| layout | local-chapter-name | location | desc | author | web-page-title | meetup-location | communication | schedule | homepage-url | google-group-url | meetup-url | twitter-hashtag | captain1 | captain2 | captain3 | captain4 | email-contact | contact-name | repo-issues-url | github-organization-url | task-list-url |
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Code for Hampton Roads |
Hampton Roads |
Indoc for new members to Code for Hampton Roads, a Code for America Brigade |
Brendan Barsness, Bret Fisher, Kevin Curry, and more |
New Attendee Resources for Code for Hampton Roads |
Hatch Norfolk |
Meetup, Facebook, Google Plus, Google Group, & Google Hangouts |
weekly from 6:00-9:00 pm on Wednesdays |
Kevin Curry |
Bret Fisher |
Stanley Zheng |
Blaine Price |
bret@codeforamerica.org |
Bret Fisher |
We are {{page.local-chapter-name}}, the local chapter of Code for America Brigade supporting civic hacking in {{page.location}}.
Code for America Brigade brings together developers, designers, data geeks, civic leaders, organizers, and idea-makers from communities to help local government and civic organizations adopt open web technologies. Code for America Brigade is the volunteer arm of the larger, national organization Code for America.
Anyone with a desire and a passion for applying their technology skills to improve our community, open government, and open civic data.
You can apply your skills and expertise to work on an existing problem or project you care about like:
- Improving park access.
- Helping the fire department locate fire hydrants.
- Launching a web app to find your city bus.
- Creating an app to help residents find information about your city.
- Helping residents get up-to-date information on the status of blighted properties in their community.
- Creating an app that allows parents to track their child’s bus in real time.
- Create apps. Design websites. Organize events. Write copy. And more!
- Hang out with other civic hackers, eat pizza and drink beverages.
- You can pick up expert advice, tips and tricks about new technologies but we are not a tech meetup or user group, and are usually working sessions not presentation format.
- You can meet a lot of new and interesting people and make useful connections but we are not a networking group. We are volunteers working to make our community better through technology.
- You can learn a lot of things about coding and design by participating in Brigade but we are not a code or design school.
- {{page.captain1}}, Captain
- {{page.captain2}}, Co-Captain
- {{page.captain3}}, Co-Captain
- {{page.captain4}}, Co-Captain
We meet in person on a regular basis at {{page.meetup-location}}. We use Meetup.com for organizing in-person events. Our schedule is {{page.schedule}}. We connect online through {{page.communication}}.
Bring your laptop/tablet as it's typically a working group with the occasional presentation. Free wifi is provided.
We use the Lazy Consensus model, meaning that if you think it's right for the group you have a green light, so don't wait around for approval. Concerns can be asked, but if you don't get much feedback that's a good thing and you can rock on.
We choose projects based on:
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Needs we identify through listening sessions with local gov and community organizations. We want to make things people will actually use.
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Things happening in other cities that we want to bring here.
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Things we like.
Our projects are usually centered around software at some point. Those are all listed in our GitHub Organization. There are also non-programming tasks in our "task list" at http://tasks.code4hr.org
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Sign up on the Brigade web site: http://brigade.codeforamerica.org
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Join our Meetup: {{page.meetup-url}}
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Join our Google Group Forum: {{page.google-group-url}}
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Video of CfA's founder inspiring at TED: Coding a Better Government
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Video of CfA Brigade's Director inspiring at TED: Why Good Hackers Make Good Citizens
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Video of The Typical Hack Night in Chicago
Often you can start getting involved before the first meeting.
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Look at our Forum for recent topics that you are interested in and would like to reply and contribute to.
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Look at our GitHub open source code repositories. We welcome Pull Requests (mods to our code).
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Learn how the Web works. Read Basics of Web API's.
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Learn to Code. This is a huge topic that we will only touch on. Coding is a lifelong journey, but something anyone can learn through persistent practice, just like learning Spanish... it's something you can't just do an hour or two a month and expect to be fluent at. That being said, if you're interested in software development, the web is full of excellent, free and (some) paid resources for learning. We focus primarily on web sites and applications first (rather then iOS Apps or Android Apps, because everyone can use a web app). The web is made up of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Everyone should know HTML and CSS basics before diving into "backend" languages like Python, Ruby, or JavaScript. Google is your friend. The brigade is not a place to get code training, but we're all hear to help each other find the answers were seeking. Some random learning resources:
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Learn to License. Since civic hacking starts with open source software and usually encompasses free software as well, you'll need to understand the myriad of software licenses out there and how to apply them to your work. We prefer and default to MIT license. Some learning resource suggestions:
- Easy way to quickly pick a license - http://choosealicense.com
- Various Licenses and Comments About Them
- How to Choose a License for Your Own Work
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Web Hosting Resources
- Free Amazon Hosting (time limited): http://aws.amazon.com/free/
- Free Heroku Hosting: https://www.heroku.com/
- Free Windows Azure Hosting: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/
- Free Github Static Pages http://pages.github.com/