CodeMontage Coders for Good

{code}montage (formerly developers for good) is a community of technologists who use our skills to make the world a better place.

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Five Years & Developers for Good >> CodeMontage + Open Source

Hey Devs for Good!

Congratulations; It’s been five years!

Developers for Good came about exactly 5 years ago in October 2009, when our founder joined Catchafire’s alpha pilot and grew fascinated by skills-based volunteering. We launched in January 2010, and had our first meetup in February in a bar that used to be a bank vault in downtown Manhattan. It’s been an incredible journey!

  We've shown a side to NYC that many didn't realize existed: tech professionals happy to share their knowledge and passion with great causes, no strings attached. We've seen ideas germinate and teams form, and we've helped hundreds of organizations of all stages develop tech for good. We’ve seen our social good friends at The OpEd Project, Code for America, TurboVote, EDesign Lab, Seeds, SavvyRoo (formerly SwayWhat), Empirical/Quill, and so many other organizations grow and thrive.

  We've visited the offices of many social impact technology companies, including Amplify, DonorsChoose, Skillshare, Purpose, and ThoughtWorks. During our meetups, we've networked, previewed TED talks, attended hackathons and conferences, prototyped, fixed bugs, and joined the Hour of Code. We've taught kids to code through CoderDojo NYC, ScriptEd, Technovation, and Black Girls Code, and we’ve mentored high school students through iMentor.

  What’s New: We’re focusing on Open Source

The next chapter of Developers for Good is to fully join CodeMontage -- all of our community efforts will be focused on open source, social good projects going forward. CodeMontage was born out of lessons learned from Developers for Good projects, after all, and we want to focus all of our community and company efforts on what has the biggest potential for social impact. We believe open source is the most effective way to build social good software, primarily because open projects are easier to get started with and allow coders to build their portfolios while helping a cause.

  What this means for Social Good Organization & Project Leaders

Going forward, this focus means we’ll require any organizations looking for volunteer developers to publish their needs in an open source way -- we recommend through GitHub. We’ll also work to make open source setup easier for nonprofits and social enterprises, and to help project leaders engage with events and coder communities around the world.

  What’s Next: We’re hitting the road

In practice, this means we’ll rename the meetup to Coders for Good to make the association with CodeMontage clear. Additionally, the CodeMontage team is working hard to make building technology for good easier, more impactful, and more inclusive of people from all backgrounds. We recommend registering on CodeMontage to keep in the loop on opportunities to code for good as we expand beyond the NYC community.

  tl:dr; Congratulations; It's been *five years*! We're merging into CodeMontage & focusing our #codeforgood efforts on #opensource.

  Want to help spread the word? Click to tweet Congratulations!

  We look forward to coding for good and continuing to change the world with all of you!

  Best,

  Vanessa, Theresa, Rebecca, Nathan & Courteney

Developers for Good NYC Organizers

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MIT Media Lab is leading the way for innovation in maternal health, and you, dear coder, can make a difference. Tickets are all sold out for the September 20-21, 2014 hackathon, but you can contribute from anywhere in the world by helping the team analyze and visualize user-submitted ideas....

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On May 31st CodeMontage, in partnership with REDI Global Technologies, will host a National Day of Civic Hacking event in New York City. REDI and CodeMontage will gather 50 members of the NYC community who want to improve collaboration between citizens using open source technologies.

...

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Help Lead Developers for Good

Have you always wanted to help shape Developers for Good into something even more awesome than it is today? Become an organizer! We're looking for a few good community members who'd like to help coordinate monthly meetups, wrangle all the great projects we hear about into regular newsletters, and prepare inspiring organizations to share what they're working on with all of us. Commitment as an organizer is a couple of hours per week / around 10 hours per month, and is flexible according to your schedule and your goals. If you're interested, please email [email protected]­ and include 1) what you'd like to accomplish with Developers for Good and 2) what other community organizing experience you have, if any. Team Developers for Good

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Noah Blumenthal, CEO of SwayWhat, joined us at Developers for Good Open Hours to speak about the value of information as the basis of discussion in our increasingly politically polarized society.

Noah's full talk, which will be available later this Spring after its TEDx debut, compelled us to ask ourselves whether we're truly making informed decisions in today's information age - or whether we're falling victim to the divisive argutainment the media creates for us.

A properly functioning democracy depends on an informed electorate - Thomas Jefferson

We'll keep most of the gems from this talk underwraps until the full video becomes available, but we urge everyone to consider Noah's question - Which of your beliefs are fundamentally, factually incorrect? - and seek the information you need to better understand the world around us.

