Gov. 2.0 movement spawns CityCamp ‘unconference’

CityCamp Honolulu is part of an international series of events focused on advancing innovation and increasing transparency in municipal governments. As part of a broader Gov 2.0 movement, CityCamp aims to make cities more “user-friendly” by tapping the diverse talents of their tech communities.

A CityCamp Honolulu “unconference” will be held on Saturday, Dec. 3 at the University of Hawaii‑Manoa Campus Center Ballroom. Breakout brainstorming sessions will feature panel discussions on topics such as open data and applying technology to road repair, transportation, water use and city parks. The breakout session topics will be crowdsourced, which means anyone can propose an idea and the community will vote on which will ultimately be tackled as part of the unconference.

A broad cross section of city departments and programs will be represented and organizers are inviting participation by coders, designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, journalists and other media makers — anyone interested in sharing ideas on how technology can be used to boost civic engagement.

A “civic hackathon” is planned in December, where the first lines of code written in support of applications proposed at CityCamp will be presented, judged and awarded prizes for the top three ideas. Together, these events will lay the groundwork for Honolulu’s participation in Code for America 2012.

Code For America, a national nonprofit organization, directs the talent of the web industry toward public service. Honolulu was selected in August as a Code For America 2012 city and it will receive a year of intensive technical assistance from the Code for America Fellows to solve core problems facing our community.

The cost to attend CityCamp Honolulu is $25, plus a $2.37 online ticket fee, and includes lunch and a T-shirt. To ensure a productive event, participation will be limited to about 125 people. For more information on CityCamp Honolulu, visit http://citycamphnl.govfresh.com/.