Young Rewired State

On Sunday I attended presentations for the 2 day long Young Rewired State event held at Google offices in Victoria. Unlike the spring event held at the Guardian, this event happened over 2 days and was aimed at 15-18 year olds. It represented the realm of the possible and the teenage developers displayed clever thinking and adept skills at delivering useful products.

If there was a single failing it was not in the organisation of the event or the skills, determination or capability of the young developers - it was that there was not enough usable data available for them to showcase even more of their capabilities.

This was a problem echoed from the spring event, and one that is often heard at Hack days, barcamps, in blogs, and elsewhere when developers gather to discuss what is possible. One can only hope this will be addressed as we all move towards a more open policy with non-personal government held data.

A real highlight of the event was the application called TFHell. Being an ardent user of London buses I was very impressed with the idea of taking already published (via the LED bus stop signs) information and making it available to web and mobile. For those of us who have missed a bus by seconds it's simply a practical and useful tool.

Other projects of note are:

Schoolroutr 2.0 beta - a mapping tool for planning safe routes to school using crime data

Will Work for Peanuts - A site that allows developers with little to no work experience find work

Crime Statistics in Your County - A site that shows possible correlations between crime rates and exam results

I think the biggest issue (as with the last event) will be how do you build on the momentum of the developers and turn a weekend of optimism, enthusiasm and creativity into ongoing usable services? I think that some thought will have to be given to:

1. What are the paths for getting the kind of data they need?
2. Are there models to support further development available?
3. Is there a way to incorporate their voices/thinking into the bigger picture of providing services relevant to Citizens?

It was great to be able to observe the outputs of such a talented group of young people. You can find the event at Rewired State and on twitter #youngrewiredstate.

I invite the young participants to submit their apps - or ideas for apps - to our site where they can feature in our Apps and Ideas sections.

And finally, congratulations to the organisers who did a fantastic job organising and running the event, to the judges, and finally the sponsors for making it all happen.