Thanks to our hosts and videography team, ThoughtWorks NYC.

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As it nears election day in New York City, there are undoubtedly things you’d like the next mayor to fix. And you’ll probably vote based on which candidate professes to care about those issues or presents a plan that solves that particular problem.

What if you didn’t have to depend on the...

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ThoughtWorks New York Celebrates Ada Lovelace Day!

On October 15, join CodeMontage, ThoughtWorks, NYC Ruby Women, Black Girls Code, Technovation Challenge, New York Tech Women, Webgrrls, and more.

Come and celebrate one of the most influential women in tech history, Ada Lovelace! In 1828, this tech diva designed a flying machine and later devised what is recognized to be the first algorithm for computers, making her the world’s first computer programmer.

Please come and join us for a fabulous evening of mingling, lightning talks, and games. Think macaroons. Think Cabernet. Think celebration! Food and drinks will be provided by ThoughtWorks, so come hungry for knowledge, networking, and a night of honoring women! 

As part of giving back to the community, ThoughtWorks would like to invite you to join in raising money for Girls Inc.  Operation SMART is an initiative through the organization that helps to develop girls’ skills in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  Donations will be accepted on the night of the event and 100% of the proceeds will go towards Operation SMART! 

Featuring lightning talks by:

Anastasia Belozertseva, ThoughtWorks

Victoria Kennedy, ThoughtWorks

Chrys Wu, NYC Ruby Women

Devin Dillon, Technovation Challenge

Eugenia Koo, Hack & Jill

Nelly Yusupova, Webgrrls

Kara Carpenter, Teachley

Sydney Padua, graphic novelist

Hope to see you there!

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Marianne Bellotti of Exversion talks about how to help Nonprofits clean up their messy data at the September Developers for Good Meetup. #OpenData #SocEnt 

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In 50 years we won’t use the term tech inclusion anymore, because it will be outdated. And we won’t be worried about basic coding skills because everyone, including women and underrepresented minorities, will have them. We’ll all be focused on those more important problems we need to solve and we’ll be using our tech skills to solve them.

Theresa Freet, CodeMontage Project Partnerships Manager

White House Tech Inclusion Champions of Change Summit, July 31, 2013

(via codemontage)

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The Next Generation of Creators in Tech

Growing up we aren't given many choices. We're told what to wear, to say please and thanks, that two plus two equals four. Later in life we spend so much time trying to figure out how to re-ignite that spark that's dimmed, to have that fire that keeps you up at night. For me, the stick was the idea of helping people and the stone was technology.

The fire didn't begin until I realized the full potential of technology, but it wasn't the technical know-how...it was the people who believed in me and pushed me to learn more and those who still do. My journey began when people invested in me, as a 14 year old girl at MIT's iD Tech Camps, an early chance to explore my passions. And later to teach there to help other youth find theirs. But a summer camp wasn't enough, though the open learning environment stuck with me as I joined Do Something as a developer. Jumpstarting my career early in 2011 allowed me to be a part of a platform that leads youth to real offline action, not just in spirit but in measurable data, not just tens of thousands, but millions of teens across the US. Out of Do Something, CoderDojo NYC began as a side volunteer project, organizing mentors and youth for monthly sessions for web, game and app development; today it's so much more. We're proud to showcase the idea behind inclusion, with ethnic diversity and a 50:50 gender ratio of young men and women learning together.

There's a 9 year old girl who we affectionately call "Little Rebecca" who attends CoderDojo NYC. She's been with us since the beginning, and we've had the chance to see her grow. Her parents told us before attending she had never heard of computer science, and after a few months she had asked them "is this something you can do for a living?" This year she made her first Android app, and presented it in front of industry professionals. My favorite thing though, isn't her accomplishments, but hearing the excuses when she can't attend, "sorry she's at space camp" and "she is building her first robot for a science fair". I knew that if I could positively impact one girls' life--imagine what that meant bringing together others across the globe.

Joining the Hello World Foundation means helping bring together 200 CoderDojo chapters in 23 countries, not as training schools for youth but as places that serve to inspire and help the next generation become even better dreamers, thinkers and builders through technology. After starting in Ireland, it's spread like wildfire. The idea of open STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) coding clubs for youth everywhere from Mexico, Japan, Slovenia, Scotland and anywhere in between. They're led by volunteers who mentor, who don't just teach, they inspire.

