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# 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._

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