Tag Archives: Council member Ed Gonzalez

Hacking Our Way to Better Government: Houston Hackathon

Now here’s a very cool idea coming from the Mayor’s office

Houston Mayor Annise Parker today announced the City of Houston will host a 24-hour “Open Innovation Hackathon” on May 17-18 at the Houston Technology Center and at Start Houston. A hackathon is a day-long event in which software developers, designers, and data analysts collaborate intensively on data and software projects. Over 24 hours, Houston’s “civic hackers” will pitch ideas, form teams and develop innovative new websites, mobile apps, and insightful data visualizations to address community and city problems.

“Houston leads the nation in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) job growth, and we want to leverage local talent to produce outcomes,” Mayor Parker said. “Everyone involved has worked very hard to define high-impact projects that solve our problems and that can be completed in 24 hours. We want to use the applications and insights that are created at the Hackathon as soon as possible.”

Mayor Parker also announced the launch of the City’s Open Data Initiative, a program that puts public city data in the hands of citizens. The open data originating from dozens of city systems will be critical for the civic hackers in using technology to build tech solutions that solve city problems.

“We’re really excited that Houston is taking this historic step toward liberating data,” said City Council Member and Hackathon Co-Chair Ed Gonzalez. “Hackathons are a great way to engage citizens and start a dialogue between City officials and our talented analytical and software developer communities.”

Preparation for this initiative and the Hackathon involves publishing data on a publicly accessible website. Over the last three months, the City has identified more than 25 “weekend projects” that a team of software developers, designers, analysts and others could reasonably complete, ranging from a Houston bike app that displays all bike lanes, trails, B-Cycle kiosks, and bike shops to dashboards that show citizens how the city is performing and where it can do better.

While Houston’s Open Data Initiative is modeled after programs in New York, San Francisco, Austin, and Palo Alto, Houston will also include a STEM outreach component designed to teach children across the city about career options. “Sometimes, just talking to a successful software developer can inspire a child to pursue a career in technology,” Council Member Gonzalez said.

The city is expecting strong turnout from citizens, corporate participants, and members of Houston’s startup communities.

Glad to see that Houston is deepening the commitment to bring city government into the 21st century. But a Hackathon is more than just a fun event to engage good citizenry. It’s a way to reach out to the Tech industry as a whole, and let them know that Houston is ready for more Tech jobs. Given that the city of Houston is one of the world’s leading cities for both energy and medical research, it seems pretty natural that we should have a growing Tech industry… one that can forge its own path independent of Silicon Valley or Austin. According to CyberCoders, Houston was the Top City for Tech in 2012 with rapid increases in hiring for the sector. So Hackathons and other Tech-friendly events are definitely the way to go for us to continue that growth. And if we solve some city issues along the way, hey everyone wins. Kudos to District H Council Member Ed Gonzalez and Mayor Parker on this.