Volunteer Tasks to Help Open Source Your City

As money moves toward decentralization due to cryptocurrency, governance will follow. The best broad-scale collaboration I've seen are in open-source (software) communities.

Open-source refers to code that is available to see, and often, to re-use. And working in open-source projects comes with many assumptions around individual agency, communication, collaboration.

Public agencies have not traditionally worked as open-source projects, though many aspects are largely public domain. So, open-sourcing cities will follow, as software continues to eat the world.

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Below are many discrete tasks volunteers can undertake to support open sourcing city data, services, and infrastructure:

1. Data Collection & Curation

• Audit existing city datasets for completeness and accuracy
  
• Transcribe scanned public documents (e.g., meeting minutes, ordinances)
  
• OCR and clean PDFs of historical city records
  
• Geocode addresses for city assets (e.g., streetlights, benches)
  
• Remove personally identifiable information (PII) from sensitive datasets
  

2. Data Standardization & Integration

• Map local data fields to open standards (e.g., Schema.org, Open311)
  
• Write ETL scripts to transform CSV/Excel files into machine-readable formats (JSON, GeoJSON)
  
• Merge overlapping geospatial datasets (zoning, parcels, infrastructure)
  
• Validate JSON/CSV against defined schemas
  

3. Documentation & Guides

• Draft README.md files for open data portals and GitHub repositories
  
• Create CONTRIBUTING.md with clear contribution guidelines
  
• Write step-by-step tutorials on accessing city APIs
  
• Document data dictionaries and field definitions
  
• Translate documentation into other languages as needed
  

4. Software Development & Testing

• Build front-end features (search, filters, interactive maps) using JavaScript frameworks
  
• Develop back-end ETL pipelines in Python, Ruby or Elixir
  
• Create RESTful API endpoints for city services (e.g., permit lookup, event calendars)
  
• Write automated tests for data pipelines and APIs
  
• Perform usability testing and report bugs
  

5. UX/UI Design

• Design wireframes and mockups for open data dashboards
  
• Prototype interactive visualizations with D3.js or Chart.js
  
• Audit accessibility compliance (WCAG 2.1) on city portals
  
• Conduct user interviews and synthesize feedback
  

6. Localization & Translation

• Translate portal interfaces into locally spoken languages
  
• Localize error messages, help text, and tooltips
  
• Review and improve machine translations for accuracy
  

7. Community Engagement & Outreach

• Organize hackathons or “open data nights”
  
• Host webinars or workshops to train citizens on using open data
  
• Moderate discussion forums, Slack/Discord channels or mailing lists
  
• Survey residents about their data needs and portal improvements
  

8. Advocacy & Policy Support

• Research and summarize open government best practices
  
• Draft sample open data policies for city councils
  
• Analyze civic engagement laws and propose improvements
  
• Prepare briefing materials for elected officials
  

9. Content Creation & Communication

• Write blog posts showcasing successful open data use cases
  
• Produce explainer videos or infographics about key datasets
  
• Manage social media channels to highlight new data releases
  
• Design posters/flyers promoting the open data portal
  

10. Quality Assurance & Maintenance

• Monitor API uptime, latency, and error rates
  
• Periodically review datasets for stale or outdated entries
  
• Validate incoming contributions and merge pull requests
  
• Tag and triage issues in GitHub repositories
  

11. Mapping & GIS

• Update OpenStreetMap entries for local roads, parks, and landmarks
  
• Create Story Maps highlighting community infrastructure projects
  
• Generate heatmaps of service requests or urban metrics
  
• Digitize legacy paper maps and overlay with modern basemaps
  

12. Training & Mentorship

• Mentor new volunteers on Git/GitHub workflows and code reviews
  
• Host “office hours” to answer technical questions
  
• Develop workshop materials on data literacy and civic tech
  

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By collaborating across these areas, volunteers can drive transparency, innovation, and community engagement by making their cities’ data and services truly open.