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Dear de Blasio, Re: NYC Automated Decision Systems Task Force — #NYCAlgorithms
For the past year, BetaNYC has called on NYC government to be a global leader on algorithmic government. In the fall of 2017, CM Vacca introduced a bill that was turned into Local Law 49 of 2018. This #NYCAlgorithms LAW gives the city up to 24 months to create a task force and articulate how…
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WE’RE HIRING – Civic Innovation Lab Manager
BetaNYC is New York City’s civic technology, open data, and civic design community. Starting as a meetup in 2009, it has since grown to be a non-profit organization that hosts events, facilitates policy change, demystifies big ideas, and empowers a new generation of civic hackers. In a strategic partnership with the Manhattan Borough President Gale…
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Testimony on Open Data Examination and Verification Report 2017
Good Afternoon, Chairman Vacca and Members of the Technology Committee, I am Noel Hidalgo, Executive Director of BetaNYC and a member of the NYC Transparency Working Group. I want to start by thanking Chairman Vacca, the members of this Committee, and the Council for your continued commitment to oversight hearings for the Open Data Law.…
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a HUGE win for NYC’s legislative data.
For the last four years, we have been working with various City Council members to get the City’s “source code” online — we’re talking about the City’s charter, laws, rules, and daily record. The City’s charter is equivalent of the city’s constitution. According to the City’s law department, “the charter is the document that defines…
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CIF 2017 Field Report – First lab experience
(This week’s blog post is written by Federico Toscano and edited by Ramesh Beharry.) Introduction the first week’s lab: Last week, the 4th cohort of NYC Civic Innovation Fellows experienced their first bootcamp training at the Manhattan Borough President’s Office. The training consisted in a well-explained lecture by Noel Hidalgo, in which he disclosed a broad amount of…
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Testimony for Intro 1696-2017 (Open Algorithms Bill)
“We […] want to ensure that New York City leads the way in ethical algorithmic government. We want transparency around data tools, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and tracking. We want New York City to be the thought leader in smart, ethical, algorithmic government.” – 4 Jan 2016 – http://bit.ly/BetaNYC-2016-YearInReview To: NYC Council – Committee on Technology…
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Introducing Year 4 Civic Innovation Fellows
Introducing Year 4 NYC Civic Innovation Fellows! Last week marked the kickoff of the NYC Civic Innovation Fellowship’s 4th year! Throughout this program, our fellows will be trained in a bootcamp where they will learn the fundamentals of civic technology, data, and design. After this bootcamp training, graduates are partnered into innovation teams who explore…
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??? – NYC 311 Data Jam Recap!
If you attended the event, and did not yet fill out the post-event survey, please visit < https://betanyc.forms.fm/nyc-311-data-jam-followup >. This past weekend, 185 participants joined 10 NYC agencies and 19 community partners to address 6 challenges or attend 3 classes. With the Manhattan Borough President and members of Community Boards we worked to…
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Press Release – Manhattan Borough President Brewer, BetaNYC launch BoardStat, new data research and visualization tool for Community Boards and everyday New Yorkers, at NYC311 #datajam
NEW YORK – Today, Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer and BetaNYC unveiled BoardStat, a new interactive tool help laypersons sort, display, and map 311 complaint system data without advanced technical skills or specialized software. BoardStat was built to bridge the gap between merely providing access to open data and making that open data truly…
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How to improve NYC’s open data law 2.0?
Last week, we had the chance to join with members of the NYC Transparency Working Group and provide feedback on the future of NYC’s open data law (video). As this bill is under discussion we encourage all to provided your thoughts via councilmatic. Intro 1525-2017 This bill would require updates to the agency compliance plan, to…
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Announcing NYC 311 Data Jam – NYC’s National Day of Civic Hacking event
Join us on Saturday, 23 September, for a day dedicated to improving the people’s dataset! For 2017’s National Day of Civic Hacking, we ask you to roll up your sleeves and data jam with us. Last year, we worked with NYC Parks to improve their TreesCount! Census data. This year, we will shine a light on NYC 311’s…
