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The Message December 2024: What’s New in NYC?

Gabby Langston

Happy Holidays, Solstice, and a good December to you all! As we wrap up 2024, our team is filled with gratitude for your generous support. Your end-of-the-year donations play a vital role in funding our work, and we’re excited to offer an assortment of thank-you gifts this season. By donating to our campaign, you can receive an invite to a member-only summer party, stickers, a BetaNYC tote bag, an Early Bird School of Data ticket, or dinner with BetaNYC Staff! Help us fund one apprenticeship role by donating at < beta.nyc/donate >.

As we close out the year, our team is wrapping up many projects in preparation for organizing Open Data Week and School of Data—many thanks to all of you who have submitted your session ideas. As the calendar year comes to a close, we are reflecting on how our landscape will change in 2025. The ACLU has written a clear summary of where the next Federal Government will draw its inspiration.

Again, we echo the call to use end-of-the-year gatherings to improve our digital hygiene. Hopefully, you looked into the security guides we mentioned last month. The current Federal Government recently urged all Americans to use encrypted apps amid unprecedented cyberattacks. Also, if you want to learn how immigration organizers are gearing up for the next administration, check out Movement Memos by Truthout.

On our end, we’re collaborating with the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI) to collect and protect crucial datasets that could be at risk during the new administration. We need your help documenting data in this spreadsheet by the end of the year and ensuring we’re ready to move forward. Additionally, you can help document websites via the End of Term Archive. Together, we can safeguard the resources and information that support our communities.

As we look ahead to 2025, we must support each other, care for our neighbors, and build a future where we can all thrive. If you’re a Young Professional, we’d love to see you this Thursday in Williamsburg. And for our avid newsletter readers, we want to hear from you! Fill out this survey and win a BetaNYC tote bag.

Thank you for being an integral part of our community.

— BetaNYC ❤️

Special Announcements 🫶 

Join us for the BetaNYC Associate Board Young Professionals Happy Hour!
BetaNYC’s inaugural Associate Board is hosting a Happy Hour at TALEA Beer Co in Williamsburg, and you’re invited! Everyone is welcome, whether you’re new to public interest tech or a longtime fan! Join us this Thursday, December 12, from 6-8pm.  

School of Data and Open Data Week proposals are due Sunday! 
Hello Open Data Week friends! The deadline to submit your proposals is December 15 at 11:59pm. If you need guidance for your application, tune into our call for proposals information session to learn more about what to expect. To maximize your chances of having your proposal reviewed and accepted, please submit your application as soon as possible.

A blue gradient image with the words "Join Us for the BetaNYC Associate Board Young Professionals Happy Hour," followed by the date, time, and location. Learn more at bit.ly/betanyc-ab-dec24."
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BetaNYC is hiring a Public Programs Consultant!
If you’ve ever attended Open Data Week or School or Data, you’ve experienced the magic that cultivates our community. This year, we’re seeking an organized, passionate consultant to help produce NYC Open Data Week and NYC School of Data. Join us in our Lower Manhattan office to connect with digital equity organizations and promote digital and data literacy. Learn more and apply here.

We want to hear from you about our newsletters!
Take a few minutes to share your thoughts about our newsletters—the content, format, and anything else you’d like to see added or improved. As a thank you, we’ll randomly select five people to win a stylish BetaNYC tote bag!

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What’s New at BetaNYC? 📊

Public Interest Technology on the road!

Our Executive Director Noel Hidalgo presented at the CUNY IT Conference, where he participated in a panel discussion with the New York City Tech Talent Pipeline, CUNY PIT Lab, and CUNY Central Office. They spoke about the next phase of integrating public interest technology as part of a central ecosystem across CUNY. Thank you CUNY and John Jay College of Criminal Justice, for having us!

Open Data and Civic Technology for Public Good

Our Chief Technology Officer Ashley Louie has been on the move, participating in workshops and panels on climate-responsive technologies and ways to combat climate change. Ashley has spearheaded conversations on ways to utilize data for policy change discussions and advocacy. We love to see this! Thank you Cornell AAP and NYSCI, for having us! 

