7. Tom Kompare: I’d like see if anyone is interested exploring crime and place relationships. An investigation in the 49th Ward shows what may be significant relationships of crime with L stops and package liquor license locations. I need help to explore further.
  8. Derek Eder: Open City would like to announce our latest civic app: Crime in Chicago
  9. John Tolva: Update on the City’s Open 311 project
  10. Simeon Schnapper: Pilots in CPS today centering around youtopia.com

We’ve got a full boat of announcements– hopefully people will get a chance to review some of this material, which will help us get to the evening’s demos. Also: don’t forget that tonight is Urban Geeks at Villains (thanks, Justin Massa!)– there’s plenty of chit-chat to be had there, if you can make it.

DEMOS

EFFLUVIA

  • Bring ID and come early– the security is tight in this building
  • If you’ve been to a meetup at the Chicago Community Trust before, keep in mind that we have moved to another building in the same Illinois Center complex– 225 N. Michigan, 22nd Floor
  • Sammiches will be served. Come hungry

White House US Ignite Event and What It Means for Chicago

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Last month I attended the US Ignite launch event at the White House (see full video here), where a number of Obama administration officials made a series of announcements about programs around broadband policy. There are many entities, technologies, and programs that fit together to form a path toward United States leadership in superfast broadband, but it takes some digging and threading to hold it all in one hand. Here are some notes toward that, with a particular focus on how our work in Chicago can fit in to this important set of initiatives.

Leading by example and providing physical space for advanced broadband

Dr. John P. Holdren, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy announced that the President has issued an Executive Order Accelerating Broadband Infrastructure Deployment. This makes public land available for the placement of broadband infrastructure. Marc Ganzi, Chairman of the Personal Communications Industry Associate later said that “getting access to government land has been close to impossible”. This policy sets forth a central process and clearing house for doing that. This applies to any and all Federally-owned properties in Chicago.

Providing the raw technology for next-generation networks

Next up was Subra Suresh, Director of the National Science Foundation. First off, I was struck by the astoundingly effective investments made by this organization, including elemental projects like the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and Digital Library Initiative, which led to the Web browser and Google, respectively. Suresh spoke of a similar building block-style NSF program called GENI: Global Environment for Network Innovations. This is the technical groundwork for US Ignite— a “single physical network can be virtualized into multiple ‘slices’ or logical networks, each isolated from one another and customized to specific applications or uses”. Basically: a network that can be programmed to act in specific, custom ways based on the needs of the application that is running on it. In order for a company to take advantage of gigabit-level connectivity, they have to understand and think of and use networks in a different way than we currently do. Chicago is a leader in data centers— including the new 840 South Canal Street— and there is opportunity for us to provide conceptual leadership on these next-generation networks.

And concrete cash to encourage unexpected uses

Suresh also announced four Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research at four universities that will research concrete uses for GENI. Lastly, Suresh announced NSF support for the Mozilla Ignite Open Innovation Challenge, with $15,000 in prizes to “design and build apps for the faster, smarter internet of the future”.  This is a total of half million dollars over the next few months—  money to be had for Chicago developers and network scientists.

A real-world example helps bring it home

Then John Underkoffler, Chief Scientist at Oblong Industries, shared a relatively well-known real-world example of how these superfast networks are being used. Underkoffler invented the g-speak™ platform— the gestural interace control system shown in the film Minority Report. This product started off at the MIT Media Lab and is now located in Los Angeles. They have a telepresence product called Mezzanine that “melds technologies for collaborative whiteboarding, presentation design and delivery, and application sharing”.

