JustAPosition.org team wins first-ever G2IC

Marcus Ross, Ryan Billington, and Jason Kirk, the team behind the idea JustAPosition.org, took home the top prize at the first-ever Government 2.0 Innovation Challenge hosted by Graffiti Tracker (GT). The competition, held Nov. 13-15, challenged its seven contestants, organized into five teams, to invent and develop a Gov 2.0 idea in a 48-hour period.…

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Marcus Ross, Ryan Billington, and Jason Kirk, the team behind the idea JustAPosition.org, took home the top prize at the first-ever Government 2.0 Innovation Challenge hosted by Graffiti Tracker (GT).

The competition, held Nov. 13-15, challenged its seven contestants, organized into five teams, to invent and develop a Gov 2.0 idea in a 48-hour period. When the time was up, the competitors pitched their idea to the panel of five judges: Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing Jr., Omaha City Councilman Gary Gernandt, GT Founder Tim Kephart, GT Event Planner Stef Monge, and myself.

Second place, a $750 check, was awarded to Sarah Riley and Carl Zulaf, the team behind Citizen Pulse. First place, the JustAPosition team, received $1,000 and six months of support from GT to further develop their idea. In addition, they were also awarded “Best Design” of the competition.

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As a judge, I was there for the kick off event Friday night and the judging Sunday night — when I showed up Sunday, I could feel a weekend of hard work had taken place. It was a pleasure to serve as a judge and hear the five teams present their ideas.

Citizen Pulse: Sarah Riley and Carl Zulauf Web application that analyzes data from Twitter and other social networking sites to come up with a level of citizen happiness as well as locate areas in need of improvement

Government Works for You: Carl Zulauf and Sarah Riley Website that aggregates data from municipal government and presents a simple overview for citizen consumption and interaction

JustAPosition.org: Marcus Ross, Ryan Billington and Jason Kirk Online tool for municipal government representatives to connect with their constituents

Predictive City Planning: Grant Stanley Takes city planning from “project based” to “vision based” through city data analysis

The One Touch “Port” Card: Rob Powelson Smart phone application bringing your child’s grades, attendance record, and teachers’ notes at the touch of a button

After the competition, I spoke with Stef and Tim from GT as well as Sarah and the JustAPosition team about the weekend, Gov 2.0, and where they’ll go from here.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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