Join the National Day of Civic Hacking at Central Library, Fourth Street and Denver Avenue, June 1, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., to learn about the benefits of civic hacking and help create the Tulsa Wiki, www.tulsawiki.org.
Community members can contribute for part or all of the day. A wrap-up and drawing for door prizes begins at 3:30 p.m. Learn the basics during Wiki 101 talks throughout the day, enjoy food from local contributors and create a strong sense of community.
Community wikis are thriving in Santa Cruz, Calif.; Denton, Texas; and Ann Arbor, Mich., as well as throughout the world. Eventually the Tulsa Wiki will contain everything about Tulsa, Tulsa County and items related to Green Country that impact Tulsa County. Anyone can contribute wiki entries and share what makes our community great.
Tulsa City-County Library’s National Day of Civic Hacking includes:
- Tulsa Wiki Editathon, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Join developers, writers, designers, data geeks, leaders, idea makers and other citizens to kick start your Tulsa Wiki. Whether you are a Tulsa County native or new to the area, you can collaborate with and learn from your neighbors on the Tulsa Wiki. Anyone can add to it, anytime, just visit www.tulsawiki.org.
- Code for Tulsa Brigade Meetup, Noon-1:30 p.m. Code for Tulsa, www.codefortulsa.org, will host an open meetup for everyone interested in civic apps and open data. Discuss challenges and opportunities to help Tulsa government work better by leveraging the talent and best practices in the local tech community.
“The Tulsa Wiki is about our community, by our community,” said Jennifer Greb, Tulsa City-County Library reference librarian. “Creating a local wiki is about connecting diverse segments of the community to share what is important to them. The idea is for Tulsa County residents to share what makes this a wonderful community, everything from music and dining to outdoor family getaways.”
Across the U.S., more than 100 communities are participating in the National Day of Civic Hacking. This is an opportunity for government agencies, businesses, nonprofits and civically-engaged individuals to work together to solve complex social problems. Participating government agencies include NASA, the Census Bureau, FEMA, the White House Office of Digital Strategy and the Department of Labor to name just a few. A showcase of projects that emerge from the National Day of Civic Hacking will be featured at an event at the White House in July, in tandem with the President’s focus on STEM education.
Sponsors for the Tulsa National Day of Civic Hacking include Tulsa City-County Library, TCCL Staff Association, Tulsa Library Trust, Random Hacks of Kindness, Code for America, Anspire, Chimera, Code for Tulsa, Guthrie Green and George Kaiser Family Foundation.
At the 2011 Hackathon, Tulsa Web Devs partnered with TCCL to create the free iPhone app “Tulsa Then and Now: Mapping the Beryl Ford Collection,” an amazing example of the kind of collaboration National Day of Civic Hacking encourages. Using more than 300 photographs mapped for location-based browsing, users can find historic images nearby their current location with the “You Are Here” feature. Using the iPhone camera will overlay the historic photograph and compare it with the current view of the location.
Visit http://www.tulsawiki.org/ndoch for more information on Tulsa’s National Day of Civic Hacking event. Register for the event at https://ndochtulsa.eventbrite.com.
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