Celebrating Geographic Milestones 

November marked some major milestones in the geospatial world! Our very own Naeema Haque paid tribute to GIS Day in this riveting blog post, and Dimitri Mimy did a lovely breakdown of our McCarrent Park Stewardship cleaning and mapping event.

Support our Work: Donate Today

Thank you for supporting our newsletters.Each edition is made possible by a small team and dedicated readers like YOU! With your help, we can sustain these newsletters and strengthen our community. Join us today and be the spark for positive change.

Community News, Events and Announcements

Submit to this list to have your picks featured in next month’s newsletter.

Community Resources 📚 

Here are our must-reads — curated by you!

From the Ashes: Grief and Revolution in a World on Fire – by Sarah Jaffe

The Future of Trustworthy Information: Learning from Online Content Creators – Julia Angwin 

Ten Free Ebooks for Getting Free – Haymarket Books (free downloads ended November 29, but these books are available at a low cost) 

The Power of the People Heals and Must-Reads and Timely Escapes – Kelly Hayes

Can Community Data Help Heal Public Discourse? – Andy Krackov 

FTC Bans Location Data Company That Powers the Surveillance Ecosystem – 404 Media

Writing Alt Text for Data Visualization – Amy Cesal

ICYMI: With Google dropping support for many privacy plugins, learn to bypass paywalls via Firefox and bypass paywalls clean. Also, you can use 12ft.io to help bypass paywalls.

Legislative Updates 🏛️

Updates about NYC and Governance

The New York City Council passed the ‘City of Yes’ Housing Agenda with a divided chamber. THE CITY has a recap on the final tally, dissents, and celebrations. 

The New York City Council Committee on Technology held a hearing on improving accessibility to city services. Head over to Vikram Oberoi’s citymeetings.nyc for the full recap! 

The MTA will hold several public webinars ahead of congestion pricing going into effect on January 5. Learn more about the webinars and sign up here. 

The Data Collaborative for Justice launched the New York City Jail Population Tracker. The dashboard provides real-time data on New York City’s jail population and progress toward closing Rikers Island by 2027. 

Civic Tech Updates 👀

Projects and News from Community Members

Elif Ensari (an Open Data Ambassador!) and Benjamin Arnav had their research on using AI to monitor the NYPD’s response to parking complaints published in the Vital City Journal. 

datHere co-founders Joel Natividad and Sami Baig walk us through The Golden Rule of Pragmatic Data Governance. 

The New York City’s Open Streets Program 2025 applications are now open! 

According to a report from the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy’s Program on Applied Demographics, New York State’s population will shrink by more than 2 million over the next 25 years. 

The New York City Independent Budget Office highlights that CFC pantries served more than 8.4 million New Yorkers in the last quarter of fiscal year 2024 – more than twice the number of New Yorkers than during the onset of Covid-19.  

The MTA announced the finalists and winners of their first-ever Open Data Challenge. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists! 

The New York League of Conservation Voters created a map that visualizes NYC buildings that have water coming through lead pipes. Gothamist has a recap of the lead pipe hotspots.

NYC Parks is seeking your thoughts on its greenways and drives! Visit the NYC Parks E-Pilot Map Input Tool to share your feedback.

Upcoming Events 📆

December 11 at 9am Closer LOOK: The Lowdown on Local Law 97

December 11 at 3pm Webinar: Top 3 Data Cleaning Skills in Excel

December 11 at 7pm CUNY Tech Prep Demo Night 2024

December 12 at 6pm BetaNYC Associate Board Young Professionals Happy Hour

December 15 at 11:59pm Submission deadline for NYC School of Data

December 17 at 10am Navigating the New York System for People With Developmental Disabilities

December 18 at 6pm Climate Cafe & Folk Jam (Holiday Edition)

December 18 at 6pm AI-Python For a Kinder New York City

January 10 at 12pm Discovering NYC Open Data: Online Session

March 21 to April 6, 2025 Data Through Design’s Corpus: Bodies of Data 

March 22 to 30, 2025 NYC Open Data Week

March 29, 2025 NYC School of Data

June 19 to 21, 2025 State of the Map US, Boston

Announcements, Job Openings and Opportunities 📢

See Slack #Jobs for more

Join our community! 🚀

Want to add to this list? Submit to the next newsletter.

See you in 2025! Peace, openness, and gratitude 🗽