Thinking about gigabit as a central component of United States competitive strategy

Julius Genachowski, Chairman of the FCC, then took the podium and provided some good context on why gigabit connections are important. He gave as an example mobile apps. It’s not that long ago that we looked to Japan for leadership on mobile apps— they were doing the most interesting things with phones. Now the United States is the unquestioned leader, witha proliferation of applications on all sorts of platforms. He also referenced getting to scale on 4G faster than any other country— the US is clearly the world’s testbed. He spoke of three goals at the FCC: increase spectrum, increase broadband adoption (this is a main focus here at Smart Chicago), and increase speed (a focus of US Ignite). He gave a number of examples of how the FCC helps out, including rules regarding pole attachments that make it easier for companies to string broadband fiber and the Connect 2 Compete program for broadband access at the community level. Here’s the complete text of Genachowski’s remarks.

Existing BTOP investments and other work by NTIA have supported US Ignite partners

Larry Strickling of  the National Telecommunications and Information Administration focused on expanding middle mile capacity in underserved areas and at anchor institutions. He says that NTIA is interested in working where the market has not served people. He called out a number of US Ignite partners who are also NTIA grantees: REACH Michigan Middle Mile Collaborative (“proposes to build a 955-mile advanced fiber-optic network through underserved counties in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula to serve institutions, businesses and households”) , Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband (“plans to construct 187 miles of fiber-optic broadband network to provide high-speed connectivity to area community anchor institutions and support fiber-to-the home services in four low-income neighborhoods”), and UTOPIA (“The Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA), a collaboration between 16 Utah municipalities in the Great Salt Lake region of northern Utah, proposes to enhance its existing fiber network to bring improved broadband services to Perry, Layton, Centerville, West Valley, Murray, Midvale, Orem, and Payson, with the capacity to expand to the entire region.”) Again, the point here is that existing investments by the federal government are being drawn together into a strategic plan to drive superfast broadband. Here at Smart Chicago, we’ve helped administer many of the local BTOP projects, and we are working closely with partners to see how we can learn from, enhance, and continue their great work.

This is an age of conception— we are limited only by our imaginations

Next up was Tom Kalil, the Deputy Director for Policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He pointed to the Department of Health and Human Services Beacon program that will help the Mayo Clinic partner with US Ignite to deliver remote medical services. He also referenced a Department of Defense program to develop new algorithms to detect Improvised Explosive Devices. The Institute for Museum and Library Services is creating new apps for library patrons. Again, these are concrete examples that are being done in other cities that we should think about here in Chicago. The more we can be a leader in conception, the more investments and energy we can aggregate here.

US Ignite is looking to foster 60 applications— let’s make sure we’re in this number

Sue Spradley, the Executive Director of US Ignite, next gave some remarks about their role as an organization, which is to “connect and amplify efforts across the country”. I have worked with Sue and others from US Ignite and USTOP over the last year as they’ve planned for this launch. To be frank, at times it can feel overly loose, but in attending this event, things are coming into focus. This is the nature of the gigabit beast— its concrete value is not well-defined at this time. That is an opportunity for us here in Chicago— to fill those gaps. The US Ignite goal is to foster 60 applications that make a difference— let’s build our share of that!

Basic research is critical

John Donovan of AT&T spoke about the importance of this initiative from the business perspective. Nice quote: “We put a man on the man before we put wheels on a suitcase”. He spoke of the work AT&T on their with GENI-based research. He spoke about the value of basic research, noting that AT&T Labs started in 1901 and they still have 12,000 researchers working today. The opportunity is enormous: demand for mobile data has grown 20,000 percent in the last 4 years. Lastly, he made the call for more spectrum to be made available for providers. This is a major component of the National Broadband Plan. “Every available option, with a minimum of red tape and delay”, was his call.

The infrastructure is still being created

Marc Ganzi, Chairman of the Personal Communications Industry Association (PCIA) offered a perspective on the nitty-gritty of the buildout for this network. “We’ve got to get the plumbing right— it’s not about bars on a phone, it’s about economic development and next generation applications”. He referenced the Jobs Act and the importance of the spectrum license auctions. “This is not a sexy job. Building networks today is difficult.” Small cell architecture. DAS networks and pole attachments, large towers, hidden towers. This is the critical stuff. “Getting access to government land has been close to impossible”, but now there is a central process and clearing house. To me, this highlighted the opportunity before us— the network is just now being developed.

