Employment Guide: Open data ordinance could spur technology opportunities

Budding technology entrepreneurs can find new ground for application development in the snowy streets of Pittsburgh. 

Pittsburgh’s first “open data” ordinance, a regulation that introduces information about financial and operational data within city businesses, will impact students looking to invent apps. The implementation of the open data ordinance will give the citizens of Pittsburgh access to information such as paving schedules and building permits, and allow data-savvy individuals to make something out of the information.

Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak proposed the ordinance in a press conference that took place in the City-County Building on Jan. 14. According to a press release, the ordinance will eliminate the need for formal requests placed through the Freedom of Information Act and the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law. 

Bruce Childers, a professor in Pitt’s computer-science department, said making city data available is a “powerful idea” that could provide opportunities to students for application development. Childers added that students, particularly those who possess computer-science-oriented skills, can drive app creation and development.

“With the recent cold and snow, an app that plans a route home along the most recently plowed streets, taking into account traffic conditions, is one compelling example,” Childers said..

Alexandros Labrinidis, a professor in Pitt’s computer-science department said the public information could provide material for new apps that students could make to benefit the community. He said the availability of city data will be helpful in his classes, particularly for students’ capstone projects. Labrinidis currently teaches Data Witchcraft, a computer-science course that introduces students to basic data management and data science technologies from a user’s perspective rather than the perspective of a provider. 

“Making city data available is a very good thing because it promotes transparency of information and further uses of the data,” said Labrinidis, co-director of the Advanced Data Management Technologies Lab at Pitt, a lab focused on managing data when there are resource constraints such as limited energy.

Labrinidis said in an email that cities such as Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C., have led the way in making data available to its citizens. 

“For example, in Chicago and New York, you can keep track of the snow plows in real time,” Labrinidis said. 

Soon, the citizens of Pittsburgh will be able to keep track of all data the city puts forth. 

According to Rudiak’s spokesman, Adam Shuck, labor costs to put the ordinance in place are estimated to be less than $100,000. Shuck said in an email that the cost of the software required to collect information will be more expensive than labor costs, but could not provide an exact amount. 

“This ordinance will be coupled with an outreach strategy to engage our growing local tech community,” Rudiak said in a January statement. 

Assemble, a local nonprofit organization that aims to unite innovators in art and technology, hosted an event Wednesday, Jan. 22, with Code for Pittsburgh — the local chapter of the Code for America Brigade. Code for America is a national nonprofit organization committed to open civic data. 

Connor Sites-Bowen, the event manager emeritus for Assemble in Pittsburgh, said “everybody wins” with open civic data sets that promote transparency. 

“One of the goals of opening internal government data to the public is to allow enterprising and innovating individuals access to track and analyze information in such a way to make city processes more efficient or more successful,” Shuck said.