

Civic Hack DC 2025 โ Part 2: Making Public Comments Count
โBuild open-source tools to unlock federal regulatory comment data with AI, data science, and policy expertise.
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THE DATE IS TBD - Spring 2026
๐ 10:00 AM โ 6:30 PM
๐ Metro-accessible venue in DC (TBD)
๐ฅ Food, drinks, and starter kits provided.
โPlease reach out to hack2025@civictechdc.org if you are interested in sponsoring!
โMore info on our Website
โJoin Civic Tech DC and partners for Civic Hack DC 2025:
โA collaborative, hands-on hackathon dedicated to using AI, data science, and data engineering techniques to unlock public-comment data and illuminate how the public influences federal policies.
โ๐ About the Event
โJoin us for a hands-on, collaborative hackathon focused on improving public access to regulatory comment data from Regulations.gov. You'll team up with technologists and policy experts to build open-source tools that make this data easier to analyze, explore, and reuse.
โNo prior experience with federal data requiredโjust experience working around datasets and a laptop.
โ๐ง Why It Matters
โEvery year, thousands of public comments are submitted in response to proposed federal rulesโbut they're locked away in PDFs, spreadsheets, and inconsistent formats. Our goal is to fix that.
โYou'll work with a 2.3TB+ dataset made accessible by Professor Ben Colemanโs team at Moravian, updated every 4 hours and hosted on AWS. This is a rare opportunity to apply your skills to a real civic data infrastructure challenge.
โ๐ What Weโll Build Together
โThis non-competitive event will focus on building reusable tools and answering key questions like:
โWho's commenting? (Individuals, nonprofits, corporations)
โWhat are the major themes or sentiments?
โAre there coordinated efforts or mass submissions?
โWhich comments shaped final policy outcomes?
โ๐โโ๏ธ Who Should Attend
โTechnologists: Data engineers, data scientists, AI/ML developers, and coders of moderate skill or experience.
โPolicy Experts: Government, nonprofit, or academic professionals who understand the rulemaking process
โCurious Collaborators: Students, newcomers, and anyone excited to learn
โWhat we'll build together:
โIn this collaborative, non-competitive event, participants will develop open-source tools designed for reuse with any public comment dataset, past or future, exploring questions such as:
โWho's commenting? (Individuals, nonprofits, corporations)
โWhat are the major themes, sentiments, and sector-specific concerns?
โCan we detect copy-paste campaigns or coordinated submissions?
โWhat are organizations' historical commenting trends and motivations?
โWhich public comments directly influenced the final regulatory outcomes?
โ๐งฉ Want to Support the Event?
โWeโre seeking:
โPartnerships: Organizations interested in co-hosting, promoting, and helping us facilitate the event.
โSubject Matter Experts: Individuals with expertise willing to serve on our problem review board and provide insights on submitted problem statements.
โSponsorships: Financial support, venue donations, food and beverage provision, or computing infrastructure; including cloud credits, AI resources, and infrastructure support.
Please reach out to hack2025@civictechdc.org
โNo prior experience is required! just bring your curiosity, ideas, and laptop. We'll provide starter kits, roaming mentors, food, and drinks.
โEvent image: "Librarian at Lektriever in Washingtoniana Division", from the DC Public Library Archive