DemocracyLab.org

1st Virtual Tech-for-Good Hackathon: After Action Report

DemocracyLab adapted to Covid-19 by taking its March 14th St. Hack-trick's Day event online. This post shares information about the event format, the technology used, and lessons learned.

techforgood

Banana App Helps People in Need Find Imperfect Food

14.3 million U.S. Households suffered from food insecurity during 2018, including 2.7 million households with children. Meanwhile, grocery stores throw away 43 billion pounds of food each year. The Banana App from the Be Good Project seeks to address this inefficiency by creating a way for people

civictech

Council Data Project Demystifies City Governments

Local governments affect people’s lives more than any other, yet most people know very little about the beliefs and actions of those who represent them in City Hall. City councils typically meet during the day when most people are working, and publish video recordings of their meetings that are

hackathons

Washington Conviction Vacation Project Simplifies Record Clearance

A criminal record can have life-altering consequences beyond the incident itself. It may be difficult to find and keep a job, secure housing, obtain a student loan, or even volunteer in your child’s school. Collectively, we call these “collateral consequences,” or legal restrictions imposed upon people because of their

civictech

Turin Horse Uses Data to Analyze Legislative Efficiency

There are many substantial barriers to finding trustworthy and meaningful sources of political information. Poor decision-making at the ballot box based on bias or un-contextualized information decouples government political action and voter accountability. These decisions spur higher rates of local corruption, greater cost for municipal bonds, lower voter turnout, signs

civictech

OrcaSound Uses Machine Learning to Advocate for Endangered Orcas

“The bird people are ahead of us,” was not what I expected to hear coming from a group at Hack to Give Thanks tasked with talking about killer whales. But, according to Scott Veirs of OrcaSound, a web-app that allows users to listen for whales and then conserve them, this

politics

Undebate Creates On Demand Debate Experience to Educate Voters

In your last local election, how well did you know the candidates? If you’re like many Americans, the answer is likely, “not very well.” In fact, citizens often skip voting on races like school board and city council because they don't know who any of the candidates are and

civictech

PeaceTrees Vietnam Works to Heal the Wounds of War

Founded in 1995, PeaceTrees Vietnam seeks to heal landscape and culture scars incurred during the Vietnam War. With over 10,000 people (20% of them children) killed or maimed by forgotten ordinances since 1984, this Seattle organization seeks to bring urgent attention to those remaining. In the last 24 years

civictech

Child Care Resources Gets Help Navigating Tech Maze

Child Care Resources (CCR) Homeless Child Care Subsidy program is a resource for families experiencing homelessness. By providing access to affordable, accessible learning and childcare, the program allows parents to allocate more time and energy to finding work and housing, removing some of the tenacious barriers that can trap families

techforgood

Town Hall Project Promotes Political Accountability

For citizens who want to keep track of their local government’s activities and policies, the only option was constant proactive engagement… until Town Hall Project was launched in January 2017. Borne out of a Google spreadsheet, the site will tell you—based on your zip code—who your representatives

civictech

ClimateTree Fosters Learning to Combat Climate Change

The project is complicated, but the problem it seeks to solve is simple: how can we optimize climate activism using the wealth of data available? ClimateTree, inspired by the global Climate Strike student movement, is a platform for sharing climate solutions between areas that face similar challenges. Users can compare

India

Turn The Bus Brings Digital Education to Rural India

In rural India, access to education for underprivileged communities is quite limited, especially when children have limited time because they have to help their aging parents and contribute to their family in various ways, just to make a living. According to Vikram Chalana, TurnTheBus’s CTO, “these communities access to

civictech

RHours Seeks to Create Software-Defined Ownership Economy

For project leader Glen, RHours represents the intersection of two areas of interest; a fascination for software development that began in childhood, and a passion for social equity and wealth distribution that burgeoned as an adult. His ambitious project seeks to address the inherent inequality in business ownership, where employees

civictech

Infoncast Bridges Last Mile Connectivity Gap in Africa

For many nations in sub-Saharan Africa, the national languages are English and French. However, most of their citizens are not fluent in these languages; instead, they speak one of hundreds of local dialects. This presents a significant inhibition to media accessibility for sub-Saharan Africans. Developed in response to this disconnect,