I Am Young Detroit 2.0 & CitySpotters

Using I Am Young Detroit's new web application CitySpotters, citizens are incentivized to "spot" young citizen entrepreneurs and play supporting roles; earning points simply by championing them as nominators, customers, mentors, and resource providers. We’re not only using civic engagement as a tool for data-gathering, we’re making it easier for everyday people to find and support the under-the-radar and next-gen businesses, and really get involved in creating the news! I Am Young Detroit successfully collected soft “data” for three years by accepting nominations through its website. CitySpotters is simply a next phase nomination system that allows us to gather more advanced data—still gathering informative content—but also finding new ways to share this data and new tools to allow citizens to champion local businesses. We’ve launched the beta version on July 2nd, 2012. We’ll be using IAmYoungDetroit.com and Google Maps API to populate the city’s “bright spots” of young entrepreneurs and movements, tell their stories, and encourage users to engage and interact with them online and off. We’ve also organized several drop-off locations that will allow people to “spot” in physical spaces around Detroit, and plan on introducing our mobile and SMS app in the near future. You can check out our newly launched app in beta at www.thecityspotters.com

Funded by Detroit, MI (August 2012)

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