Fortunately, in the last few years, governments from all over the world have recognized the benefits of being open and have started to try to use the web and social networks to connect with citizens to make services, policies and decisions more transparent and easier to find.
Steps are being taken to be more transparent and open on the national level, and in September, San Francisco launched its own app store -- just one example of how that city is using technology to try to innovate its government. San Francisco is not alone in its efforts: In October, the NYC BigApps was launched, providing 170 city datasets to developers so that they could create their own apps to help residents and visitors navigate the city and the city government. Today, the finalists for the competition have been announced and public voting has begun.
About the Contest
The NYC BigApps competition is actually pretty cool. The city put up 170 different streams of data on the NYC.gov Data Mine and gave developers two months to submit their applications. The city, in conjunction with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, put up $20,000 in cash prizes (plus dinner with Mayor Michael Bloomberg) for winning entries.
Applications will be judged by a group of tech-savvy panelists, but the public can vote in the Popular Choice category.
The Apps
Looking at the different applications, it's clear that lots of creative and inventive apps -- some web, some mobile, some a mixture of both -- have been created from the public data streams.
Apps for things like finding and reporting broken parking meters (so you can avoid them) and finding which library has a particular book are just some examples of apps that can make life easier for citizens or visitors.
The best thing about these apps is that they were created from publicly accessible information. City governments often make lots of data accessible, but it's not always easy to find. We think that having an app contest based on this information is a great way not only to help get more information into the hands of the public, but also to help integrate government with the social web.