NYC OpenRecords UX Hackathon

Want to use your user experience research, design, and prototyping skills to make the City better? Looking for ways to meet more fellow civic-minded technologists? Are you in the mood lately to make a difference? Join the NYC OpenRecords UX Hackathon!

New York City’s Department of Records and Information Services’ (DORIS) OpenRecords Portal has a history of civic collaboration: it began as a hackathon project in 2015, and is built on open source code. The OpenRecords portal was also recently selected by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government as a 2017 Innovations in American Government Awards Bright Idea winner. OpenRecords v2.0 has just launched! Be sure to check it out before the event.

Now, DORIS is looking for dedicated, enthusiastic UX practitioners to join together, dive into UX and civic technology, and take the user experience of the OpenRecords portal to the next level. 

What is a UX Hackathon?

A UX Hackathon is a day-long event that takes attendees through an end-to-end UX process, including research, user testing, ideation and prototyping. We’ll split into teams that include members of complementary skill sets, and start with a heuristic analysis of the current OpenRecords portal. From there, UX mentors will support attending teams in iterating on ideas for improvement via sketching, wireframing, prototyping and user testing. At the end of the day, teams will present to our panel of esteemed judges, and prizes will be awarded.

For those not interested in joining a team, don't worry! Indicate on your registration form that you'd prefer to compete solo. For those unable to attend in person, we will also be running a virtual hackathon! You will be able to create your own teams and submit projects online. (See below for more information).

Who should participate?

Those who want to improve their UX research, design and prototyping skills by helping the City of New York:

• UX and UI designers

• Product designers

• User researchers

• Product people

• Developers

• Aspiring UX professionals

• Any other techies who want to make an impact, meet new people, and advance their UX skills in a team environment.

This event is only open to hackers who will be contributing to UX design for OpenRecords.  

Note: Parents are welcome, and we have limited spots for childcare at the in-person hackathon for those that need it. Upon registration, please indicate how many children you will be bringing (and their ages).

Why is this important?

New York City is a nationwide leader in its commitment to open data and transparency. Ensuring equal access to government records, data and other information empowers all New Yorkers with knowledge that allows them to stay informed, as well as hold their governments accountable.  

We believe that journalists, advocates, and members of the public alike should all be able to submit a request under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) quickly and painlessly. We can achieve this, with your help!  

What will the day be like?

9am

• Registration & breakfast

• Kickoff session

• UX hacking begins!

• User research and testing

• Lunch (included)

• More UX hacking!

• Submissions due

• Presentations followed by networking while judges deliberate

• Awards announced

• Networking & refreshments

8pm

Virtual Participation Available

Cannot make it to the in-person event in NYC, but would like to participate? We're happy to let you know that there is also a virtual component to the hackathon. We’ll be accepting virtual submissions from 2/7–2/25 on Devpost. 

Who will be the judges?

We’ll be joined by the following esteemed judges, who will choose winners in each challenge category, plus some additional awardees:

• Lois Last — Director of User Experience Design Lab at the NYC Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications

• Joel Castillo — DORIS Director of Application Development and Lead Developer for OpenRecords

• Rebecca Tinkelman — Digital Director from the NYC Office of Digital Strategy

• Bess Chiu — NYC FOIL Officer

• Panthea Lee — CEO of ReBoot and member of the original concept team for OpenRecords

Register soon — space is limited!

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