The City of Chicago technology fellowships for this summer are now posted. Take a look!
Month: November 2013
What It Takes to get the Municipal Code of Chicago Online
It’s somewhat taken for granted that Chicago civic hackers have access to a plethora of data. This includes the city code – which is available online for anyone and everyone to see and download. To get the code to this point takes a lot of work.
Julia Ellis, Policy Director of the Office of City Clerk, spoke at the last OpenGov Chicago Meetup to explain the process of getting the city code online and how the process is far more complicated than it sounds.
We work in the civic innovation sector of the technology industry to improve lives in cities, improve relationships between residents and government, and create sustainable business models that support an innovative ecosystem. Having brass-tacks explications of the actual work (not what we perceive the work to be) is critical.
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Stoked About the New “Squared Away” App from the Metropolitan Tenants Ogranization
This Wednesday the Metropolitan Tenants Organization (MTO) is launching a new web-based app that helps build better relationships between tenants and landlords. I served as sort of an informal advisor to this project, and I’m excited about it for a number of reasons:
- It is a native web application using responsive design. This makes it easy to update & maintain and allows for easy access for people in the flow of the moment of need. No downloading, no updating, just starting the process from a web browser
- This is not just a public-facing website– it’s the new database used by MTO staff when you call the free Tenants’ Rights Hotline at (773) 292-4988. The same interface is used by all parties– tenants, landlords, staff, everyone. That is an efficient use of software and ensures that everyone is on the same page, so to speak
- It’s lightweight, friendly, and focused on resolution. Squared Away asks for the minimum amount of information necessary to kick off an email to the landlord and get you an account with MTO
Coupled with all of the great information on the Metropolitan Tenants Organization website at http://www.tenants-rights.org/, the app is a great resource for people trying to get squared away with their abode in Chicago. 
Here’s the complete text of the invite:
OpenGovChicago Meeting: Process and Products Around the Chicago Municipal Code
Last week, Smart Chicago hosted the OpenGov Chicago-land meetup at the Chicago Cultural Center with a great lineup of authoritative speakers:
Susana Mendoza, City Clerk of the City of Chicago, Julia Ellis, Legislative Counsel at Chicago City Clerk, Carl Malamud, President and Founder of Public.Resource.Org, Waldo Jaquith, an Open Government Technologist who is leading an effort to test the Open Data Institute model for open data standards in the United States, and Seamus Kraft, Executive Director of the OpenGov Foundation talk about the code by which we rule our city.
We’ve compiled all the videos of the presentation below the fold:
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Livestream of Process and Product Around Chicago Municipal Code
Tonight’s OpenGovChicago meetup will be livestreamed here (for as long as the wifi at the Cultural Center holds up). See also the live meeting minutes.
Livestream of “Putting Health Data to Work in Our States and Communities”
This Friday, the Health Data Consortium will be hosting a two-day event that will talk about how to Put Health Data to Work in our Communities. As we move through the day, we’ll post the videos below. Our broadcast will begin at 8:30am CST. If you don’t see the newest stream, please refresh your browser.
Afternoon Panel 3 (at 3:05)
Previous videos below:
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