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Code for BTV 2014 |
In his 2006 book The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, Harvard Law School professor Yochai Benkler describes how the emergence of the networked information economy changes the constraints on democratic societies in the struggle between the powers of the majority and the freedom of the individual. Free and open source software developers are familiar with the socio-economic model Benkler calls commons-based peer production. The ability for this form of social production to transform markets has been established in the economic success of open source software, among other examples. Free culture and remix culture, as described by Lawrence Lessig, can be seen as experiments in the ability of social production to not just transform markets, but to transform freedom itself.
According to Benkler, "We are in the midst of a technological, economic, and organizational transformation that allows us to renegotiate the terms of freedom, justice, and productivity in the information society." The emergence of the networked information economy changes the constraints placed upon democratic societies by the economics of industrial production and provides us with an opportunity to realign the core democratic values of "individual freedom, a more genuinely participatory political system, a critical culture, and social justice." Code for BTV leverages social production as a means to facilitate a more participatory democracy at the local level.
Civic hacking is a participatory effort to improve communities through technology. Inclusivity is a critical organizing tool employed by Code for BTV. A key message communicated by Code for BTV is that everyone is a civic hacker. Everyone is invited--and, more importantly, encouraged--to participate in Code for BTV activities.
Science fiction writer and inventor Arthur C. Clarke said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Technology becomes magic when we choose to not understand it. Maker culture and the steampunk genre represent a conscious choice to understand and demystify technology, even if only symbolically in some cases. Technology, even the most advanced of technologies, is simply a tool created and used by humans as moral agents.
Code for BTV is a Code for America Brigade that facilitates sustainable collaborations on civic software and open data projects between coders, designers, and organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) in the greater Burlington, Vermont area. We host events for civic hackers to come together and work on building and reusing civic apps and support open data initiatives.
Code for BTV is more of a network of civic hackers than it is an "organization." While there is a core organizing team, this team is focused on facilitating the growth and sustainability of the network. Networks are robust and enduring; organizations are fragile and temporary.
Code for BTV looks to facilitate relationships between individuals, organizations, governments, and other Code for America Brigades.
Code for BTV needs a variety of skills and skill levels and seeks ways to build relevant capacity and skills including design, project management, and problem solving/troubleshooting. Working on "real world" problems provides Code for BTV participants with opportunities to learn. However, Code for BTV does not have a formal training program. Code for BTV aims to partner with other organizations, such as Girl Develop It Burlington, to build capacity.
Having participants with a wide range of skills and experiences provides an opportunity for participants to learn best practices from one another. Code for BTV encourages participants to share learning around best practices with each other and to use tools that help facilitate collaboration (e.g. Git & GitHub).
Sustainable collaborations are at the core of Code for BTV's mission. Code for BTV constantly seeks new opportunities for collaboration and ways to deepen existing collaborations.
Big Heavy World is a non-profit organization that promotes and preserves Vermont-made music. As a defacto music office, Big Heavy World works closely with both State of Vermont and City of Burlington officials. As a volunteer-driven organization, Big Heavy World brings a wealth of knowledge in engaging volunteers in meaningful work and helped to start Code for BTV. Several Code for BTV projects are applications for Big Heavy World.
Fletcher Free Library is Burlington's public library and a department of the City of Burlington. They helped to organize Hack the Stacks: Civic Hacking at Fletcher Free Library and a few Code for BTV projects have been established for use by Fletcher Free Library. Code for BTV and Fletcher Free Library have many shared values, including digital inclusion. As a repository for information and knowledge, Fletcher Free Library is a natural ally in Code for BTV's open data efforts. CodeAcross, with a theme of open data, will be held at Fletcher Free Library.
The City of Burlington Mayor's Office is a municipal partner of Code for BTV. Code for BTV works with the City of Burlington to develop civic apps that facilitate local services, encourage civic engagement, or otherwise benefit the local community. The Mayor's Office recently announced an open data portal, and Code for BTV is working with them on this initiative.
The Vermont Digital Economy Project was created by the Vermont Council on Rural Development with the goal of constructing more resilient communities after the 2011 floods. The Vermont Digital Economy Project works with municipalities across Vermont, which could facilitate relationships with those municipalities and civic hackers (and even newly-formed Brigades) in those communities.
The Vermont Digital Economy Project has found that communities with digitally connected non-governmental organizations are more resilient after natural disasters. Collaborating with the Vermont Digital Economy Project, volunteers working with Code for BTV have built or improved websites for over a dozen non-governmental organizations and plan to work on many more of these websites.
