‘Green Gov’ Codeathon in California Pushes State’s Open Data Efforts Forward

With the aim of using open data to improve environmental sustainability practices inside California's government, dozens of civic technology enthusiasts gathered last weekend in West Sacramento to compete in a two-day codeathon competition organized by state agencies.

The Green Gov Challenge was hosted by the Department of General Services and the Government Operations Agency, and was timed to coincide with the rollout of a new pilot version of a statewide open data portal for California.

“As a civic engagement exercise, it was a huge win,” said Stuart Drown, deputy secretary for innovation and accountability at the Government Operations Agency.

The event was carried out under provisions included in a State Assembly bill passed last year.

The bill called on Gov. Jerry Brown to designate three state agencies to participate in a program that involves holding so-called “innovation contests,” with cash prizes awarded to participants that come up with the best ideas. Though the themes of the contests can vary, they’re to be geared toward helping California improve government operations.

Last weekend’s codeathon focused on finding “innovative ways to reduce waste in resources and increase sustainable practices” within state government. The contest guidelines required participants to use at least one dataset available through the pilot open data portal.

About 40 people participated in the contest, according to a spokesperson for the Government Operations Agency. A panel of judges selected three winning teams from among 14 finalists.

The top idea was an online application called “GreenBuyer,” which combines purchase order data for state departments with contract data for “environmentally preferable purchasing.”

Environmentally preferable purchasing involves considering the effect of goods and services on the environment and human health during the procurement process. Factors such as energy efficiency, durability and emissions are taken into account.

GreenBuyer displays interactive charts and data meant to show government managers, and the public, what amount of a department’s purchases are environmentally preferable.

In second place was “NudgeSMS,” an application that would allow state employees to sign up for text message alerts that provide information about energy and water consumption levels in the buildings where they work. The messages would also say how those levels compare to past consumption. And then there’s the nudge. For instance, a text that urges a person to improve the conservation ranking of their building by, perhaps, remembering to turn out the lights.

The third place idea was “smartFLEET,” which features interactive charts and data displaying characteristics about the vehicles departments have in their fleets, breaking them down by type, and providing information about emissions.

Brooks Newberry is an environmental science and management major in his junior year at the University of California, Davis and was on the team that came up with “NudgeSMS.”

His teammate was Alan Mond, CEO of MuniRent, a start-up that provides technology meant to help local governments rent heavy equipment to each other, which is also being looked at by state transportation departments as a way to make equipment sharing within their agencies easier.

“We met and thought of this idea the day of,” Newberry said by phone on Tuesday. “We were looking through some of the data that was available to us, and noticed that there was a lot of room for making a really direct impact on energy savings.”

As for the codeathon itself, which was his first, Newberry said: “I thought it was run very smoothly.”

“Everybody there was enthusiastic, I think, about the spirit of the task and was interested in making government more efficient, more user friendly,” he added. “It was just fun to talk to people about their ideas.”

Newberry also won some cash. There was a total of $25,000 up for grabs at the event, with $10,000 going to the first place team, $7,500 to the second place team and $5,000 to the third. There was also a $2,500 “People’s Choice” prize.

In the coming weeks, the contest winners are slated to meet with state officials to discuss the possibility of California actually using the applications they came up with at the codeathon. But there are no guarantees that the winning ideas will get implemented by the state.

Behind the data portal used in last weekend's contest is technology from Seattle-based Socrata. The portal currently features 11 datasets, each related to environmental sustainability. Conceptual planning for it spanned about a year. But from the time a contract was awarded to Socrata, it took only about six weeks to get the portal up and running.

While some state departments, such as the California Health and Human Services Agency, provide access to open data, there are tentative plans to move toward a statewide portal, which would act as a clearinghouse for datasets from agencies across California’s government.

If the pilot works out, the portal used during last weekend’s codeathon will act as the “seed” for the future statewide portal, according to Drown.

The Department of General Services’ Office of Fleet and Asset Management, along with its Office of Sustainability, provided much of the data that’s currently available through the portal.

But datasets came from other agencies as well, such as CalRecycle, which administers and oversees state-managed waste handling and recycling programs, and California’s Environmental Protection Agency.

Providing additional assistance with the codeathon was the California State Library, the health and human services agency, and the state’s department of technology.

“This has been a great partnership among different government entities,” said Angelica Quirarte, a policy analyst for the Operations Agency, who helped lead the codeathon effort. “We were able to break the silos of departments that had usually not talked to each other.”

Drown took a similar view of the process that went into getting the portal established and organizing last weekend’s event.

“Now we have people in different agencies who’ve worked side-by-side to get something up quickly,” he said. “Those are new relationships that are built on mutual respect, and we hope to keep building on that.”