OPA Data Liberator: the hackathon project that fills in where city property records leave off [VIDEO]

Hackathon team OPA Data Liberator

Coders and journalists need to hang out more. It’s becoming something of a mission here at Technically Philly.

On Saturday, at the Open Gov Hackathon presented by Tropo, as a part of the third annual BarCamp NewsInnovation, former Inquirer City Hall reporter and current freelancer Patrick Kerkstra walked into the TV Studio at Temple University’s Annenberg Hall.

In the chilly, cement-floored room, Kerkstra presented a simple problem to a handful of developers there early for the hackathon. On the website of the city’s Office of Property Assessment (the reconstituted Board of Revision of Taxes), the search function is limited to specific address and doesn’t extend to names.

So, say, a small-time property developer wanted neighborhood approval for a zoning variance at a newly purchased property. Until Kerkstra inspired a pack of hackers, there was no easy, online way for concerned neighbors to find out other properties that property developer owned.

Now there is. Visit the OPA Data Liberator.

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First of dozens of city computer centers opens in Center City

Mayor Michael Nutter logged on last week at the launch of a new computer center built for Philadelphia FIGHT, at 13th and Spruce streets.

This article is part of Broadband2035, a series in partnership with PlanPhilly funded by an award from J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism to explore broadband issues to impact Philadelphia’s developing comprehensive plan.

Last week, Mayor Nutter and Congressman Bob Brady opened the first of a series of new public computer centers aimed at reaching the estimated 41 percent of city residents who do not have access to the Internet.

On Tuesday, during Philly Tech Week, the Mayor logged on at the new center at Philadelphia FIGHT, an HIV/AIDS support organization — at 13th and Spruce streets, kicking off the federal grant-funded program. FIGHT has for more than a decade provided internet resources for people affected by HIV in the city.

“You should be able to get the information you need, access to services and programs all over the place,” Mayor Nutter said. “This is the future of this city, and it’s from a technology perspective.”

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Mural Guide application finds, details Philly’s ample outdoor art, built with OpenDataPhilly

An iPhone rendering of the Philly Mural Guide, which can be visited on any smart phone or web browser. Click to visit.

OpenDataPhilly.org was unveiled with a roar last Monday as part of Philly Tech Week. But while a catalog of regional data, APIs and applications is a treasure trove to some, it’s a brick wall to many others.

Data, thou art inscrutable.

As a better example of why releasing data is important, two Code for America fellows with help from a third developed and launched the Philadelphia Mural Guide app. Aaron Ogle and John Mertens, with Mjumbe Poe, used the MuralFarm collection of locations, images and other information on the city’s expansive outdoor art, to develop the project. The app received enough attention that Web 2.0 star Tim O’Reilly tweeted its grandeur.

“It’s a web-based application that can be viewed from a mobile device or desktop browser,” says Jeff Friedman, recently named Mayor Nutter’s Manager of Civic Innovation and Participation, noting it also shares details and images of included pieces. “It will locate your position on a map and your proximity to mural artwork in Philadelphia.”

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‘Great Ideas’ for fixing cycle of investment and entrepreneurship in Philadelphia

One Great Idea panel members from left: University City Science Center CEO Steve Tang, Ben Franklin Technology Partners President RoseAnn Rosenthal, City Councilman Bill Green and moderator Philadelphia Media Network CEO Greg Osberg, April 27, 2011 as part of Philly Tech Week. Photos by Yusuf Muhammad/Phrequency.com

How to break a cycle of investment and entrepreneurship leaving the region proved a central theme of the One Great Idea panel discussion and forum held by the Philadelphia Media Network as part of Philly Tech Week.

Hosted Wednesday night in the historic Inquirer building on North Broad Street,  the panel was moderated by Greg Osberg, the new CEO of PMN and publisher of the Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com. It was the first event based on the network’s One Great Idea series, which asks leading Philadelphians for a single, actionable idea for making the region stronger.

Focused on the role of technology and entrepreneurship, the forum kicked off with a panel discussion between Stephen Tang, President and CEO of the University Science Center, Ben Franklin Technology Partners President RoseAnn Rosenthal and City Councilman Bill Green and closed with each presenting their own One Great Idea for the city.

Below, find those ideas and more from the discussion, attended by more 60 and capped by a reception on the building’s 12th floor deck.

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Bragging about Philly’s tech community: a flowchart

When it comes to Philadelphia there’s a lot to brag about. So much, in fact, that it’s often hard to keep track.

To help maximize your bragging time, we’ve created this handy flowchart. Whether you are talking to a CEO, John Street or your plumber, we’ve got you covered.

(click for the larger document)

Note: This flowchart originally appeared in the Philly Tech Week print supplement.

The 2011 Philly Tech Week calendar: Friday

Excited, Philadelphia? Tonight we celebrate Philadelphia’s technology community at our Signature Event, where there will be an open bar, delicious food and a keynote from Rich Negrin, Managing Director of the City Of Philadelphia, about the future of online transparency and technology-infused good government initiatives in city government.

