At PdF, Bloomberg Announces 'Big Apps' Contest, Says He'll Dine With Winner

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This morning Mayor Michael Bloomberg kicked off the Personal Democracy Forum—a conference about the intersection of technology and politics—by announcing a new annual competition that awards cash prizes to Web developers who come up with innovative Internet and mobile applications using city data.

Mr. Bloomberg also said he'd take the grand-prize winner out to dinner.

For the first stage of the contest, which will be called Big Apps, the city will release what Bloomberg described as a “huge volume of data” from various city agencies. (That means the data will be made available in a machine-readable format that’s conducive to programming.) He gave the example of creating a mobile application out of the Health Department’s restaurant grades.

“What we’re trying to do here is create the connectedness that will benefit the city economically, civically and socially,” said Mr. Bloomberg, who was beamed in live on a huge projector screen via Skype. (He wasn’t able to attend the conference in person.)

The announcement appeared to be well-received by techies present at the conference, who quickly began spreading the word via (what else?) Twitter.

The mayor also said that when the “.nyc” top-level domain becomes available—that’s expected to happen in 2010—the city will create a Web site at data.nyc to house all of the data.

Incidentally, Councilwoman Gale Brewer, chair of the Technology in Government Committee, just last week announced she's sponsoring a new bill that would require all city data to be opened up to developers and put online at a central Web portal. Ms. Brewer was present for Mr. Bloomberg’s announcement this morning, but is heading downtown to City Hall for the first public hearing on the bill at 1 p.m. [UPDATE: Read Azi Paybarah's coverage of the hearing.]

In the keynote speech Mr. Bloomberg also spoke about how technology is improving city life. He cited four other tech initiatives, in addition to the Big Apps competition, that he said “would allow us to make the city even more accessible and more accountable.”

Not surprisingly, three of these were related to 311, New York’s municipal information service, which many consider to be the mayor’s most significant technological achievement.

311 now has a Skype account and a Twitter account (@311NYC), he said, adding that residents can now get the same morning 311 alerts as Tweets that they would get if they called 311. He also talked about nyc.gov’s online 311 component, which, he noted, integrates Google so users can easily track down the information they’re looking for.

“We’ve always thought of [311] as a customer service, and what we’re trying to do is treat our citizens as customers,” said the mayor.

The other initiative he announced is that the city will be working with Google to follow traffic patterns on nyc.gov to identify the city services people are most frequently searching for.

A press release about the announcements just came in from the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. Here's the full text:

MAYOR BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCES FIVE TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE ACCESSIBILTY, TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACROSS CITY GOVERNMENT

 

City Providing Data to the Public to Allow for the Development of Applications for Computers and Mobile Devices as Part of “NYC Big Apps” Public Contest; 311 and NYC.gov Enhanced through Skype, Twitter and Google

 

Obama Administration Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra Applauds City Efforts

 

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced a series of technology initiatives designed to increase transparency and improve access to information about City services. The City will provide data to allow for the development of software applications that can be used on websites and mobile devices, and through what will become an annual competition known as NYC Big Apps, the City will encourage innovative and useful applications. The Mayor also announced the launch of 311 Online and other improvements to 311 and NYC.gov through services provided by Skype, Twitter and Google. With call volume to 311 continuing to increase, 311 Online will allow the City to maintain the current level of service with current staffing levels, potentially avoiding more than $4 million in additional costs next fiscal year. The Mayor made the announcement in remarks delivered through Skype to the Personal Democracy Forum at Lincoln Center, an annual conference that explores how technology and the Internet are changing politics, democracy and society. New York City Chief Information Officer and Commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications Paul J. Cosgrave also attended the conference.

 

            “We’ve already made great strides increasing the accessibility of City data and transparency of City government, and these initiatives will use private sector technological innovation to bolster those efforts,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Through NYC Big Apps, 311 Online and services offered by Skype, Twitter and Google, we’re working to provide public information to New Yorkers in as many ways as possible.”

 

“We applaud New York City’s leadership on delivering a more open and innovative government,” said Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra. “These five announcements align well to President Obama’s Open Government Initiative and reflect best practices worthy of replication to achieve excellence in public sector performance.”

 

“Today’s package of initiatives represents an historic stride in transparency – even for systems that have made accessibility commonplace,” said Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications Commissioner Cosgrave. “As successful as we have been in opening up City government to those it serves, the key to technology deployment for any organization is to continue innovating.  As 311 and NYC.gov grow, the City needs to adapt and engage New Yorkers in utilizing the data it collects to keep fresh these enduring avenues of access.”

 

NYC Big Apps

 

Through the NYC Big Apps annual competition, the City will provide an array of data sets to encourage the public to develop applications that could benefit New Yorkers. Approximately 80 data sets from across 32 City agencies and commissions may be made available on NYC.gov, including such categories as citywide events, property records and sales information, recreational facility directories and restaurant inspection information. The City will invite the public to create innovative applications, and winners will be awarded a cash prize and marketing opportunities. Mayor Bloomberg plans to congratulate the winners in person at a dinner. The contest will begin this fall. The program will be administered by New York City Economic Development Corporation, which today issued a Request for Expressions of Interest to solicit information from software developers and professionals in related fields to identify additional data sets to be aggregated.

 

“Finding opportunities to engage our innovative high-tech workforce is integral to the continued growth of the media sector in New York City,” said New York City Economic Development Corporation President Seth W. Pinsky. “By making City data available to a broader audience and encouraging our entrepreneurs to create new applications using that information, we leverage existing resources to stimulate investment and create jobs.”

 

311 Online

 

Mayor Bloomberg launched 311 Online, a one-stop, searchable web portal on NYC.gov for thousands of New York City services. Through the site, New Yorkers can obtain information, report problems, lodge complaints, check the status of previously-filed complaints and request City services – just as they can by calling 311. Users can browse through a directory of City services, search for available services by specific demographic or service type, and access quick links to featured services and top services. Keyword searches and advanced search options allow customers to navigate directly to the information. Users will be able to attach pictures, videos and audio files to their complaints and service requests.

 

311 Skype and Twitter Accounts

 

The Mayor announced 311 Skype and Twitter accounts. Through Skype – a software application that enables calls to be made over the Internet – people from around the world will be able to call 311 for free. The City will use Twitter – the free, social messaging service – to ‘tweet’ information regularly about such things as alternate side of the street parking status, schools closures and information about citywide events. 311NYC tweets will be 140 or fewer characters in length and can be sent to any mobile device via texting, instant messaging or the web. Information about emergency events and services will continue to be accessible via Notify NYC. 

 

Google Collaboration to Improve Site Content on NYC.gov

 

The Mayor also announced that the City is working with Google to use Google search patterns to better understand the usage of NYC.gov and ultimately improve site content. By analyzing trends for New York City-related searches made by Google users, the City will tailor content to user preferences and improve costumer service.