Government agencies are increasingly being called upon to publish data as a means to
increase transparency, deliver government services more efficiently, and innovate busi
ness. Civic Apps Competitions (CACs) further these goals by providing incentives and
a platform for software programmers to build innovative applications (“apps”) using
open government data. Departments at all levels are proactively using technology to
share their data with the public, through the “low tech” release of spreadsheet or data
base files to the “high tech” release of data through Application Programming Interfa
ces (API) and associated “apps competitions.”
While the technological problems of these competitions are (largely) solved—a ple
thora of content management systems and turn-key web software-as-service plat
forms can easily handle the requirements of submitting projects, collecting public votes,
etc.—what has become important is ensuring that the outcomes of these competitions
return value. Governments, civic activists, and software developers who have invested
or are thinking of investing in open government data want answers to long-term ques
tions. How, and under what conditions, do open data result in high-quality platforms
relevant to problems at hand? Are the resulting applications sustainable in a way that
will continue to deliver solutions over time? Do the competitions themselves foster
transparency and engagement for a wide audience?
Organize a Civic Apps Competition (CAC) in your city. This practical guide provides best practices for each phase of the process, based largely on the authors’ firsthand experience planning and managing Apps for Metro Chicago (A4MC). You’ll learn everything from setting goals and creating a budget to running the competition and measuring the outcome.
CACs provide software programmers with platforms for building effective apps, using open government data as a way to foster community involvement and make government more transparent. This handbook helps you address serious questions about the process and shows you what’s required for making your competition successful.
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Gain insights from the authors’ survey of 15 CACs in the US and Canada
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Get guidelines for establishing specific goals, and evaluate results with reliable metrics
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Understand major costs involved and build a budget around partners and sponsors
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Determine participation incentives, prize categories, and judging
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Avoid unstructured data sets by being selective when choosing public datasets
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Learn how the authors handled roadblocks during the A4MC competition
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Discover ways to sustain lasting community interest once the CAC is over