Hackers across the country are getting ready to participate in the first annual National Day of Civic Hacking which will take place in over 80 cities on June 1st and 2nd, 2013. The two day event will bring together citizens, developers, government agencies and entrepreneurs to create applications using publicly available APIs and datasets, to help solve a civic or social problem impacting the local community.
Dropbox has announced its first developer conference: DBX. On July 9th, Dropbox will host an invited group of developers and designers to San Francisco to share ideas with developer brethren and learn about what’s coming from Drobox. Although attendees must be invited, tickets are $350 and those interested can request an invitation.
Since 2007, Health 2.0 Conference has held some of the most innovative showcases in healthcare. Its latest installment, Health: Refactored, will convene May 13-14 in Silicon Valley. The conference will host developers and designers who aim to sharpen skills and create connections that will generate success and innovation in the healthcare industry. Health: Refactored enjoys the guidance of a heralded advisory board of health technology disruptors and visionaries.
There is a lot happening regarding APIs in the Nordic countries. A big driver in this development is the Open Data movement fueled by the European Union PSI directive, that encourages countries to make public sector information available. A great example of open public data is the API from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (and related API from yr.no), which is one of the most popular non-US weather APIs in the world. There are also startups like danish Podio and swedish Spotify that are using APIs as an integral part of their services and their marketing.
Cleanweb consists of “a grassroots movement committed to solving the world’s most profound issues related to resource constraints through the application of information technology.” The Portland Cleanweb Community will host its first hackathon May 17th – 19th. Developers, designers, and other professionals with gather to solve local environmental issues with web, mobile, and social media technologies.
“The biggest API playground in the world,” API Mashups, has announced its fifth API Mashup Contest. If you have created a mashup and need investors, PR, or mentors; submit your mashup to the contest team by May 31, 2013. The API Mashup team has revamped its webiste, expanded its user and advisory bases, and is excited to review the innovative mashups that are submitted over the next few months.
In Abraham Lincoln’s famous A House Divided speech, he detailed the importance of planning: “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it.” The same need holds true in the API world. Thus, technical writers and documentarians will embark on a two journey in hopes to refine the technical documentation and writing process at Write the Docs (April 8-9).
Another month – another API event! This time in my hometown Stockholm – what more could you ask for? Spring weather perhaps? We may have to wait for better weather until the fall conference, which will feature talks from ProgrammableWeb’s own Adam DuVander and John Musser. For now lets recap what we saw at the inaugural Nordic API event.
The International Space Apps Challenge is an annual technology development event that focuses on solving challenges related to life on earth and space exploration. The 2-day global event is hosted by NASA in collaboration with over 100 partner organizations including the European Space Agency, National Science Foundation and Department of Energy. The International Space Apps Challenge is looking for developers to create innovative and inspiring apps.
Photo Hack Day 4 erupts April 6th, and runs nonstop through the weekend. The first Photo hack Day brought together photographers, web designers, photo editors, and computer scientists for the first image-centric hackathon. Since the original 200 hackers threw together almost fifty mashups in a single weekend (two years ago), Photo Hack Day has blossomed in number, creativity, and excitement as it readies itself for a fourth rendition. Lead sponsors Aviary and Facebook look forward to “[a]nother full weekend of photo centric awesomeness.”
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