Sunday, March 10, 2013

Hacking For the Civic Good

The South by South West Festival (SXSW) is going on down in Texas, and the festival offered an interesting panel relating to civil engagement this year. I thought this was an interesting read because of how the term "hacker" is used and because we've never looked at the flip side of the definition; using data and know how for the public good.
“A lot of people are really happy calling themselves civic hackers and self-defining that way, and saying, 'Yeah, I'm hacking, I'm coding, I'm taking data and trying to make it useful and using it in new ways,''

 

2 comments:

  1. That's awesome! Great find, Capn Crunch! I wish I'd been able to attend that panel--it sounds fascinating!

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  2. I suppose this is something new, the idea of a "hacker" being viewed in a positive light. Hollywood has hepled to improve the impression the world has of hackers, but more and more, hackers are being considered useful.

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