Bloomington selected as Google’s new initiative participant

Google has its eye on the City of Bloomington.

Last month, the city was selected to take part in Google’s Summer of Code program, an initiative the company created to promote the development of open-source software.

 The program provides funding, as well as paid interns — who had to propose project ideas and applied through Google — to the participating organizations.

“Most of the projects that are on that list are existing open-source projects that are corporate sponsored,” said Rick Dietz, director of information and technology services for the city.

Open-source software is developed in a public, collaborative manner and is created to be built upon and improved by other software designers.

When the city applied, it proposed three open-source projects designed to enhance communication between the city and its constituents through its pre-existing GeoReporter program.

GeoReporter is an online service for Bloomington residents to notify the city of issues or safety hazards around the community using Open311, a different open-source software program.

The three proposed Bloomington projects revolve around expanding the GeoReporter into an Android app and enhancing the existing iPhone app.

“A big goal of mine when we’re doing software projects is that we’re always thinking about the overall benefit of what we’re working on,” Dietz said.

Google will approve one or all of Bloomington’s projects and assign the city a group of paid interns to work on the open source software. Dietz and his team are sifting through 57 applications from across the globe.

Google provides a $5,500 subsidy to each participating intern and grants funding in the amount of $500 for the open-source projects.

Dietz said this new technology could improve communication between the city and the community members.

“The whole point of open source is that you develop something and share it widely so other communities can use it as well,” he said.