Open Content Day and API Hackathon

Government workers gathered for a wikithon.

The Digital Services Innovation Center and GSA will be hosting Open Content Day on Tuesday, October 23. The purpose is to bring together some of the best minds in the government web space to develop strategies for better sharing and unlocking government content. The event is part of GSA’s work in helping agencies implement the Digital Government Strategy, specifically, deliverable 3.4, Open Content Systems. We’re excited to share the details and will blog again in a few weeks to report on the outcomes of the event.

The day will be split into two tracks – an Open Content Unconference and an API Hackathon.

Track One  

Is the Open Content Unconference, content managers and developers will spend the day brainstorming and problem-solving to craft a roadmap for open content. This roadmap will help agencies move to a structured, open content publication model, instead of just publishing content as unstructured web pages. Publishing structured content is a major shift and step forward that will make it easier for the public to find and re-use government information.

Track Two

The API Hackathon will work to expand the USA.gov Apps Gallery API. The Apps Gallery is a library of government apps. Coders will be tasked to build a Drupal module, a WordPress widget, and an HTML embed code that uses the API. The new module/widget/code will give agencies an easy way to display a customized list of all the government apps from the Gallery that are most relevant to their specific audience.

This is the first time GSA has hosted an API Hackathon – but it likely won’t be the last! As more agencies move to an open content publication model, and start sharing more content via APIs, it will create even more opportunities to collaborate and build common, shared tools.  We look forward to sharing successes and lessons learned as we journey down this path together.

If you are interested in attending Open Content Day or would like more information on Tuesday’s event please contact karen.trebon@gsa.gov.