Chi Hack Night - Chicago DCASE: Producing Large Scale Events in the City

Join us for our in-person Hack Nights at TeamWorking at TechNexus!

We are a group of thousands of designers, academic researchers, data journalists, activists, policy wonks, web developers and curious citizens who want to make our city more just, equitable, transparent and delightful to live in through data, design and technology.

Presenter: Ann Hickey, Deputy Commissioner of Operations, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events
Chicago is showcased through some of the largest and well known events in the country. From the Chicago Air & Water Show and Taste of Chicago, to Lollapalooza and NASCAR, to the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, millions of people participate in thousands of events year-round.

DCASE, OEMC, CDOT, DSS, CDPH, CTA, BACP? These City agencies (and more) are part of the process that starts with the special event permit application, year-long planning meetings with organizers, and then culminates with on-site execution and contingency plans to ensure a successful event.

Ann Hickey has 24 years event operations and logistics experience with the City of Chicago and oversees the permitting of special events. She joins us for a lively discussion of how the City gets things done for large scale events and how to navigate through the many acronyms to do so.

What happens at a hack night?

Every week, we have a 45 minute presentation by a government agency, non-profit, company or group who've made use of open data or built a civic technology application. The goal of these presentations is to showcase the different uses and opportunities, as well as challenges and successes in the civic technology movement.

After the presentation, the format of the event is similar to that of a hackathon where breakout groups self-organize to work on civic apps, discuss policies and their implications, learn technical skills and network with a welcoming and diverse community at the intersection of technology and government.

But I'm not a techie!

That's ok! We encourage non-technical folks to pair up and learn from our community's designers and developers. We've seen time and time again, the best civic projects come from teams with a diverse background.

Remember, there's much more to making a great app than just coding.

ASL interpreting available

If you have need for an American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreter, let us know when you register for the event and we will provide one, provided enough lead time.

Questions about the event? We have answers:

Q: I won’t be able to make it in person. Will the event be live streamed?

A: Yes. The event will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/chihacknight/live

Q: Will there be food?

A: Yes! We will be serving Costa Rican empanadas, chicken casado and rice from Irazu!

Host or Publisher Chi Hack Night