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Data Into Action

By Nick Grossman | Published: August 3, 2010
Earlier this summer, I had the pleasure of speaking at the Future of News and Civic Media conference at MIT.  It was great to be around such a creative and talented group of people, and as usual, this year brought with it a new batch of Knight News Challenge winners. (For a roundup of some Read more...
Posted in data | Tagged , | 3 Comments

MTA Continues to Open Its Doors

By Sam Wong | Published: July 8, 2010
A screenshot from NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications' (DoITT) NYCityMap showing subway entrances/exits and their intersections (green globe), subway station, and the lines serving that station. The MTA recently released a new dataset with exact latitude and longitude coordinates of station entrances and exits. This was a highly requested dataset for many transit developers Read more...
Also posted in Activity Feeds, all, community, mta, nyc, open data, open government, transit | 2 Comments

Future of News & Civic Media @MIT

By Paul Winkler | Published: June 24, 2010
June 17th I was at MIT to attend the 2010 Future of News and Civic Media Conference. Civic hackers galore. More specifically I was there because of the "Data into Action" panel. Nick Grossman, my boss, was on the panel -- among other things, announcing OpenBlock. What's OpenBlock? In a nutshell, we'll be leading the effort to make the technology behind everyblock.com more accessible to newspapers that don't have a huge web budget. So a local paper could put up maps of "hyperlocal news" - stuff you care about happening in your neighborhood, down to the block level. Read on..

Also posted in Open Standards, all, government, open data, open government, open source | 2 Comments

The MTA is iterating

By Nicholas Bergson-Shilcock | Published: January 15, 2010
When you think of iterative development, you’re unlikely to also think “government agency.” You’re even less likely to think “MTA.” But that might not be the case in the future, as today the MTA showed a strong sign that the situation is changing: They listened to feedback and responded. Quickly. In my post yesterday, I identified several Read more...
Also posted in Uncategorized, mta, nyc, open data | 6 Comments

The largest transit agency in the US is now open

By Nicholas Bergson-Shilcock | Published: January 13, 2010
It’s here: The MTA has officially launched its redesigned website, complete with a spiffy new look, access to multiple trip planners, and a convenient way to quickly check on the status of subway and bus lines. While there’s much to say about the site’s new design, what excites us most is the developer center, which I Read more...
Also posted in mta, nyc, open data | 4 Comments

Redesigned MTA website and more coming Wednesday

By Nicholas Bergson-Shilcock | Published: January 11, 2010
The quest for open transit data in New York continues, but the Times’ coverage today of the upcoming launch of the MTA’s new website gives cause to be optimistic. As the Times reports, the MTA is set to launch a redesign of its website this Wednesday, giving the agency’s site a much needed — and Read more...
Also posted in mta, nyc, open data | Leave a comment

NYC BigApps Meetup and DevCamp

By Philip Ashlock | Published: November 9, 2009
Last week the first NYC BigApps meetup was held at our office and later this month on November 21st we’ll also serve as the venue for the NYC BigApps DevCamp (please RSVP). The meetup last week was a good opportunity for app developers to learn more about the process and have a chance to talk to Read more...
Also posted in nyc, open government | 1 Comment

The Root, Branches, and Fruit of Government as an Open Platform

By Philip Ashlock | Published: September 23, 2009
Tim O’Reilly often describes the government as a platform, John Geraci provided us with the The Four Pillars of an Open Civic System, and Micah Sifry offered the Three Branches of We.gov. Here I present The Root, Branches, and Fruit of Government as an Open Platform. The recent Gov 2.0 Summit was primarily focused around “Government Read more...
Also posted in Online Participation, Open Standards, Platforms, open government | 7 Comments

NYTransitData.org launches

By Nicholas Bergson-Shilcock | Published: September 17, 2009
Building on the work that has been taking place on the NY transit data wiki, we’ve just launched a new site, NYTransitData.org, which makes the case for improving New York’s transit system through open data. Check out the introduction or browse the frequently asked questions. Then come back and share your thoughts in the comments. We know Read more...
Also posted in Launch, government, mta, nyc, open government | Leave a comment

NY City Council member calls for open transit data

By Nicholas Bergson-Shilcock | Published: September 10, 2009
Earlier this week, City Councilwoman Gale Brewer wrote a public letter to interim MTA CEO Helena Williams advocating for open public transit data. Though Councilwomen Brewer does not have direct political influence over the MTA as it’s a state-based agency, she makes a strong argument for open transit data. Indeed, Councilwoman Brewer, who chairs the Read more...
Also posted in mta, nyc, open government | Leave a comment