GovHack 2012 - $30,000 in prizes for best ideas to improve Australian Government
GovHack 2012 is set to take on some of the big issues facing government departments including how does government engage with society to co-create a better future.
With a strong focus on government data this year, GovHack is inviting teams of programmers and designers to invent new and better ways of delivering government data to Australians and will be rewarding the best apps, data 'mashups', and data visualizations with a share of $30,000 in prize money.
The event, being held in Canberra and Sydney from 1st - 3rd June, will challenge teams to answer the question and develop solutions for 'how can government data be better used to benefit Australians?'
The organisers have secured well over thirty thousand dollars in prize money through sponsorships, although Pia Waugh, the chief organiser is tight-lipped about the prize categories.
"We want people to come with fresh ideas and concepts and to build them at GovHack using publicly released data from government agencies. To keep the playing field level, we won't tell anyone the prize categories until the event."
In previous years GovHack winners have found ways to compare government lobbying with the results of successful tenders, and designed mobile apps to help people find the nearest public toilet.
"This is a unique opportunity to be a part of generating ideas for how government can better use and re-use the wealth of information hidden away in its databases. By being a part of this event the participants get to, in a small way, directly influence how government data managers will look at and manage their data stores" Pia said.
"Then there's the fun side of the event, you get to hang out with like-minded people who love data, coding and producing cool stuff while chugging down caffeine and pizza. It's kind of like what a lot of people already do with their weekends, we just facilitate it." said Geoff Mason one of the event volunteers.
GovHack has big names supporting it this year including Adobe, MailChimp, Palantir. It also has some of the biggest data holders from the Australian Government involved to provide prize money and data including the National Archives of Australia, the Australian Government Information Management Office, and the Bureau of Meteorology.
Major and minor prize categories will be announced at the opening of the event Friday 1st of June, you can register, see the competition rules, and an outline of the data to be made available on the GovHack site (http://www.govhack.org).
This year GovHack is also an official part of 2012 APS Innovation week with the support of the Department of Innovation.
GovHack is a non-profit run by volunteers from within the Australian Gov 2.0 community (#gov2au), the eGovernment Technology Cluster, and with support from the University of Canberra INSPIRE Centre, and Rewired State (a UK company who runs similar events globally).
See the GovHack website (http://www.govhack.org) for more information or to register.
