Genachowski: Prizes for Local Apps Can Help Draw Unserved Online
OAKLAND, Calif. -- The FCC is co-sponsoring a contest to develop mobile applications based on state and local information to potentially fuel broadband adoption, Chairman Julius Genachowski said Thursday. The Apps for Communities challenge, offering $100,000 in prizes put up by the cosponsoring Knight Foundation, is the first joint government and private contest that aims to convert those not on the Internet into users, through software programs making use of this public information, the sponsors said.
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Most of the approximately 100 million Americans not online “say they haven’t signed up for broadband because they don’t think it’s relevant to their lives,” Genachowski said at an announcement event and then repeated right afterward at a meeting of the Association of Bay Area Governments. “The FCC has been working with others inside and outside of government to get the message out: In the 21st Century economy, there are few innovations more relevant to our lives.” The contest prizes will go to “the best apps that engage people who are less likely to be online,” he said.
The goal is “to make local public information more usable and more actionable, making the benefits of broadband more tangible for all Americans,” Genachowski said. He added, “We encourage states, cities and townships to open their public databases to developers. And we challenge developers to build great apps with that data, apps that can make a real difference to real people.” A written announcement supplied examples of what’s sought in apps that “give people valuable information about their communities in an easily digestible graphic on their mobile devices; help seniors, immigrants, and others use tools such as Skype to communicate; allow consumers to choose a health care provider; or deliver contract and seasonal job post alerts in English and Spanish via text message."
Smartphones are the first and only gateways online for many Californians who have low incomes, are Hispanic or African-American or whose first language isn’t English, said Rachelle Chong, special counsel to the California Technology Agency and a former member of the FCC and of the state Public Utilities Commission. California’s government has opened as many of its databases as possible to developers, Chong said. The state has made available at no charge a template for developing mobile apps using the information, she said. Chong, too, challenged localities -- “especially rural communities who feel sometimes that they're off the information superhighway” -- and other states to follow suit.
There’s a hunger among software developers to pitch in, said Executive Director Jennifer Pahlka of Code for America, which she described as a “Peace Corps” for the creators. Started last year in San Francisco, the program drew 362 applicants for its 20 year-long fellowship slots providing only small stipends, she said. Pahlka told us her group has no formal connection with the challenge but “can help get out the word."
The FCC helped develop the contest criteria and will help judge the entries, Damian Thorman, the foundation’s national program director, told us. He said he’s expecting 500-1,000 submissions. The program’s website, appsforcommunities.challenge.gov, says entries will be judged for local impact, user experience and presentation, accessibility, sustainability and focus on “traditionally disconnected populations.”
The contest offers one general prize each of $5,000, $10,000, $20,000 and $30,000. A $10,000 award is planned for “best design and visualization” and another for the “most replicable application.” And $5,000 each will go to the winner for the best use of SMS and for the app that best promotes digital literacy and the one that helps people with limited English literacy the most. The deadline for entries is July 11. Winners are to be announced Aug. 2.