We're here on this planet to make meaningful connections, and they are worth more than any monetary donation. Worth more than a 'handout', or being treated differently as a 'hand-up'--we want 'handshakes', to be included. Some say there are limiting factors, whether it’s the economy, wars, or political turmoil. I say that this gives us opportunities, especially for young people, to be creative, to innovate and solve these issues with the help of technology in faster and smarter ways. Our digital footprint has more impact now than ever, and a line of code can be a catalyst for social change.

I currently work at the Hello World Foundation an Irish non-profit that aims to inspire the next generation of creators through technology.

This blog was written by Rebecca Garcia, an organizer at Developers for Good and CoderDojo NYC Co-founder, and originally posted by the White House Champions of Change Blog. You can see the original post here.

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July Meetup: Seeds Uses Gaming To Spur International Development

Last Tuesday, Developers for Good met at ThoughtWorks to learn about Seeds. Seeds is a company founded by Rachel Cook that seeks to leverage all the hours people spend gaming into a microlending effort that supports development in East Africa. According to Rachel, 300 billion people around the world live at or below the poverty line, on $2 a day. Another statistic for 300 billion? The number of hours a week are spent on online gaming. Seeds aims to leverage those hours by working with gaming companies to create opportunities for users to buy features inside their games, and use that money for microloans to entrepreneurs in developing countries in Africa.

Like what Seeds is up to? Seeds is hiring engineers and engaging volunteers - reach out to Rachel at [email protected] to jump in.

If you’re looking for other ways to volunteer your skills, check out past opportunities from Developers for Good or open source projects on CodeMontage.

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Meet Mike Edwards, a technologist for EDesign Lab.

Connect with EDesign Lab via twitter or github and Mike personally via twitter. And you can contribute to EDesign Lab projects at CodeMontage.

What is your organization’s mission: The EDesign Lab is a collaboration between...

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Organization Spotlight: John from EDesign Labs

Meet John Derian, a science teacher at the Brooklyn International High School, who’s collaborating with EDesign Lab.

Connect with EDesign Lab  via twitter or github.  Connect with John through his website, aworldofscience.com

What is your organization’s mission:

“The EDesign Lab is a collaboration between educators, technologists, and designers to co-imagine and prototype real examples of what interactive digital learning can look like to improve student engagement, motivation, and success.”

What inspires you about your organization:

I’m inspired by the EDesign Lab itself. In the lab, we start with an idea and end with a student tested digital learning tool designed to increase student achievement, understanding, and engagement. The process by which we get there I find very inspiring as well.  The other teachers and technologists in the program are truly amazing. There is a great flow of ideas and constructive thought that goes into the development of the different projects. The collaborative atmosphere that has been created is a lot of fun to be a part of, and the work we do with student learning in mind is personally very fulfilling.

What projects can developers help with: 

Two projects that I’ve been involved with where developers can help are “Overpass” and “Because.” “Overpass” was designed to help students develop their argumentations skills. In a game-based environment, students identify text evidence to the parts of an argument they are connected to. Teachers can add their own content to personalize the program to their own class.

“Because” is a collaborative data visualization program that is powered through Google Drive, which allows students to attach causation events to different parts of a graph. The program allows students or teachers to create a graph by inserting a data set. Pictures of graphs can also be uploaded without entering a data set. Students collaborate together to add events or attach premade events to the parts of the graph they believe caused the graph to move the way it did. “Because” can be used in other ways as well. Students can upload their own grade data and reflect on their learning over the course of the year. Also, because the program allows users to upload pictures and attach events, the pictures don’t have to be graphs. Any picture can be uploaded and have events and hyperlinks attached. There is a lot of flexibility for use built into the basic design of the program.

Impact your projects will have on the organization and the world: 

When we design our projects, we focus on specific learning outcomes or address specific issues with student learning. For example, high school students have a hard time interpreting graphs. The program “Because” was designed specifically to help students develop skills regarding how they look at and interpret graphs. Since teachers are involved in the development of the different projects, we are able to bring in and address real classroom issues.

Favorite Ice Cream:

Salted Crack Caramel from Ample Hills Creamery

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Organization Spotlight: Rosann of Reproductive Health Access Project

Meet Rosann Mariappuram, Program & Administrative Associate at Reproductive Health Access Project.

Connect with RHAP via Twitter, Facebook, or the RHAP Blog

RHAP Mission: The Reproductive Health Access Project (RHAP) seeks to ensure that women and teens at every socioeconomic level can readily obtain birth control and abortion from their own primary care clinician. Through training, advocacy and mentoring programs, RHAP helps family physicians and other clinicians make birth control and abortion a part of routine medical care.

