Milwaukee Data Initiative will host the 2014 HackMKE Civic Hackathon on May 31 and June 1 at Bucketworks in Milwaukee.
Milwaukee-based organization MDI advocates for the open use of information and technology as a competitive advantage for the region
During HackMKE, the City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Bucketworks and local developers will address local data projects as part of the National Days of Civic Hacking.
Bucketworks is a collaborative project space in downtown Milwaukee’s Shops of Grand Avenue.
Open data supporters, designers, programmers and data analysts from around Wisconsin will work to create open data applications, data scrapers, maps and data sets that are aimed at giving the public easier access to information and services.
“Civic Hackathons allow you to impact your community directly,” said Aaron Hartwig, MDI member and co-organizer. “This is how we make Milwaukee a better and more attractive place to live.”
The event will include an opportunity to pitch data ideas. The city and county will provide ideas during the exercise.
Data projects that are likely to be addressed include: the Milwaukee County Transit System’s real-time bus tracking app; a residential service data app to provide resources for Milwaukee homeowners; an open source project to monitor fire hydrants called Adopt-A-Hydrant Milwaukee; and an effort to catalogue open data assets in Milwaukee through the U.S. Open City Census.
