Civic Hackathons to Inspire and Support Civic Entrepreneurialism

Last year, The White House declared June 1 as the "National Day of Civic Hacking." I helped answer that call by joining visionary Michael Zuckerman and a merry band of artists, government officials, community organizers, and technologists to transform an abandoned building in San Francisco into [freespace] -- a cultural center for civic innovation.

A [freespace] is a gathering place for people to come together, to create, teach, learn, and share the things which they are truly passionate about, and strengthen connections between individuals as well as communities through art, events, and long term projects.

Measuring its success, it immediately sustained beyond its month-long trial, and is now prepared to launch in nine cities as part of this year's National Day of Civic Hacking. I expect and hope the movement will eventually become a permanent fixture in cities throughout the world.

What I learned from that experience was that people are yearning to actively participate in the solving of civic challenges by rolling up their sleeves, and using their knowledge, craft, and broad skill-set to do so. Whether that's building software, sharing knowledge, turning data into insights, telling stories, or creating public art.

Having recently moved back to my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, I'm again inspired by the obvious civic challenges that could use the help of its skilled, civic-minded community. For being one of the smartest, open cities in America with a vibrant tech community, the city surprisingly did not participate in the National Day of Civic Hacking in 2013.

This year, we will.

Working hand-in-hand with a small team of passionate organizers, and with the support of some of Columbus' fastest growing tech startups, prestigious academic institutions, community partners, the City of Columbus, open data leaders, and even some national groups, we have organized a civic hackathon called CivicHacks.

A hackathon "is an event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development, including graphic designers, interface designers and project managers, collaborate intensively on software projects." Based on our experience, we have broadened our definition to also include artists, storytellers, academics, and anyone who wants to help us make a measurable difference on Columbus' civic challenges.

Our mission is measurable change. We achieve that by inspiring and supporting civic entrepreneurialism.

The work of inspiration requires a civic hackathon. Here's our formula for that event:

• The experience must be fun.
• The event must include authentic participation from the broad civic hacking community and key stakeholders.
• The challenges must be meaningful.
• The products must be validated through measured utilization.

Teams that win in each civic challenge category are our civic heroes. We will champion their work to demonstrate the value of "civic hacking," and validate our hypothesis.

We'll support the work for those that wish to continue by awarding them a grant, giving them access to our amazing and talented Steering Committee and partners, opening doors elsewhere, and mentoring them moving forward.

As an immediate demonstration of our commitment to support civic entrepreneurs emerging from CivicHacks, we are excited to announce our latest partnership with coworking space, The Salt Mines, offering the winningest team (up to three teammates) -- two free months of space. We are grateful for all of the support we are receiving to help make this event successful.

CivicHacks is one event happening over a weekend in Columbus, Ohio in concert with 100+ similar events organized as part of the National Day of Civic Hacking. We are honored to do our part, knowing that in 21 days we will know whether or not our model works.

If CivicHacks works, innovate by making it your own. Organize a civic hackathon in your city to help inspire and support the next generation of civic entrepreneurs anxious to solve worthwhile challenges.

As a community of civic hackers, let's measure our collective progress, share best practices, optimize, scale and deploy the best solutions everywhere.

Together, we will make a measurable difference. But it starts with you answering the call.