Civic Apps Competition Handbook

Organize a Civic Apps Competition (CAC) in your city. This practical guide provides best practices for each phase of the process, based largely on the authors’ firsthand experience planning and managing Apps for Metro Chicago (A4MC). You’ll learn everything from setting goals and creating a budget to running the competition and measuring the outcome.

CACs provide software programmers with platforms for building effective apps, using open government data as a way to foster community involvement and make government more transparent. This handbook helps you address serious questions about the process and shows you what’s required for making your competition successful.
Gain insights from the authors’ survey of 15 CACs in the US and CanadaGet guidelines for establishing specific goals, and evaluate results with reliable metricsUnderstand major costs involved and build a budget around partners and sponsorsDetermine participation incentives, prize categories, and judgingAvoid unstructured data sets by being selective when choosing public datasetsLearn how the authors handled roadblocks during the A4MC competitionDiscover ways to sustain lasting community interest once the CAC is over