Tag Archives: app

NYC Wants Citizen-Created Apps in Challenge

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New York City is having its second app challenge, known as BigApps.  According to the BigApps website:

The NYC.gov Data Mine can be found at http://nyc.gov/data. You are required to use at least one data set from the Data Mine in your application. NYCEDC and DoITT coordinated with over 40 City agencies and commissions to provide the datasets, with 15 new city agencies, including the Department of Environmental Protection, School Construction Authority and Campaign Finance Board, participating in DataMine for the first time. CompStat and City budget data, taxi and limousine trip data, complaints to the Department of Buildings, and real-time traffic information.

The best apps in the challenge will win $20,000.  Last year’s winners were Big Apple Ed, Taxihack, WayFinder NYC, and NYC Way.

National Budget Video Game?

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A USA Today article on Wednesday had an interesting bit buried deep within the text:

[Former White House Chief of Staff Erskine] Bowles has been in touch with Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer about creating a deficit-reduction video game that would enable anyone with a computer to take a stab at balancing the budget, much like the 1994 commission did.

Updated for 2010, Kerrey says, such a game could “go viral.”

The tech site Gizmodo picked up on the video game mention.

While it might not “go viral,” this might be a good way for the ordinary citizen to understand the Federal budget issues.

Social Media for Government Communications

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Software provider Adobe’s Government Bits Blog has a great post on using social media for government communications:

One lesson from social media is the immediacy and richness of information that can be shared through digital channels. Blogs, online video sharing platforms and Twitter have demonstrated the power and desire by the public to share information quickly and easily.

An example of injecting social media lessons into achieving core agency missions is the French Government, who in partnership with students of EPITA (France Graduate School of Computer Science and Advanced Technologies) created a cross-platform widget, DirectGouv, to increase transparency and communication to the press community and thus, to citizens-at-large.

White House in the iPhone App Store

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Last night the White House announced the availability of a new White House iPhone/iPod Touch app (see coverage on  TechCrunch).  The App is even going to stream live the President’s State of the Union Address.  More on teh features:

The application comes packed with content, including the latest news items, videos, photos and blog posts from The White House. One feature that stands out is live video streaming, which enables iPhone and iPod Touch owners to watch the President’s public events at the White House as well as other events like key speeches and press briefings in real-time.

The White House also announced that they will soon have a mobile site available at http://mobile.whitehouse.gov.