The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) is a non-profit association of farmers, gardeners, and consumers. Code for BTV is working with NOFA-VT on organizing a food systems hackathon to coincide with the upcoming NOFA-VT Winter Conference on the University of Vermont campus in February. The hackathon will bring together domain experts, software developers, designers, makers, and others to build software/hardware prototypes. Code for BTV will facilitate a workshop between food systems domain experts and technologists to kickoff the two-day hackathon. This workshop will give hackathon participants an opportunity to discover what problems organic enthusiasts, farmers, gardeners, and consumers face while trying to develop an economically viable and ecologically sound Vermont food system.
The Office of the UVM (University of Vermont) Vice President for Research is a major organizer and sponsor of the food systems hackathon that will coincide with the upcoming NOFA-VT Winter Conference in February. The office will be providing the space for the hackathon as well as the funds to feed hackathon participants. Code for BTV is encouraging researchers, students, technologists, and anyone else interested at UVM to participate in the hackathon, as food systems is an area of focus for researchers at UVM.
BTV Ignite is a partnership between US Ignite and the City of Burlington that is leveraging Burlington's gigabit network as a test bed for the development of next generation gigabit Internet applications. Brigade Captains Jason Pelletier and Bradley Holt have been advocates for the potential of Burlington's gigabit network, and Bradley serves on the Burlington Mayor's BTV Ignite Advisory Committee. Code for BTV will continue to work with BTV Ignite and Burlington Telecom (Burlington's gigabit provider) to make high-speed connectivity available at hackathons.
The Civic Cloud Collaborative, comprised of several Burlington organizations, is exploring what it means to provide public, educational, and government access for producers of Internet applications and digital creative works. The Civic Cloud Collaborative is close to being able to install a full rack of servers within the core of Burlington's municipally-owned gigabit fiber-optic network. These servers will be used to host non-commercial Internet applications, including civic apps, that have community benefit.
New Moran is a plan to redevelop the landmark Moran Generating Station on Burlington's waterfront into a mixed-use, energy self-sufficient civic space owned by the City of Burlington and operated by a non-profit organization. New Moran will be a hub for community gatherings while supporting human-powered recreation and access to local food, art, energy, and technology. Code for BTV is a New Moran program partner and plans to use New Moran as a community research & development hub, an educational space, and a space for gathering and collaboration.
Code for BTV holds a major hackathon about once every four months. These hackathons are opportunities to bring in new participants, build energy, and rally support around specific projects. Significant efforts are put into planning and promoting these hackathons. Each hackathon typically has its own theme, although not all projects worked on at the hackathon revolve around the one theme. Code for BTV hackathons are focused on collaboration and are non-competitive.
Code for BTV holds monthly meetups during the months in which there are no major hackathons. The focus of monthly meetups is to make progress on existing projects. These meetups are an opportunity for participants to stay connected with each other between major hackathons.
Code for BTV has been in discussions with the City of Burlington about holding weekly office hours at City Hall. Like government, civic hacking is most effective when it is open and transparent. Code for BTV would like to start holding weekly Office Hours during which elected officials, government staff, individuals, and civic hackers can participate in free and open dialogue about our community's challenges and opportunities.
Holding the Code for BTV Office Hours at City Hall would communicate that the general public is welcome to participate in the work being done by Code for BTV, keep the focus on civic issues, and serve as an invitation to elected officials and government staff. To encourage free discussion while still being transparent, Code for BTV Office Hours would be held under the Chatham House Rule: "When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed."
Code for BTV sees sponsorships as a way to get a more diverse group of organizations involved in civic hacking. Rather than have sponsorship levels, Code for BTV has taken the approach of asking each sponsor to contribute the same amount for each event sponsored (typically $256 per sponsor per event). This allows Code for BTV to collect smaller chunks of money from a larger group of local organizations. Often smaller organizations won't sponsor an event because they can't afford the higher sponsorship levels, and they don't want to be relegated to the silver or bronze section. Having a flat sponsorship fee allows for a more inclusive sponsorship structure.
Code for BTV hopes to learn from other Brigades, as well as share its learnings with other Brigades. To this end, Code for BTV will document its learnings whenever possible.
- Weekly Office Hours (Start By 3/1)
- January Meetup (Sat 1/11)
- Food Systems Hackathon at NOFA-VT Winter Conference (Sat 2/15 - Sun 2/16)
- CodeAcross (Sat 2/22 - Sun 2/23)
- March Meetup
- April Meetup
- May Meetup
- National Day of Civic Hacking (Sat 5/31 - Sun 6/1)
- July Meetup
- August Meetup
- September Meetup
- Hack the Stacks (Oct)
- November Meetup
- December Meetup