Tag Archives: SeeClickFix

Open source all the cities presentation

On Thursday, April 11, I gave a talk called “Open source all the cities” at the monthly meeting of the Triangle Linux User Group (TriLUG). The presentation is a look at the open government movement in Raleigh, a preview for my book The Foundation for an Open Source City, and a overview of the different apps and platforms the City of Raleigh has deployed in the Open Raleigh portal. Continue reading

Writing a book about Raleigh being an open source city

It’s about time to come out of hibernation mode and come out swinging for 2013. I’ve been quiet the last two weeks. Red Hat had their annual holiday shut down from December 24 to January 1 and I decided to extend that until January 3. I head back to the office this Friday.

Over the last two weeks, I spent some time with the family, did a lot of running (I made my goal of running 1,000 miles in 2012), and I played a little too much Skylanders Giants.

Before the break, I was contemplating writing a book about the open government movement in Raleigh with a focus on the characteristics of an open source city. I jotted down a few title ideas and drafted an outline in early December one Saturday morning. And I sat on that for a week or two. Letting the idea marinate. Continue reading

Crowdsourced reports save emergency services overwhelmed by Hurricane Sandy

The 9-1-1 system is overwhelmed with real emergencies during weather events like Hurricane Sandy, so if you want to report a downed tree, power outage, or clogged storm drain, you need another way to do so—SeeClickFix provides that forum.

Of all the media surrounding Hurricane Sandy, aka Frankenstorm, one email caught my attention. The subject was: “Use SeeClickFix to Help Your Community During Hurricane Sandy.” What a great idea. The whole point of SeeClickFix is to report non-emergency issues to local authorities in a transparent forum so that other citizens can view the reported issues. Continue reading