api

We've got a spec on the First DIYcity Project all ready to go, and are planning a launch as soon as some light development is done on it. Now we need a developer who can help us get to the finish line.

If you're a developer, please consider being that person.

It's a very short and contained project, not a lot of work. Could be easily done in your spare time.

See spec here.

All code written will be open source and will live on DIYcity's servers.

Anyone lending a hand will be credited on the app with your name and a URL.

Contact us at diy@diycity.org for details if you're interested.

Everyone loves tamales and everyone loves late night situations where a friendly stranger delivers hot fresh tamales right to your bar stool. So, after some intense conversations surrounding the Tamale Guy here in Chicago, we came up with a great idea. What if it were some how possible to follow the Tamale Guy via Twitter as he made his rounds? A user community that would tweet when and where they saw the tamale guy and then users could be able to follow the progress by following the twitter.com/tamaletracker (tamaleguy was already taken).

How it works:

- twitter users send a @Reply to @tamaletracker when they see the Tamale Guy at their favorite pub in Chicago.
- then a scheduled listening service looks for any @Replies that have come into twitter.com/tamaletracker.
- when a new tweet comes in, the twitter.com/tamaletracker account then ReTweets on their behalf.
- twitter users sign up to follow twitter.com/tamaletracker or simply go to twitter.com/tamaletracker.
- choose to recieve sms alerts when twitter.com/tamaletracker tweets.

I created this the other day and have not tested it beyond my own tweets up until now. So if anyone does choose to use this little tool please let me know what bugs you find or if it just plain doesn't work for you.

Thanks!

Hey all,

The possibilities of this forum are practically limitless - so let's start exploring them! While we haven't had a physical meet up (yet) this space can be a starting point for Twin Cities specific DIY ideas. Please, respond to this thread with

-what the ideal DIY TC would look like

-urgent (TC specific) issues you want to tackle with DIY tech

-next steps in addressing those issues

Also: how can we spread the news about this project? Like any forum, it depends on a quantity of quality contributors - spread the word!

Join us @ ChangeCamp Toronto
http://www.changecamp.ca

We'll be discussing DIY Toronto, Hyper Local and the Social API

Wiki post: http://wiki.changecamp.ca/ChangeCampTO_Event/ChangeCampTO_Session_Ideas/...

Saturday, January 24, 2009 from 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM (ET)
Registration: http://changecampto-changecampca.eventbrite.com/

Location:
MaRS Centre
101 College Street
Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L7
Canada

The MetLife Foundation and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation are partnering for the eighth year to recognize, sustain, and share the work of innovative partnerships between community groups and police that promote neighborhood safety and revitalization.

Awardees will receive cash grants ranging from $15,000 to $25,000 each. Case studies about award-winning partnerships will be disseminated throughout the community development and law enforcement industries. Previous winners have used award money to pay for special patrols, trainings, and equipment for officers.

Grants will be awarded in two categories. Neighborhood Revitalization Awards (six grants of $15,000 to $25,000 each) celebrate exemplary collaboration between community groups and police that result in crime reduction as well as economic development activity, including real estate development, business attraction, and job growth. Special Strategy Awards (six awards of $15,000 each) will be given to community and police partners that have achieved significant accomplishments in applied technology, aesthetics and greenspace improvement, diversity, inclusion and integration, drug market disruption, gang prevention and youth safety, or seniors and safety.

Further information and a link to the full Request for Proposals is available at the LISC Web site.
http://www.lisc.org/section/goals/healthy/safety/awards/

Application:
http://www.lisc.org/docs/resources/2009_MetLife_Preliminary_Application....

[source: http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/rfp_item.jhtml?id=240900017
]

Disasters really are the ultimate DIY setting - stakes are high, centralized solutions are often insufficient, overwhelmed or disabled, and volunteers and donors are everywhere. Often you'll see new communications tools and practices go through major transformations - Americans didnt initially take to cell phones as fast as the rest of the world, but that all changed after 9/11.

I spent a lot of time studying the role of communications in disasters a few years ago when I was doing research at NYU's Center for Catastrophe Preparedness. I wrote a report, which I think is still a useful reference

"Telecommunications Infrastructure in Disasters: Preparing Cities for Crisis Communications"
http://www.nyu.edu/ccpr/pubs/NYU-DisasterCommunications1-Final.pdf

Some other examples:
Sahana - http://www.sahana.lk/node/12 - general purpose open source disaster response toolkit
KatrinaList - http://discovermagazine.com/2005/dec/emerging-technology - good article by outside.in founder Stephen Johnson on how the Katrina victim and refugee lists were coordinated using Web 2.0

What other kinds of problems could DIY disaster response solve?

One thing that occurs is that none of these are particularly mobile friendly frameworks. There are loads of SMS alerting schemes out there, but most are top-down, intended to be used by authorities to alert large groups of residents. Are there any p2p disaster messaging platforms out there?

BART now offers open-format schedules, real-time arrival and ETA feeds, etc. for developers to hook into:
http://www.bart.gov/schedules/developers/index.aspx

(thx dens!)

If the NYC MTA opened up their schedule data as a free and unrestricted API, what would you do with it? What would be the best way to use this data? What calls would you want to see included in the API?

What is the most amazing DIYcity idea you've got? The thing you've been thinking about building for years, or something just off the top of your head right now. Let's have it.

Does anyone know of transit agencies or private transit operators that are providing open API access to either a) schedule or b) real-time location for buses, trains, ferries or any other kind of vehicles?

Will collate and post summary.
Thanks