Smart Chicago is deeply engaged with the national entities working in gigabit networks and how they can serve the businesses and communities. We look forward to working with local stakeholders as they help bring these benefits here.

Kick-Starting Civic Innovation Award to The Chicago Community Trust

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Today the Knight Foundation made an award to The Chicago Community Trust to “create apps and other tools to help increase the utility of local government data to benefit community organizations and the broader public.”

The Trust is matching this grant and will provide the combined funds to Smart Chicago so that we can work with the civic tech community in Chicago to deliver on this project.

Mayor Emanuel Opens Tech Week with Remarks About the Smart Chicago Open 311 Project

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Here’s a snip from “Rahm’s Latest Accountability Plan: An App That Tracks City Services” on Forbes.com:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel will soon unveil an app Chicago residents can use to request city services—and then track the city’s response—he said this morning in the keynote address at Chicago’s TechWeek 2012 conference.

“We’ve opened up reams of city data for programmers to have at it and come up with the most innovative apps for their fellow residents to use: an app to find a towed car, snow plows, and street closures, an app for 311 calls, including tracking like a fedex shipping order,” he told the gathering of hundreds of digital businesspeople and techies at the Merchandise Mart.

Since 1999, Chicagoans have been able to call 311 to request city services or information. In recent years the service has offered status updates on the web, but Emanuel hopes to implement real-time tracking of citizen requests via a smartphone app as soon as this fall:

“I actually want the ability by by fall, when you call 311 and say you want to get X done—tree trimming, pot holing—you will actually get a tracking number. And so the next time you call it’s not like Groundhog Day at 311. Did they ignore me? Do I start this again? No.

“You may not like where you are in the queue, but you’ll be able to track it. You’ll be able to get information back.”

The Mayor shared this vision of a complete service request view in our recent meeting about the project sponsored by Smart Chicago. More to come!

Office Hours With Brett Goldstein, Acting Commissioner (CIO) and Chief Data Officer, Department of Innovation and Technology

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One of my favorite things here at Smart Chicago Collaborative is working with technology and policy leadership in City government. There is a renewed energy and sense of focus in the Mayor’s Office and the Department of Innovation and Technology, and we help support that in a number of ways.

One way is through our presence at 1871, the digital startup center that is fast becoming a center for civic technology and innovation. Smart Chicago is hosting Brett Goldstein, Acting Commissioner (CIO) and Chief Data Officer, Department of Innovation and Technology, in office hours this Friday, June 15 (one slot left) and Thursday, June 28 (just opened– four spaces available).

Consider meeting with Brett to talk about city technology, city data, big data, and predictive analytics. The world of civic technology is growing, and Chicago is at the center. We need more technologists to work in this field— inside and outside government— to grow the technology industry and make lives better in Chicago.

 

Join the Smart Chicago Collaborative at 1871

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The Smart Chicago Collaborative has partnered with 1871, the digital startup center located at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, to accelerate civic innovation. We have two reserved seats at 1871 and we seek to fill them with small companies, civic leaders, and community members who are interested in building software using city, county, and state data to improve lives and build businesses.

I will be working there at 1871 a few days a month. Smart Chicago Advisory Board member and City of Chicago Chief Technology Officer John Tolva will also spend some time at the center under the Smart Chicago banner, along with City of Chicago Chief Data Officer Brett Goldstein. We will also bring in staff and leadership from the City and our two other founding organizations, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Chicago Community Trust. Another important component of our work at 1871 will be bringing in community members from all over Chicago to hear directly from them. Our goal is to stimulate the creation of technology that serves the needs of communities while building new businesses on civic data.

We are seeking a limited number of developers, designers, and other makers who would benefit from a few days a month in this unique environment. If you’re interested, complete the form below to initiate the process. We’ve been founding tenants at 1871 and we are happy to offer it as a resource.

Fill out my online form.