88Nine Labs, in partnership with the ACLU of Wisconsin, is hosting a civic hackathon on November 3-4 at Ward4 MKE prior to the Midterm Elections. The goal of this hackathon is to develop ideas using technology and open data to create solutions to better inform and educate local citizens about their city, state and national government.

The goal of this event is to bring together a group of diverse people with skills in coding, graphic design, storytelling, and visual data analysis to create tools that will promote civic education, transparency, and accountability in government.

This hackathon was inspired by the Hack4Democracy hackathon hosted by the MIT GOV/LAB 
last year.

The hackathon will kick off Saturday morning (Nov. 3) at 10 a.m., where the ACLU of Wisconsin will present the challenges that they’re facing and the solutions they’re looking for. Following the presentation, participants will form teams of five or fewer to problem solve using election and civic engagement data from the city of Milwaukee.

Hacking will continue on November 4 for most of the day. Then, beginning at 5:30 p.m., teams will begin presenting their work.

If you have your own idea that involves solutions to better inform and educate local citizens about their government, you can work on those as well. You can even work on the ideas prior to hackathon.

The teams will have full ownership of everything they build at our event. We’d prefer it if you make your project open source, but this decision is to be made by your team. If you make your project open source, we ask you to provide a link to the project so we can share it with the public.

Food and coffee will be provided on both days for all participants. 

ACLU Challenge:

Help create a tool to inform people of their rights when stopped by the police (data here: https://www.aclu-wi.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/2012_mke_kyrpocketguide.pdf) and make it more simple for them to file a complaint with the Milwaukee Fire & Police Commission. (Complaint form here: https://city.milwaukee.gov/fpc/Complaints#.W6qXlPZOnIU )

- Voting is a right we need to protect for all citizens in our country. How can we make registering to vote easier? What tools can improve grassroots mobilization efforts? Think apps, FB bots and beyond… (courtesy of Hack4Democracy)

- Create tools to make it easy for citizens to keep their elected official accountable. For example, know what bills and policies that elected official vote on, or tool to track campaign finances

- City of Milwaukee recently launched an open data portal. Create a solution that uses one or more of the datasets that would be useful for Milwaukeeans. https://data.milwaukee.gov/

- Open Hack: Do you have an idea that can help citizens to become more engaged and educated about their government? Work on your own project idea that contributes to this theme. 

Nov 3
10am - 11am: Coffee, ACLU presentation and team formations
11am - 12pm: begin hacking/idea formations
12pm - 1pm: lunch
1pm - 7pm: continue hacking

Nov. 4
10am-5:30pm: continue hacking (with lunch served at noon)
5:30 - 6:00pm: presentations from team

You can participate as a developer as well as a designer, concept developer, data geek, and community member. You don't need to be a professional; you will be working in a team of no more than five people. To participate in the hackathon you have to get your free ticket on our Eventbrite page.

• No Judging