Technology Champions of Change
Earlier this week, the Obama Administration celebrated 18 technology innovators as part of their “Champions of Change” initiative. White House Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, honoured these citizens for building applications on government data in order to improve life for their fellow citizens. The applications vary widely in scope, from helping citizens to solve local issues through collective dialog, through to informing parents of child-friendly destinations and helping asthma patients track the use of their medication.
The White House's website is hosting profiles of many of these innovators including:
- Localocracy founder Conor White Sullivan, whose platform "helps citizens and elected officials identify and solve local issues by providing a platform that fosters healthy civic dialogue";
- Daniel X. O'Neil, whose works include collaborating with the new Federal CTO Harper Reed on Chicago's citypayments.org;
- Michael Riedijk, whose YouTown service provides an "all-in-one mobile app for local government".
- Waldo Jaquith, whose Richmond Sunlight website aggregates and opens up legislative information about the lawmaking body that governs the state of Virginia
- Leigh Budlong, whose ZonabilitySF App provides "San Francisco homebuyers, renters, remodelers and others answer zoning questions about various properties".
- David Van Sickle, founder of Reciprocal Labs which developed an asthma tracker.
Valerie Jarret, Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama, explained the Champions of Change initiative as 'highlighting Americans doing extraordinary things in their communities'.
For more, check Whitehouse.gov's series of blog posts from these champions:
- The Possibility and Promise of Open Data
- Harnessing Open Government Data to a Wellness Intiative
- Increasing Access to Data with Public-Private Partnerships
- How Open Government Technology Transforms the Way We Travel
- Taking Part in Democracy Through Open Source Software
- Making the Political Process More Open and Inclusive