What inspires Rosann about RHAP: I love that RHAP is so patient-centered. There are a multitude of myths out there about birth control that end up creating barriers for women. For example, some clinicians only provide 3 months worth of contraception at a time and then ask patients to come back to the office whenever they need a refill. But evidence shows that if you give a woman a 12 month supply of birth control it will make it easier for her to consistently use contraception and decrease her risk of an unintended pregnancy. I'm so proud that RHAP is out there providing this type of information - it can make such a big impact!

What Developers can help with:

SEO Optimization - RHAP has developed a wealth of clinical tools and patient educational fact sheets that are available for free on our website. Our resources are used all over the world and many have been translated into multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Korean, Creole, Portuguese, and Chinese. We'd love to do SEO Optimization on our website so our resources are easier to find in common search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Online platform for the RHAP Network - One of RHAP's main projects is our Network - a group of over 450+ primary care clinicians across the U.S. who are working to integrate contraception and abortion into their practice. We offer guidance and technical support to these clinicians as well as create a pro-choice community for them to rely upon. Right now, our main method of staying in touch with Network members is via email, phone and e-newsletters. We'd like to create an online platform for our Network, where members could log in to a website that lets them track their progress integrating different reproductive health services.

For example: if a nurse practitioner in Oregon wants to offer IUDs at her clinic, we'd have a check list of steps she needs to take. She could tick off each step as she goes, email RHAP via the online portal if she has problems. Once she finishes all her steps we'd be able to add her to a map of clinicians across the US who are offering IUDs. Clearly, this is a big project and we're just in the planning stage. But we'd love to get the input of a developer who could help us write up a formal proposal for this project, and help us understand what specific programming needs & costs it would include.

Impact these projects will have on RHAP and the world: Our website is already a huge resource for clinicians around the world on how to provide contraception, abortion care, and manage early pregnancy loss. By improving our website's SEO we will make it an even more powerful, more accessible hub of information for clinicians and the patients they care for.

Our Network project is the heart of our national organizing efforts. By creating an online portal for the Network we will be able to connect and support family medicine practitioners across U.S. like never before. Some of the clinicians in our Network are the only pro-choice voice in their town/city/state. Having an online portal/forum will both give them the medical resources they need and offer them professional support so they can be a change maker in their community.

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Future Software Superheroes - It's time for your CodeMontage!

The hour's approaching, just give it your best, You've got to reach your prime. That's when you need to put yourself to the test, And show us a passage of time. We're gonna need a montage

CodeMontage improves your coding skills with real projects that matter. You'll get real challenges that build your skills, code reviews and feedback from excellent developers, and a portfolio of open source code that makes a difference in the world. 

We believe software developers make some of the best superheroes, and we know becoming a superhero isn't easy. We also know there's a big difference between learning to code and feeling ready to save the world. We'd like to help you get to the next level, whether it's a new job, comfort in a new language, or skills to build your own world-saving project.

Our first CodeMontage session will run from Monday, November 19 to Friday, December 14 and cost $500. The program is remote and designed for flexibility around your schedule, but requires your commitment to completing challenges and improving your code based on feedback. You can apply to CodeMontage here: http://bit.ly/CodeMontageApp.

We have exciting social impact projects geared up for you. Once we get your application, we'll find a project that fits your skills goals and let you know ASAP if we can offer you a spot in our next session.

Once you've been accepted, we'll start off with an email explaining your first challenge. Each challenge is a feature or task within a software project that will help you become a better developer and the project come closer to improving the world. You'll typically receive one challenge per week and you'll have until Friday at 5pm EST to complete the challenge. All timelines will be subject to change based on the challenges and your progress, and we'll be available for any questions throughout the program.

Ready to get software development experience that matters? Start your CodeMontage today: http://bit.ly/CodeMontageApp

* Please note: Pricing is designed to make the program sustainable, not inaccessible, so if you're raring to go but the price is beyond your reach, please let us know in your application.

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In 2011, programming-related jobs were 7 of the 20 Fastest Growing Jobs, but none of the 20 Best Jobs to Save the World. We're here to help the social impact sector join that growth and to help technologists realize their potential to save the world.

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A lot of people have asked how they can help, and I always feel like we give lame answers. The truth is we need a lot of help, but have been so swamped we haven’t been able to make helping easy. So we’re trying to change that.

CASH Music is small. For the most part it’s me and Maggie doing the...