I recently received an email from a gentleman named Rod Deacon (Public Affairs Bureau in Victoria B.C.) with some information regarding the Apps 4 Climate Action initiative. I wanted to share some of his “public” information with you to give it added visibility.
The scoop:
In addition to creating a social media component to enhance its online communications unit at its public affairs HQ, and a citizen engagement unit within something called the Future of Work initiative in the provincial public service, the BC government is partnering with a couple of green businesses and the software development and data communities to run a contest called Apps 4 Climate Action.
This 3-month contest is open to all software developers. The basic premise is that the B.C government will be sharing some of its data (compiled into an easy-to-use catalog of 500 climate change and greenhouse gas emission data sets ) with others interested in putting it to practical use. Developers are asked to submit innovative and fun web and mobile apps aimed at helping to raise awareness of climate change as a social and environment issue. This is modeled on the very successful Apps for Democracy and Apps for America initiatives in the U.S.
Cash and prizes have been put up by 8 contest sponsors. Submission deadline is July 15, 2010. You can follow contest developments here:
- Apps for Climate Action Contest Website
- Apps for Climate Action Twitter Profile
- Apps for Climate Action Twitter Hashtag
- Apps for Climate Action Facebook Page
Initiatives like this are helping to pioneer government 2.0 adoption principles in Canada. Therefore I ask you to do all you can in helping to spread the word.
Thanks for this Mike – it will be my next blog post. Open data initiatives like this are Gov 2.0 at its best: giving up data, giving up control and acknowledging that working with citizens leads to better solutions for citizens.
Forgot to mention the Canadian government recently launched its own open data initiative that I blogged about here: http://www.consciousimages.org/?p=812
it is very evident that climate change is already taking effect in this decade`*:
[…] love open data initiatives; Especially when they are Canadian (my home turf). I wrote about the premise behind the Apps for Climate Change contest back in April, and now that we have submissions, I want to remind you to vote. The total number of […]
This is what we need – an insight to make eevornye think