August – 2014 – Archive of Smart Chicago Collaborative Work

Resources and Reading Toward a Digital City

adminAugust 30, 2014

One of our programs is Connect Chicago, a loose network of more than 250 places where you can use a computer for free. It is a central part of our work around both access to the Internet and digital skills.

I also serve as the chair the of the Eliminate the Digital Divide Advisory Committee of the State of Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Development Eliminate the Digital Divide Grant Program.

In measuring the impact of the work of Connect Chicago members, we spend a lot of time gathering research. Here’s a look at some of the publications we look to for guidance.

Digital Citizenship: The-Internet society and Participation

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Twitter Bot Helps Chicago Officials Find Dirty Restaurants (Popular Science)

adminAugust 25, 2014

Twitter Bot Helps Chicago Officials Find Dirty Restaurants. Snip:

The Chicago Department of Public Health’s Twitter bot, plus a new online complaint form, helped the department identify 133 restaurants for inspections over a 10-month period. Twenty-one of those restaurants failed inspection and 33 passed with “critical or serious” violations. Not a bad haul.

Read the full article here.

Tweets Identify Food Poisoning Outbreaks – Scientific American

adminAugust 24, 2014

In Chicago monitoring Twitter for reports of food poisoning led to 133 restaurant inspections for health violations, with 21 establishments shut down. Dina Fine Maron reports.

During a 10-month stretch last year, staff members at the health agency responded to 270 tweets about “food poisoning.” Based on those tweets, 193 complaints were filed and 133 restaurants in the city were inspected. Twenty-one were closed down and another 33 were forced to fix health violations. That’s according to a study in the journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.[Jenine K. Harris et al, Health Department Use of Social Media to Identify Foodborne Illness — Chicago, Illinois, 2013–2014]

Foodborne Chicago on MeatPoultry.com: EXCLUSIVE: Foodborne illness in the age of Twitter

adminAugust 23, 2014

Here’s an article in a leading industry magazine about Foodborne Chicago. Snip:

An added benefit for public health agencies is that FoodBorne Chicago is an open-source framework, which will enable other health departments adopt the application free of charge, Harris said. Richardson said the cost of developing the FoodBorne Chicago program was “minimal between staff time and a few nominal costs for the server, the URL and things like that.”

Funding Civic Technology | Data-Smart City Solutions

adminAugust 20, 2014

Funding Civic Technology: A Look at the SmartChicago Collaborative Mode

Read here. Snip:

Such operations show how SmartChicago’s model depends on each founding partner’s unique assets. DoIT, in addition to its federally-funded initiatives, provides a wealth of city data via its open data portal that fuels SmartChicago’s civic tech projects. As host for the organization, CCT provides a home and community-driven pulpit for SmartChicago. MacArthur, meanwhile, sustains crucial SmartChicago initiatives and investments that help create and maintain a strong civic tech network.

300 Videos and Counting: A Treasure Trove of Civic Innovation

adminAugust 15, 2014

One of the most important things we do here at Smart Chicago is to document.

With our latest upload, we’ve hit 300 videos on our Smart Chicago YouTube Channel. We’ve got hours of video about the #CivicSummer program, the CUTGroup, and our how-to videos. We also have recordings of civic technology events in Chicago including OpenGov Hack Night, OpenGov Chicago, and the Connect Chicago Meetups.

We now live stream all of our events straight from our YouTube Channel. Don’t miss a thing— can subscribe to our channel here.

Join Your Colleagues as an Admin of Connect Chicago

adminAugust 13, 2014

One of our favorite programs here is Connect Chicago, the meetups we hold that help create a community of shared learning in the hundreds of public computer centers and community technology centers here in Chicago. Consider joining!

The Connect Chicago website is a listing of more than 250 places in Chicago where you can use a computer for free. If you work at one of these locations, you can sign up to be an admin for your page.

Here’s a list of all admins to date— 58 out of 260 locations and counting!

