For those of you in the Portland Metro area, mark your calendars to attend the CivicApps Ideas Discussion on May 27, 2010, 18:00-20:00 at the Portland Building Auditorium. This is your chance to discuss your ideas for development with the CivicApps dataset providers and representatives from the City of Portland.

Please register here: CivicIdeas Discussion – registration is free but space is limited so sign-up soon!

After you’ve solidified your idea the next step is to make it a reality. You can do this at CiviCode day – co-located with Open Source Bridge on Thursday, June 3, 2010. A day of CiviCode unconference and hackathon activities begins with a keynote by Mayor Sam Adams and concludes with a show-in-tell of what you built!

CiviCode Day is located in the 24 hour Open Source Bridge Hacker Lounge – this year located in the Portland Art Museum’s – Mark Building. Come work on your CivicApps project in a space guaranteed to inspire creativity surrounded by peers and project stakeholders.

Register for CiviCode Day here: CiviCode Day – Registration for CiviCode day is free – but space is limited. Please add your name the list soon!

Additional information about the events can be found here: Important Upcoming Events for CivicApps.

Hope to see you at both the CivicApps Ideas Discussion and CiviCode Day!

Hacker lounge view of Portland, OR

We’ve been to any number of open source conferences. And for as much as we get out of the sessions, we always seem to get just as much—if not more—from the time spent with other developers.

Whether it’s camping out in the hallway, hanging out in coffee shops, or late-night code sessions at the hotel, spending time with other attendees working on projects—and reveling in being an open source citizen—is always one of the highlights of any conference.

So, when we had the opportunity to build Open Source Bridge, one of our primary concerns was that we had plenty of space for hacking. But we weren’t thinking a couch in the hall or a bunch of people crammed around the table. And we wanted our attendees to have something better than a desperate search for places with outlets, wifi, and space to code at 3:45 AM. We were thinking about dedicated space for hacking, 24-hours a day.

Introducing the Open Source Bridge hacker lounge, a space dedicated to code sprints, development projects, user-group get-togethers, and general hanging out—open all-day and all-night, throughout the conference. Perched atop the Hilton Portland, the hacker lounge will feature food, drink, interesting people, and plenty of space for various groups to gather.

Even if you’re not interested in hacking, you’ll still want to spend some time in the hacker lounge. From spectacular views of the Portland skyline to direct access to the best and brightest people, the hacker lounge is sure to be the crown jewel of the conference.

The hacker lounge is accessible to every Open Source Bridge attendee staying at the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower. So make sure you’ve got a room. If you’re interested in scheduling time for your group or project to meet, please contact us. We’ll make sure you have all the space, power, wifi, and sustenance you need. Interested in sponsoring the hacker lounge? We’ll be happy to work with you.

We’re looking forward to seeing you at Open Source Bridge—at both the sessions and in the hacker lounge. Make sure to register today and book a room. Have something you want to present? Our Call for Proposals is open until March 31. Submit your Open Source Bridge proposal today.

(Photo courtesy Hockley Photography. Used with permission.)