Open Austin

At next week's Data/Dev Community of Practice meetup, Umberto Fasci and Nicola Rowe will demo how Open Austin can leverage Google Colab and Socrata to tackle questions on our Data Research Hub. In turn, we aim to standardize our approach to Data Research Hub questions.

NOTE: Now virtual!!
RSVP for the Google Meet room
Tuesday, June 9, 7pm on Google Meet

At tomorrow's Design Community of Practice monthly meetup, we're starting to write our UX Research playbook. This will guide any Open Austinite, regardless of experience level, through conducting product discovery and UX research in a volunteer setting. In turn, we aim to standardize discovery and research across all our Civic Digital Lab products teams.

Thursday, June 4, 7pm @ ACC Rio Grande Room 3328

What you can expect in June:

✨ NEW ✨ We're going public with our General Organizing Meetings experiment - a weekly triage to build up Open Austin's business operations.

And as usual, we have our monthly Communities of Practice meetings, now at ACC Rio Grande Room 3328. We're laying the foundation to expand our Communities of Practice capabilities:

June 4th, Design Practice: We're starting to write our UX Research playbook so our Civic Digital Labs products teams can conduct product discovery and UX research easily and consistently.

June 9th, Data/Dev Practice: We're using Google Colab and Socrata to define how Open Austin does data, which will make it easier to tackle questions on our Data Research Hub!

Martin Liu from our OneBus product team joined Joon Community during April’s ATX Climate Week to share the OneBus app during their sustainability bus tour and bird watch.

The OneBus app works towards accessibility, equity, and sustainability: Can we increase bus ridership by connecting public transit to fun, easy-to-access activities? How can we expand access to work, leisure, and exploration for people without cars?

Photo credit:
Joon Community:
ATX Climate Week:

This month, we co-hosted our May Data/Dev Community of Practice Meet with EFF-Austin, where we demo’d the National Police Data Index. One of our Civic Digital Labs products, the National Police Data Index is live! It serves as a searchable database built to help defense attorneys and civil rights attorneys quickly research law enforcement officers and agencies.

Recently, Liani pitched Open Austin at Leadership Austin’s Emerge Program closing retreat, themed on civic activation and sharing concrete pathways to social impact. A big thank you to PJ Diamond, Leadership Austin’s Director of Programs, for inviting us! We’re looking forward to getting these budding courageous leaders involved.

Photo credit:

More from our inaugural community convening.

Photo credit: Liani Lye

IN 1 WEEK! At our first Data/Dev Practice Meet of the spring season, we'll touch base on our Data Research Hub, and demo one of our products. 's Police Data Index has just launched and is a searchable database built to help defense attorneys and civil rights attorneys quickly research law enforcement officers and agencies.

RSVP through our link in bio

Tuesday, May 12th, 7pm @ ACC Rio Grande

IN 2 DAYS! At our first Design Practice Meet of the spring season, we'll share our Civic Digital Labs work and how you can join.

RSVP through our bio link for the Google Meet room.

Thursday, May 7th, 7pm online

What you can expect in May:

On the 7th, in our Design Practice huddle, this month via Google Meet, we'll share our Civic Digital Labs work and how you can join!

Then on the 12th, we have a special Data & Dev Practice meet. We'll touch base as usual about our Data Research Hub, then we’ll demo our National Police Data Index product! It's now live, and it's a searchable database built to help defense attorneys and civil rights attorneys quickly research law enforcement officers and agencies.

No volunteer orientation this month, but our meetings are open to anyone who is interested in becoming an Open Austinite. Links can be found in our Instagram bio as always.