code for los angeles: intro
DESCRIPTION
Code for Los Angeles is the Los Angeles Code for America Brigade, a network of civic-minded technologists who contribute their skills toward using the web as a platform for local government and community service. At our first event, we would like to talk about what Code for America is about, the types of initiatives you would like to see, as well as do a little group workshop for one of our first initiatives, which is supporting the City of Santa Monica in Open Data!TRANSCRIPT
Code for LA: Santa Monica
What is a Code for America Brigade?
We link the tech community with local government to solve problems in our community.
• Meetups in > 50 cities • 3000+ members • 200+ locations • 27 captains • 41 brigades
!Our Network
Key Leadership RolesCaptains
o Vetted volunteers in a structured program who are deeply committed to Code for America's mission in their city
o Captains must be endorsed by a Municipal Partner !Municipal Partners
o Volunteers from local government who agree to endorse and collaborate with a local brigade
!Community Organizers
o Volunteers with demonstrated ability & capacity for organizing in support of Brigade activities
Key Membership RolesCoders & Repo Managers
o Volunteers who get (or want to learn about) hackathons, agile development, GitHub and open source, civic tech
!Graphics & UX Designers
o Volunteers who understand (or want to learn about) what we mean when we say "let's make the interfaces to government more beautiful and easier to use"
!Subject Matter Experts
o Volunteers who share knowledge with civic technologists about in the inner workings of municipal government operations
What types of activities can I help with?
ORGANIZE!
OPEN CIVIC DATA!
SHARE CIVIC TECH!
HELP GOVERNMENT GET OPEN!
CODE!
How we will organize Code for LA?
Monthly meetup with a focus city
Later we may do a westside and eastside each month, or even individual cities
Give developers a chance to meet with city officials to propose open data sets, or brainstorm ideas.
Hack night
Regular hack nights to give teams a place for continual progress on their projects
Heavy focus on learning with mentors available for help
Goals
Make real apps that citizens really use
Provide an anchor of communication between civic and tech
Build a community that promotes openness, collaboration, and learning
Help local governments on open data and open gov initiatives
MetricsHow will we know if a brigade is effective?
Endorsed by local government partner and CfA
Meets on a regular basis, at least monthly
Maintains a clear plan of action, at least annually
Curates linked, open data for the common good
Implements open source, civic tech locally
What do I do?Talk to people!
Discuss project ideas.
Find a project that sounds interesting.
Gather some interested people.
Find a time to discuss further.
Let Jeff or Yohei know so we can put it on http://codeforla.us
