The first public data hackathon is taking place at Codebase Stirling on the 25th and 26th of November. The event aims to open up public data from the council with the goal of making a real difference to the way it operates.

The hackathon will focus on the issue of waste services and is aimed at people who are keen to dive into public data and form solutions that will ultimately be presented to the council for adoption.

This is an initial launch of a new solution to a public interested in crowdsourcing public data analysis to improve local government for all citizens, by those citizens themselves.

Participants will get a unique first-hand look at the data and processes Stirling Council uses every day to make things work and will then be given the opportunity to get involved in changing those processes for the better.

Matthew David, the director of Witten, which is organising and keynoting the Hackathon, said: “Wittin is a new start-up that is connecting citizens with anonymized public data from Stirling Council’s systems. Our aim is to connect those people that are curious and those that can undertake the analysis to help improve the services offered by the council.

“The time has come to test this our system in the wild. We need to gather a motivated collection of individuals to engage with the data in real time through our system and ultimately to submit ideas for change within the council.

“Pulling in students from the data programs at the University of Stirling we are delighted to be the first hackathon held at Codebase’s new Stirling HQ.”

To participate in the first ever public data hackathon, e-mail Matthew or register online.