Welcome to NYC School of Data — a community conference that demystifies the policies and practices around civic data, technology, and service design. This year’s conference kicks off NYC’s annual Open Data Week & features OVER 30 sessions organized by NYC’s civic technology, data, and design community! Our conversations & workshops will feed your mind and empower you to improve your neighborhood. Follow the conversation #nycSOdata on twitter and tune into our live stream (provided by the Internet Society of New York).
The days of running organizations off of a smattering of spreadsheets are over. Content management systems like WordPress made it possible for people to publish without having to code. Now DIY Databases like AirTable make it possible for people to build their own data-driven, API-accessible apps using basic spreadsheet skills.
We're going to demonstrate the power of DIY databases and how they can be used to create fast and effective solutions on the fly by tackling a specific, persistent problem. How can we help community boards track constituent issues?
We've got some anoynmizes community board data in the form of written paper pages and spreadsheets. We're going to demonstrate how to turn those types of materials into a pretty darn good AirTable CRM system right in front of you. We'll start with some introductory data concepts so everyone will feel comfortable. We'll end by discussing what it means for everyone to be able to make databases.
Devin works at the intersection of the nonprofit sector, the free/libre/open-source (FLO) movement, and grassroots community organizing initiatives to help each benefit from the best practices of the others. He currently serves the president of the Sahana Software Foundation, a nonprofit... Read More →
