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Build:Boston connects community members and software developers to strengthen their communities by developing new apps using open, civic data.

How it works, Build:Boston is divided into three main categories, projects (solutions that are still being worked on), applications (existing technological solutions) and data. In projects, organizations and individuals can share their technological needs with one another. By proposing a project, developers and all other constituents can find projects to support and help build or share applications. Sharing of applications that have already been built using data, that is hosted on this or other sites. Lastly the data catalog is a place where cities can showcase and list data accessible through an API.

Our core functionality is to connect people with resources by allowing users to submit technicals needs and making connections within the community.

Projects are a great way to engage the public to create submissions, increase awareness about a product or services provided by cites, and encourage citizen engagement. A project can take many forms. For example, the government can challenge the public to: develop an app or graphic, improve a product or process, solve a problem previously thought unsolvable.

By having a place where all locally built apps are stored we can prevent replicas of projects. Build:Boston is also a place to search for existing solutions, why reinvent the wheel you might not be the only person with this problem. Perhaps that same problem has already been addressed through an awesome locally built web app and we’d like to share it! Sharing the software you’re building is the best way to ensure that quality remains high and that others can benefit from and contribute to it. This application also serves as a stepping stone to the civic commons where smaller cities can begin to catalog and showcase the work of local developers.

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