February 15, 2013 By News Staff
During his State of the City address on Feb. 14, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Code Corps -- a new initiative that enlists volunteer techies to help city government with its emergency and disaster recovery needs, TechPresident reported.
Touted as the country's first municipal program of its kind, Code Corps was launched by NYC Digital and the Mayor’s Office of Policy and Strategic Planning in response to needs that arose from Hurricane Sandy’s impact on the city.
The program engages vetted volunteer technologists -- data scientists, developers and designers -- from nonprofit and private-sector organizations who partner with city agency representatives to develop strategic projects that serve civic needs, according to the NYC Digital website.
These volunteer technologists will coordinate with a newly formed advisory committee called the Data Advisory and Research Taskforce (DART), which consists of data scientists, developers and experts from across city government.
According to NYC Digital, potential projects include developing new databases, Web and mobile applications, emergency-related information maps using city data, analysis of impacted populations, and data sharing with other governments or utilities.
This Digital Communities white paper highlights discussions with IT officials in four counties that have adopted shared services models. Our aim was to learn about the obstacles these governments have faced when it comes to shared services and what it takes to overcome those roadblocks. We also spoke with several members of the IT industry who have thought long and hard about these issues. The paper offers some best practices for shared government-to-government services, but also points out challenges that government and industry still must overcome before this model gains widespread adoption.
Don't miss this opportunity to see the latest in digital government solutions, keep abreast of current policy issues and network with key government executives, technologists and industry specialists.
Great post. Disaster recovery is one of my favorite topics to brush up on. http://www.belfor.com/en/USA/Oregon/Portland.aspx