Civic Hacknight #198 with Ben Rowswell: Betterplace

Come help us chip away at civic problems by combining technology with the power of our community. We've got everything you need for a perfect Tuesday night: a presentation to learn from, some projects to work on, and pizza (or other food) to snack on!

• Presenter: Ben Rowswell.

• Topic: Ben will outline how he and Farhaan used digital technology to help Egyptian revolutionaries crowdsource political activism in the Arab Spring, helped the Iranian diaspora support free speech inside Iran, and American high school students organize the March for Our Lives, before turning their attention to Canada where they are leveraging gratitude as a means to mobilize Canadian millennials to volunteer.

• Biographies:

Ben Rowswell is cofounder of Betterplace, a social enterprise that uses technology to mobilize citizens to play a more active role in their community, building on insights he and his cofounder Farhaan Ladhani gained from leading digital diplomacy innovation efforts at Global Affairs Canada.

• Twitter cheat codes: (related handles & hashtags)

To be announced.
https://link.civictech.ca/tweet

• Venue sponsor:

Kindred

• Check-in details:

If you arrive and nobody is there to let you in, please press the white button on the call box, in front of the door with the "Kindred" logo.

If you run into any issues, then please send a message to our "doorbell" at 647-812-2649 (647-8122-6IX), and the organizers will get a notification.

• Accessibility:

The venue is accessible! There is a long ramp at the front of the building, which leads down to the main door. Please enter the building via the north-east ramp.

We can offer 2 transit tokens per participant per week to those in need of transportation support to get to hacknights. Please ask an organizer to take advantage of this. (We have a set budget for tokens, and if we’re running low, we will make every attempt to update the event description to say so.)

• About us:

Our weekly civic tech hacknights bring together designers, coders, urban planners, government staff, mappers, policy-makers, students, communications strategists, and all other Torontonians who share an interest in making Toronto more responsive, prosperous, sustainable and equitable, through design, tech, and data. (Coders are welcome, but you don’t have to be a coder to contribute!) Come and be part of it!

• Agenda:

6:30-7: Welcome and intros
7-7:30: Presentation and Q&A/discussion
7:30-9: Breakout groups (make something!)

For more info, visit http://civictech.ca
Here's our Code of Conduct: http://civictech.ca/about-us

Hope to see you Tuesday!

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