J-School Webmaster Wins Honorable Mention In County Apps Challenge

J-School webmaster Chuck Harris won honorable mention in the Alameda County Apps Challenge held Saturday, December 8, 2012 at the Castro Valley Library (Castro Valley, CA). His app, Click.Find.Help!, allows citizens to find and submit applications for county services based upon their zip code using either their desktop computer or mobile device.

Alameda County’s first “hackathon” brought together developers, activists, citizens, and designers to make apps that would benefit the communities of Alameda County. The day-long event was sponsored by the County of Alameda and Code for America. Using Alameda County data sets, each competing team had 5 hours to build, design and present an application.

Participants arrived bright and early in the morning ready to code and collaborate. With 24 teams and over 120 participants, there was a great turnout and an energetic display of teamwork and competition. The winning app was Bookit! which allows a person to scan the barcode on a book with their smartphone, instantly search the Alameda County Library system for that book, display which library branches stock the book and if available, reserve it. While the winner received a $3,000 cash prize, the real winners were Alameda County and its residents.

You can see screenshots from Chuck’s app, Click.Find.Help! below: