I have written before about the power of applying mash-up and web 2.0 technologies to government data. For me there was a bit of put up or shut-up to the whole effort as well. What could I do to make my community better using my development, analytical and visualization knowledge. I wanted to find something that I had an interest around and was relevant to my community (Tucson, AZ).
What I came up with was Blldzr.com (pronounced Bull-Dozer). Blldzr is a wiki that allows members of a community to enter information about development and construction projects in their area. In a addition to the factual information there are also comments to express opinions about the developments.
After being added each development has a page that can be updated and subscribed to.
Being informed and having conversations about what is being built in your neighborhood is one way to create community. My hope is that Blldzr can foster more of that.
There is still much to do. The site needs content, activity, moderators and to be promoted. If you are interested in any or all of this feel free to pitch in (e.g. add some entries for you city). If you would just like to be kept up to date on progress feel free to follow Blldzr on Twitter.
I will post more in the future on progress and the technology that was used in building the site.
The Pearl 