Greetings Civic Hackers!

Last night we met to discuss our plans for 2022. There is still a lot of uncertainty in the world with COVID-19 and the rise of Omicron, but we have concluded that our programming for 2022 is going to be primarily virtual. We hope to be able to take advantage of our outdoor space at the CIC as the weather gets nicer in the Spring, but until then are relegated to the indoors. We are exploring the possibility of providing rapid testing on top our existing vaccine requirement in order to allow folks to comfortably meet as the Omicron wave tapers.

We are also excited for some of the new projects and programming that we’re planning for in 2022. We expect our advocacy maps project to restart with a new set of work. We’re planning an interesting project to tackle climate change with the HeatSmart Alliance. We are also looking to run more workshops and other programming to help folks level up their coding skills and help our partners throughout the year.

What we’re reading & watching:

• A Bleak Outlook for Public Sector Tech is Sean Boots pessimistic assessment of public sector tech in Canada.
• Why is it so hard to make a website for the Canadian government shares in detail the process that a simple website requires.
• Why It’s Too Early to Get Excited About Web3 is Tim O’Reily’s thoughtful take on blockchain technology and Web3.
• What the Tech Wednesdays where New Urban Mechanics breaks down the technology behind bicycle counters.

Matt & The Code for Boston Core Team

Jobs

MBTA: Software Engineer

The Software Engineer applies engineering best practices to public transit software systems and products. Sometimes this means coding new applications from scratch. Other times this means using the best solutions the community has to offer. We use cloud services, open-source software, and modern tools as much as possible. Knowing what to build and reuse ensures that we optimize our time and efforts so we can focus on delivering the best value to our riders.

TechCongress Congressional Innovation Fellowship

We are bridging the divide between Congress and the technology sector by placing tech savvy candidates like you to work with Members of Congress and Congressional Committees in order to build capacity in Congress, train cross-sector leaders – who can understand the challenges of government and in the technology community – and keep Congress up to date about the latest challenges and opportunities relating to technology.

Fellows receive an annual $85,000 stipend and other benefits. This is a full-time position based in Washington, DC. Remote participation is not possible.

Project Updates

Mattapan Mapping

• Off for the week.

Clean Slate

• MRCC - talking with them
• Working on testing framework.

Police Data Trust

• In a sprint/job to get out some user testing.
• Testing the police data with Thoughtworks.
• Looking to get three different states on the standard including California and Louisiana.