Chicago is strongest when people, government and business work together in the face of adversity, challenges, and even Mother Nature. Chicago Shovels is a tool to help connect the public with City winter resources and empower neighbors to come together to help Chicago navigate winter.

Information technology has become a ubiquitous presence. By visualizing the processes that underlie our interactions with this technology we can trace what happens to the information we feed into the network.

CodeNow works with underrepresented youth to develop the next pioneers in technology by teaching foundational skills in computer science and programming to narrow the digital divide. Creating a fluency in this language spurs innovation and opens doors for our youth, while creating a pipeline of talent for American companies.

Open source does not beget more open source in .NET, because the barriers to standing on each other shoulders are so high.

These are not unsolvable problems, but as far as I can tell, no one in the community has both resources and incentive to solve them.

The Library of Congress’ recently re-released Print & Photographs Online Catalog (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/) provides a json serialization of the request-scoped state used to create every html page.  This immediately enables PPOC to serve as a simple API for developers to make use of while building other applications, integrating Library data in new and innovative ways.

The Need & Opportunity Why Cities?

Cities are under greater pressure than ever, struggling with budget cuts and outdated technology. Code for America believes that instead of cutting services or raising taxes, cities can leverage the power of the web to become more efficient, transparent, and participatory. And we want to help them do it.

what can we do for your city Benefits of Participation

We recruit fellows who demonstrate a networked, web-centric, and open approach to problem-solving. Attaching the fellows to the city for the year and helping them build relationships with a wide variety of city workers is an effective way to introduce this kind of thinking and help it spread.

• Solve complex issues in your city with custom-built tech.
• Encourage experimentation with a new tool set.
• Collaborate with other innovative cities.

who are we looking for what we ask from cities

We are looking for applicant cities that demonstrate strong leadership that can maneuver through or overcome bureaucratic obstacles, funding to support the project, and have identified a project that has real cost-savings for the city, and promotes transparency and public participation. Additionally, we are interested in building solutions that can widely be reused by other local governments.

454:

Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory

Originally aired 01.06.2012

Mike Daisey was a self-described “worshipper in the cult of Mac.” Then he saw some photos from a new iPhone, taken by workers at the factory where it was made. Mike wondered: Who makes all my crap? He traveled to China to find out.

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Prologue.

Host Ira Glass speaks with an Apple device about its origin. (2 minutes)

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Act One. Mister Daisey Goes to China.

Mike Daisey performs an excerpt that was adapted for radio from his one-man show “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.” A lifelong Apple superfan, Daisey sees some photos online from the inside of a factory that makes iPhones, starts to wonder about the people working there, and flies to China to meet them. His show restarts a run at New York’s Public Theater later this month. (39 minutes)

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Act Two. Act One.

What should we make of what Mike Daisey saw in China? Our staff did weeks of fact checking to corroborate Daisey’s findings. Ira talks with Ian Spaulding, founder and managing director of INFACT Global Partners, which goes into Chinese factories and helps them meet social responsibility standards set by Western companies (Apple’s Supplier Responsibility page is here), and with Nicholas Kristof, columnist for The New York Times who has reported in Asian factories. In the podcast and streaming versions of the program he also speaks with Debby Chan Sze Wan, a project manager at the advocacy group SACOM, Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, based in Hong Kong. They’ve put out three reports investigating conditions at Foxconn (October 2010, May 2011, Sept 2011). Each report surveyed over 100 Foxconn workers, and they even had a researcher go undercover and take a job at the Shenzhen plant. (15 minutes)

John Brockman: the man who runs the world’s smartest website

Since the mid-1960s John Brockman has been at the cutting edge of ideas. He is a passionate advocate of both science and the arts, and his website Edge is a salon for the world’s finest minds

There’s no question that software and technology represent some of the fastest growing industries today. The internet has fundamentally changed the way we interact, do business, and spend money—without it, Frugaldad wouldn’t exist. That said, I always try and keep abreast of what’s happening in these sectors, and to be aware of how the online and tech industry makes its money.

I recently listened to an episode of This American Life called “When Patents Attack!”. Something that surprised me while listening was that while I think of patents as being mostly for gadgets and the kinds of products you see on infomercials, patents have become a huge factor in the software and online industries, to the tune of billions of dollars.

This infographic discusses some of the facts behind the patent industry and how it’s changed as software, technology, and the internet have developed at an incredible pace. I find the information to say a lot about the state of development and innovation; both how important it can be to everyday life, and the problems it can face on a larger scale.

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