When big thinkers, designers & coders hack together.
Last month, we were invited to participate in the Inaugural Experiment of GovLabs.
It was a mind-blowing experience! First off, we couldn’t help but be star-struck at all the luminaries milling about from the Civic Tech, Gov 2.0, Open Data and Semantic Web worlds – Tim Berners-Lee, Jim Hendler, [...]
Whew! What a hectic month!
We co-hosted “Code Across NYC” right here at the NYU-Poly Varick Incubator with Code for America. The Venn Diagram of Code Across America and the First International Open Data Day!
NYC celebrated the first anniversary of its ground-breaking Open Data Law. I attended the press conference on the steps of City Hall [...]
Though NYCDataWell didn’t make the semifinals, it was still worthwhile and an amazing collaboration with the Ecco Design team.
It allowed us to step outside our engineering focus, and consider the different usecases of a Digital City with a River of Data.
Regardless, we look forward to the future of the Reinvented Payphone! Or “Reown the Phone” [...]
ReinventPhones Demo day was sold out, so the nycdatawell team watched via quirky.com/live.
Looking at the quirky.com livestreaming counter, there were several hundred people watching remotely.
Once again, NYC is blazing the trail! Reminiscent of the ground-breaking polihack last year when DoITT used a wiki to get feedback on its landmark Open Data Policy, the City doesn’t hesitate to [...]
The Thrill of Victory! And the Agony of Defeat!
NYCDataWell didn’t make the semi-finals cut.
I’d be lying if I said we weren’t disappointed, but we knew there was no guarantee, and perhaps, the risk we took by going with such an unconventional design was just too big a leap.
Regardless, we’re very proud of our work and [...]
I’m the son of two civil servants. Growing up, however, I remember being indoctrinated by my parents NOT to pursue public service.
They both saw themselves through college, and they fell into civil service out of necessity, and got into their career tracks not out of passion, but because there was no other option.
I still got [...]
It was our seventh wedding anniversary the other day so I promised my wife I’ll come up for air and celebrate in style.
As luck would have it, New York Restaurant Week was underway so I could impress my wife with my discerning, epicurean (on a start-up budget) choice – Inakaya.
Truth be told, it was the [...]
During yesterday’s State of the State speech, Governor Cuomo announced that he intends to implement a comprehensive statewide open data portal.
Woohoo!!! This news brings back memories of us literally jumping up and down in Sami’s basement when we heard the unexpected news of NYC passing its Open Data Law.
But then, we tempered our celebration when [...]
Was reading an excellent article by David Eaves on TechPresident this morning on “What Technology Can and Cannot Do In the Fight Against Corruption?” and I was I was struck by the whole idea – Technology against Corruption!?!
As it happens, I’m currently reading Dan Ariely‘s latest book – The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty and was inspired to [...]
Here’s the postcard we sent for the Holidays. Since we’re all about mashups, we thought we’d do one for our postcard too…
With due apologies to Paul Graham and Fred Wilson…