A Knock At Midnight
Altgeld Library
Archer Heights Library
ARK of St. Sabina
Arturo Velasquez Institute (AVI)
Association House of Chicago
Auburn Gresham Senior Satellite Center
Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council CTC
Bezazian Library
Breakthrough Urban Ministries
Bucktown-Wicker Park Library
Catholic Bishop of Chicago/St. Sabina ERC
Center for Changing Lives
Center of Higher Development – Lake Grove
Center of Higher Development – Magnolia
Center on Halsted
Charles Hayes Center
Chatham Business Association, Small Business Development, Inc.
Chicago Commons ETC
Community Job Training and Education Center
Community Job Training and Education Center
Douglass Library
Edgewater Library
Garfield Ridge Satellite Senior Center
Goodwill Industries Job Training Center
Greater Southwest Development Corporation
Harold Washington Library-HWLC
Howard Area Community Center
Indo-American Center
Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago (ICNC) Community Technology Center
Instituto Del Progreso
Jane Addams Resource Corporation
Kelly Hall YMCA
Kennedy-King College
Kennedy-King College
Lake Parc Place
Little Village Library
Lumity
Malcolm X College
Mather’s-More Than a Café (Higgins)
Mercy Housing- South Loop
Onward Neighborhood House
NEBC ( neighborhood empowerment for a better community )
Poder Learning Center
Renaissance Court at the Chicago Cultural Center
Roosevelt Library
Second Sense Beyond Vision Loss Technology Center (Access limited to people with vision loss)
SER Central States Little Village Center
GSDC Southwest REACH Center
Spanish Coalition for Housing
Spanish Coalition for Housing
Street-Level Youth Media Center
The Cara Program (West Loop Campus)
Metropolitan Family Services 63rd Street Corridor Center for Working Families
Metropolitan Family Services 63rd Street Corridor Center for Working Families
The Renaissance Collaborative
Whitney M. Young, Jr. Library
YWCA Parks Francis Community Technology Center

Chicago School of Data Interview: Illinois Sentencing Advisory Council

adminAugust 12, 2014

Next up in our Chicago School of Data interview series is the Illinois Sentencing Advisory Council (ISAC). The ISAC is a government agency created to collect, analyze and present data from all relevant sources to more accurately determine the consequences of sentencing policy decisions and to review the effectiveness and efficiency of current sentencing policies and practices.

Adam Garcia spoke with Nate Steinfeld who serves as Research Director for the ISAC about what the organization does and how they use data. Andrew Seeder did the transcription and pulled together threads, then Christopher Whitaker put together this post.

If you like what you’re learning here, consider joining us at the Chicago School of Data Days on September 19 and 20, 2014.

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Crime and Punishment Release Party at FreeGeekChicago

adminAugust 10, 2014

A couple weeks ago we had a party to celebrate our shared work with FreeGeek Chicago on the Crime and Punishment in Chicago project. During the event, we heard from the people on the project team and got feedback on how the project can become even more helpful for community members, journalists, and policymakers.

I’m particularly proud of this project, because it takes a hard look at the gaping data holes we have in seeing the full cycle of crime in our city. I am very proud of the large cache of crime reports available on the City data portal, but I am mindful that we seem to be no closer in having a true understanding of the system.

In my work at EveryBlock, I was responsible for finding crime data in cities all over the country. It gave me a great window into the day-to-day reality of the data and the differences in what’s published. When we had the opportunity to partner with Tracy Siska of the Chicago Justice Project as the main subject matter expert, and the community-based developers like Brian Peterson of the FreeGeek Chicago’s Supreme Chi-Town Coding Crew, I knew we had something special.

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Recap of Cook County Land Bank Training

adminAugust 9, 2014

Last month, Smart Chicago took part in the Cook County Land Bank Training. We recorded all the sessions and have a re-cap of the proceedings below. Christopher Whitaker and Joshua Kalov of our team also created and taught the curriculum around Researching vacant properties.

The Land Bank is a great resource for residents and a great partner to Smart Chicago!

Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle announcing a $10 million investment to the Cook County Land Bank

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