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New York City Touts Its API on Subway Advertisements
New York City Touts Its API on Subway Advertisements
Adam DuVander, February 3rd, 2011
http://blog.programmableweb.com/2011/02/03/new-york-city-touts-its-api-on-subway-advertisements/

Riders on New York City subways are subject to all sorts of sights. For several months, that has included prominent advertisements for the MTA API, the developer program of New York City’s transit company. The ad (pictured below) includes the headline, “Our apps are whiz kid certified.”

Riders on the New York City subway see all sorts of things. For the past several months, these have included eye-catching advertisements for the MTA API, the developer program of New York City’s transit authority. As shown in the photo below, the ad bears the headline, “Our apps are whiz kid certified.”


The full advertisement reads:

Instead of developing transit apps ourselves, we gave our info to the people who do it best. Search the web for “NY transit apps” to see what we mean.

The full text reads:

Instead of developing the apps ourselves, we decided to give the data to the people who write apps best. Search the web for “NY transit apps.” Then you will see what we mean.

The transit agency hasn’t always been so open, but it made a big turn-around over the last year. In January, 2010, MTA was the largest transit agency without open data. Shortly afterward, MTA released some data and in April it co-hosted an un-conference with Google.

The city’s transit authority was not always this open. It changed course dramatically over the past year. In January 2010[訳注1], the MTA was the largest transit agency that did not provide open data. Soon afterward, however, the MTA began releasing some of its data, and in April it went so far as to hold an unconference-format[訳注2] conference co-hosted with Google.

[訳注1] With the Obama administration taking office in January 2010, the U.S. government made a major shift toward open government (Government 2.0, Gov 2.0). This move by New York City’s transit authority is believed to be part of that trend. Another well-known example is Washington D.C. The philosophical background of open government includes profound aims such as strengthening democracy. On a more practical level, amid severe fiscal difficulties, it seeks to reduce public spending and improve convenience for citizens at the same time by entrusting the private sector with work that government had previously performed poorly and at great expense.

[訳注2] An unconference is a conference format popular in open-source communities and elsewhere. There is no predetermined program; the participants propose topics of interest on the spot and gather in groups to discuss each topic. Based on the experience that “the most useful part of a conference is the informal conversation in the hallways,” it places those informal conversations at the center, hence the name “unconference” (a deconstruction of the conference). Where a conventional conference follows an old-style waterfall model, this is its agile counterpart; here, it also serves as an antithesis to the old guard.

Photo via New York Observer. Hat tip: David Bressler.

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