Attending will be all of Philly Tech Week’s sponsors, event organizers and Technically Philly community members, making it the largest and most diverse gathering of the city’s technology community. It’s not too late to get your tickets at Ticketleap.

Also happening today: an all-star web developer panel at Comcast Interactive Media and a showcase of the best of Philly’s green technology.

After the jump, get a list of every PTW event today. For the entire schedule, head on over to http://PhillyTechWeek.com/events and be sure to follow @PhillyTechWeek on Twitter.

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The 2011 Philly Tech Week calendar: Thursday

With only three full days left to go of the inaugural Philly Tech Week, if you’re not already up and at ‘em for the second day of Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise, we’re expecting you to hit your third wind at about 12:00 p.m., just in time for Happy Cog’s panel on nonprofit web design challenges and innovation.

The Philly Robotics Expo is an all-afternoon event, and tonight, don’t miss the Made In Philly Software Showcase at IndyHall and the Chip Music Showcase. You can do it all, peoples.

After the jump, get a list of every PTW event today. For the entire schedule, head on over to http://PhillyTechWeek.com/events and be sure to follow @PhillyTechWeek on Twitter.

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VGI Philly takes matters into its own hands

Mike Worth says his deja vu moment came in March, at the Game Developers Conference in California.

“When you went down the opening flight of steps, there was a huge banner, 80 feet wide, that said ‘INVEST IN CANADA,” says Worth.

All Worth saw was what could have been for Philadelphia.

At the same conference in 2009, Worth and other Philadelphia developers had the idea to put Philadelphia on that giant banner. Along with a handful of other local video game developers and business owners, Worth help co-found the Video game Growth Initiative in 2009 to help Philadelphia leverage tax incentives and other benefits to help lore large video game studios to Philadelphia.

Back then, the motivation stemmed from attending GDC in 2009.

After all, Philadelphia is home to the only Ivy League graduate-level video game development program in the country at Penn, has a cheap cost of living compared to other video game industry cities like Boston and San Francisco and is sandwiched oh-so-perfectly between the European and West Coast time zones.

However, two years after VGI was first presented its ideas as a PowerPoint to state and city officials, the city’s video game community has decided to matters into their own hands.

“I was so focused on getting a studio to move here and hire me, then we thought: ‘why not build a studio and hire yourself?” says Worth.

Along with CEO Leo Tranchitella, Chief Creative Officer Brandon Van Slyke, and CTO Albert Vazquez, Worth has founded Play Eternal, Philadelphia’s first “AAA” studio designed to produce high-budget games for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and the PC. Currently the studio is beta-testing its first demo that it hopes leads to a publishing deal that would allow the company to hire more than 20 employees.

Along with Center City-based game studio Burst Online and a handful of smaller, independent shops, VGI Philly hopes that having studios grow organically is the best way to attract outside attention to Philadelphia.

And it’s already working. Armed with two announcements from Burst Online and Play Eternal at this year’s GDC, Worth says that he was constantly being approached by Philly expats asking how they can help put Philly on the map.

“We haven’t had that homerun of getting a [large studio like] Activision to move here,” he says, “so we’re focusing on getting us all on base.” he says.

Tech leaders on collaboration: Better, together

Nineteen technology leaders that attended a breakfast for the cover shoot of the 2011 Philly Tech Week Program & Magazine. Their full names and titles below.

Gathering 19 leaders of Philadelphia’s technology community wasn’t all about a photoshoot, bagels and coffee. It would have been a shame to let them slip out of the room with only a cover photo to show for it.

Instead, we took the rare gathering as an opportunity to hear about the focus of Philly Tech Week: collaboration.

No one could have created a week of programming like Tech Week alone. We relied heavily on the impactful organizations and individuals that make this city’s tech community great.

So we turned to those often well-known leaders to see what collaboration means to them. And we hope it’ll mean more of it.

Thoughts from those leaders, after the jump.

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Donate your old laptops to Nonprofit Technology Resources

Donate laptops to Nonprofit Technology Resources during Philly Tech Week and beyond.

Nonprofit Technology Resources, which refurbishes computers, offers training and workforce development for low-income Philadelphians, is hosting a laptop donation drive during Philly Tech Week.

NTR is accepting laptops with at least a Pentium 4 processer, which includes just about any laptop purchased since 2001. Donations to the nonprofit are tax deductible and all laptops are wiped clean of any remaining personal data, information or files. NTR can accommodate large donations from established groups and organizations.

There is greater interest and need for laptop donations to connect lower-income Philadelphians than ever, says NTR founder Stan Pokras, as computing moves away from the desktop.

While the  nonprofit is located at 1524 Brandywine Street in the Spring Garden neighborhood, laptop donations can be brought to the remaining Philly Tech Week lunchtime series events at WHYY from 12-1 p.m. today, tomorrow and Friday. If you are interested in donating otherwise, contact us or NTR. Find all PTW events listed here.

In March, Technically Philly reported on NTR budget concerns, which are on-going.

[Full Disclosure: NTR is a former TP advertiser]

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Mmy Moon.