[open-government] How to make apps contests more sustainable?

Sat Nov 3 15:40:32 UTC 2012

Hello,

Personally I have not organised an App contest, but there does seem to be a focus about Apps competitions that there is a lot of preparation, and then the 2 day rush of activity. Not always so much is heard afterwards.

Perhaps the apps contests do not always produce sustainable Apps. Maybe 2 days is too short, and we are asking too much. Apps that endure will presumably have value ( social, gratification, economic, fun or whatever ).

However, there are Apps development competitions that look much more like they are run as businesses, with a product, a market and a plan. They look like they are planning to be here to stay e.g. in UK

Apps for Good  http://appsforgood.org/

YRS ( Young ReWired State )   http://rewiredstate.org/hacks/yrs-scotland-2012

Governments are also increasingly appearing to see Apps events as a way to promote innovation. Has anyone successfully harnessed this to make a business ? Does anyone use an App that came out of a Social Innovation Camp, or the ODI ?

http://www.theodi.org/events

If we know where the successful Apps are that have been developed in contests, then maybe the concept will become more sustainable if we follow some of their learnings. Likewise, the people who are building a business running Apps competitions may have rich insight.

Alex

________________________________
 From: "Holm, Jeanne M (1760)" <jeanne.m.holm at jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "open-government at lists.okfn.org" <open-government at lists.okfn.org> 
Sent: Thursday, 1 November 2012, 22:20
Subject: Re: [open-government] How to make apps contests more sustainable?

Antti--

Great ideas and a real issue for us to deal with.  Making the apps that
come out of challenges sustainable and rigorous needs to be baked into the
initial expectations and planning.  I've added some additional ideas and
resources onto your notepad.

--Jeanne

**********************************************************
Jeanne Holm
Evangelist, Data.gov
U.S. General Services Administration
Cell: (818) 434-5037
Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn: JeanneHolm
**********************************************************

>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Message: 1
>Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2012 10:29:53 +0200
>From: Antti Jogi Poikola <antti.poikola at gmail.com>
>Subject: [open-government] How to make apps contests more sustainable?
>To: open-government at lists.okfn.org
>Message-ID:
>    <CAPW_oUrQZqfABYYxTK+4s_qkvcfRuhbj0d3BrZUKPscF=Y=suA at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>
>Hello,
>
>By now we?ve seen many apps contests, in many forms, all around world. In
>a
>way, this continuous sprawl is a success in itself. On the other hand,
>critique [1] related to the lack of sustainability of the apps contests is
>growing. There is a demand and a need to learn from each other and design
>better and more sustainable models for boosting the innovation around open
>data.
>
>If you are interested in making better apps contests or have other new
>ideas on how to boost the innovation around open data ? feel free to join
>the discussion at the appsforx -email list [2]. The list was established
>after a international Apps Contest Organizers meetup which was organized
>during the Open Knowledge Festival 2012 in Helsinki (see also the meeting
>memo [3]).
>
>Right now I am compiling a topic report with working title: ?Innovation
>Contests for Open Data Re-use?. I would appreciate all help in populating
>the listing of Apps contests [4], you can add missing details directly to
>the Google spreadsheet or share this email and the blogpost link [5] to
>relevant forums and people who might know about other apps contests.
>
>Best regards,
>Antti Poikola (Apps for Finland coordinator 2009)
>
>[1]
>http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/08/app-contests-sustainability-usability.htm
>l
>[2] http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/appsforx
>[3] http://okfestival.okfnpad.org/apps
>[4] http://bit.ly/apps_contests_list
>[5] http://poikola.fi/apps-contests-everywhere/
>
>-- 
>+358 44 337 5439
>about.me/apoikola
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