Above: Nick Skytland – NASA, Logan Powell – U.S. Census Bureau, Richard Bookman – University of Miami and Kevin Curry – Code for America.

Knight Foundation supports civic hacking events to connect citizens and foster informed and engaged communities. Below, Richard Bookman, a professor at the University of Miami, one of the organizers of Hack for Change: Miami and a member of the core organizing team for the National Day of Civic Hacking, writes about the growing impact of the movement.

Sometimes, every once in awhile, it’s worth it to pause, take a step back and appreciate the progress we are making in improving our civic lives through the creative use of technology.

July 23 was one of those days.

The White House invited about 150 people from across the country to celebrate civic hacking and open government.

White House. Celebrate. Civic Hacking.

Wow.

That’s a combination of words you’re not accustomed to seeing together.

At a time when the news is filled with stories of cyber warfare and black-hat hacking attacks on U.S. companies and institutions, the Obama administration decides to feature some of the projects from the June National Day of Civic Hacking at a White House “Champions of Change” event.

There is a vibrant and growing community of “civic hackers” across the country and here in South Florida. National Day of Civic Hacking events drew more than 11,000 participants in more than 80 cities and towns, many of whom embody the spirit of hacking to make their communities better.

What is that spirit?

Todd Park, chief technology officer of the United States, recognizes it as a positive force that is firmly grounded in local efforts. In his welcome to the group at the White House, Park applauded the “can-do” spirit of citizens across the country to help redefine and energize the relationship between citizens and government. Engagement and focusing on specific problems are key. Most important, while technology and data and apps may play a role, civic hacking can be as simple as finding a way to organize your neighbors to make life better.  Civic hacking doesn’t require committees. It doesn’t require organizational overhead. It’s an individual or small team coming together to get something done—and to get it done now.

Rob Davis and Christina Solana are great examples, since their creation was the Miami project highlighted at the White House. They met at the Hack for Change: Miami event in June and decided to work on a project to make state government more transparent. Exemplifying one of the core principles of the open source software movement, they found code from a similar project in Minnesota and used it to jump-start their project for Florida. Their Bill Tracker is also a great example of taking advantage of existing state government data; by providing a better user interface, they hope to make it easier for citizens all over Florida to track the progress of filed bills and amendments as they make their way through the lawmaking process.

Hack for Change: Miami brought together more than 220 citizens of South Florida, ranging in age from 6 to more than 80 working together at the LAB Miami in Wynwood. Their ideas and their energy are contagious, and this community of civic hackers will continue to grow as citizens, here in Miami and elsewhere, realize that we can, in fact, hack for change.