Civic hackers, ad agency part of 1 Million Cups meeting

A nonprofit group that hopes to improve government and community services through innovative technology and an advertising agency that wants to help organizations plan for the future pitched their visions at Wednesday’s 1 Million Cups ICT event.

1 Million Cups ICT is a weekly gathering designed to aid entrepreneurs by helping them get advice and make contacts in the community. It meets from 9 to 10 a.m. on Wednesdays. Next week’s event will be at Exploration Place, 300 N. McLean Blvd.

Here were the latest presenters.

Open Wichita

Founders: Various volunteers, but local programmer Seth Etter spoke at the event.

Pitch: The group practices civic hacking, creating ways to improve the lives of citizens using technology. It has created an app to remind people when to vote, and it is working on one to provide a list of resources for anyone who handles infants. Its biggest priority will be to encourage the City of Wichita to open more of its data for use in apps.

Status: The group is less than a year old and expects a big bounce from HackathonICT set for June 4 during the River Festival.

Need: Volunteers, continued cooperation from local government.

Contact: openwichita.com

Apples & Arrows

Founder: Todd Ramsey

Pitch: Apples & Arrows is a branding/advertising company. Ramsey said that technology, such as online discount logo creation, is undermining some of his company’s business. He wants to add a new capability: helping organizations and companies forecast and plan for the future.

Status: He said he is six to 10 months from launching a prototype of the service.

Need: Needs an organization to act as the pilot.

Contact: applesandarrows.com

Next week

The next 1 Million Cups ICT will feature Knoxx and Viaan Electronics.

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 4:40 PM with the headline "Civic hackers, ad agency part of 1 Million Cups meeting."