Hack for Change seeks city solutions through technology

This Saturday, Code for Nashville will host the National Day of Civic Hacking 2015, commonly known as Hack for Change, at Music City Center.

Local government officials, technology enthusiasts and community members plan to work together to address and solve community issues with applications and software systems.

The Code for America event came to Nashville three years ago after the city adopted an application created during a Chicago session. The app gives locations and pricing of flu shots in the area. With the gathering of citizens and techies, Hack for Change hopes to propose and solve problems around the area.

"Obviously we're trying to encourage people in the technology industry," event organizer John Chapin said. "What I think is really important is that we're looking for people who may be able to identify a problem or who knows of a problem that could be solved with technology."

The event hopes to inspire further collaboration and efficiency between Metropolitan government offices and the public — like the platform IncluCivics, created after the release of Mayor Karl Dean's Open Data Initiative. It allows the public to access information regarding the demographics of government officials in a user-friendly format through charts and graphs.

Some people come to the event with ideas for applications already in mind, but many coders gather to listen to the problems and innovate from these ideas.

"Some people end up coming to this event and seeing the issues ... and see this is a concern in my community too," Chapin said.

Last year, an application called Nashploration was the 2014 Hack for Change winning concept. Inspired by a teacher's desire for Nashville to be more interactive and fun for students, the app allows students to participate in an interactive scavenger hunt of the historical landmarks in downtown Nashville.

"The creativity and commitment of our community's software developers is inspiring to see. They are taking their skills to develop new technology to positively impact our community," Dean said in a statement. "I am excited to see the resources that will be developed as a result of the event."

IF YOU GO

Hack for Change 2015 takes place on Saturday, June 6, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Music City Center.

Tickets are free but limited. RSVP online at http://hackforchange.org/events/code-for-nashville-national-day-of-civic-hacking/.