Sunday September 20th, 2026 | 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM | Reitz Union G330
What is CityCamp? It’s a community-led UNconference where residents, students, technologists, and civic leaders set the agenda together. CityCamps are hosted across the country, with many being hosted by our fellow Alliance of Civic Technologists member organizations. This year, we’re adding a mini Hack Day, where you can form a team, build a project, and then demo it! Beginners are welcome, and you don’t need a team or an idea before you arrive.
At unconferences, attendees come up with their own session ideas day-of and participants vote on what they want to do and discuss. CityCamp events have been hosted in cities across the world over the years, and last year, Gainesville joined the movement for the first time.
Gainesville’s first ever CityCamp event was made possible through the partnership of Florida Community Innovation (FCI), a nonprofit building civic tech and student/volunteer-led solutions to community challenges; QueerCoded @ UF, a University of Florida student organization supporting the personal and professional growth of LGBTQ+ students in computer science; and the Alliance of Civic Technologists, a national network of volunteers advancing civic innovation and public-interest technology. Read more about CityCamp Gainesville 2025 here.
This year, CityCamp Gainesville will be on Sunday, September 20th 2026 from 10 AM to 6 PM.
The event is sponsored by Data Science for Sustainable Development, a University of Florida student group, with support from GeoDI’s NASA grant and Florida Community Innovation.
Please register at this link: https://events.mlh.com/events/14677-citycamp-gainesville-hack-day
You can also find more details about the hackathon on Devpost: https://citycamp-hack-day.devpost.com/
Can’t attend in person? You can participate virtually and work with Florida Community Innovation board member Seth Paul on a relevant track. Email info@floridainnovation.org on the morning of Sunday, September 20 to receive the Zoom link. Please do still register!
The day will begin with two short introductions. Caroline Nickerson, PhD, and Nicole Dan will give a 20-minute introduction to civic tech and explain how community research can become practical public tools. Di Yang, PhD, will give a 20-minute introduction to NASA citizen science and show how observations collected by members of the public can complement satellite and environmental data. Then, we will have an unconference discussion (where people vote on topics they want to chat about) that feeds into lunch.
After the unconference, participants will form teams and choose one of six project tracks. Each track includes a focused problem brief, but teams may propose another well-scoped idea that clearly fits the track. Projects can be technical or nontechnical, depending on the track. Every team must submit an artifact that judges can interact with by 5:00 PM.
Schedule
| Time | What happens |
| 9:30 AM | Check-in opens |
| 10:00 AM | Welcome and how the day works |
| 10:05 AM | Civic Tech: From Community Need to Public-Interest Technology – Caroline Nickerson, PhD, and Nicole Dan (20 minutes) |
| 10:25 AM | NASA Citizen Science: Connecting Community Observations and Earth Data – Di Yang, PhD (20 minutes) |
| 10:45 AM | Track overview, unconference topic pitches, and voting |
| 11:00 AM | Unconference sessions that feed into lunch |
| 12:00 PM | Lunch and team formation (and maybe you even start hacking!) |
| 12:30 PM | Hack Day track work begins |
| 5:00 PM | Project submissions close on Devpost |
| 5:15 PM | Project demos |
| 5:45 PM | Awards |
| 6:00 PM | Wrap-up |
Speakers
Caroline Nickerson, PhD is an international leader in participatory science, civic technology, and public engagement. Her work has mobilized people on every continent, including Antarctica, to contribute to research and community problem-solving. As executive director and co-founder of Florida Community Innovation, she has mentored more than 100 students building technology and research projects for the public good. She also holds leadership roles with SciStarter, CitSci.org at Colorado State University, and the Human Computation Institute. Caroline has developed programs and partnerships involving NASA, NOAA, the National Library of Medicine, universities, libraries, and community organizations, with work spanning Alzheimer’s research, environmental monitoring, climate communication, cultural heritage, and access to essential services. She holds a PhD from the University of Florida and a Master of Public Policy from American University.
Nicole Dan is president of Florida Community Innovation and a civic-tech strategist with deep experience at the intersection of public policy, technology, and community impact. During five years in the federal government, she worked on broadband policy, managed complex interagency initiatives, and translated technical data into information people could understand and use. At FCI, Nicole helps guide a student-powered model that moves from community listening and research to practical, implementable technology. She is also a dedicated mentor to emerging technologists, helping students strengthen their research, think critically about the people affected by their work, and build solutions that are both ambitious and grounded in real community needs.
Di Yang, PhD is a NASA-funded geospatial scientist, assistant professor in the University of Florida Department of Geography, and director of the Geospatial Digital Informatics Lab. Her research combines satellite Earth observations, geospatial artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing, and citizen-generated data to address major environmental and public-health challenges. She leads EMERGE, an international initiative connecting NASA’s GLOBE Observer program with environmental education, community data collection, and predictive modeling of mosquito-borne disease risk. Her work has analyzed tens of thousands of observations from more than 100 countries and has brought open curricula, training, and hands-on geospatial science to thousands of students, teachers, researchers, and community participants.
Thank you
A huge thank you to Nikhil Sangamkar, the lead organizer of CityCamp Gainesville 2026. From coordinating logistics to helping bring the Hack Day together, Nikhil put an incredible amount of work into making the event possible. CityCamp truly could not have happened without his leadership, time, and dedication.
Thank you as well to Olivia Zhang, who coordinated logistics and masterminded the curricula featured in the NASA track.
Tracks
EMERGE NASA and Environmental Data. Use NASA-supported GLOBE Observer data and other public environmental data to build a map, dashboard, notebook, visualization, or interactive public resource. View the brief for more information.
Gainesville Community Fridge Hardware. Build a low-cost hardware prototype that helps a free, solar-powered community fridge stay cold, powered, stocked, or safe. View the brief for more information.
TanitXR Technical: Build with 3D Heritage Models. Use at least one TanitXR scan to build an interactive experience that helps a public audience explore, understand, or care about Tunisian heritage. View the brief for more information.
TanitXR Public History and Communications. Create a usable public-history or communications experience that connects a defined audience with Tunisian heritage and community-led digital preservation. View the brief for more information.
General Civic Tech. Build a practical tool, prototype, analysis, or public resource that addresses a clearly defined Gainesville community need. View the brief for more information.
Queer Cybersecurity and Digital Safety. Create a defensive, privacy-respecting tool or learning experience that helps LGBTQ+ people or organizations make safer digital choices. View the brief for more information.
Prizes
CityCamp Gainesville will award $900 total. One winning team in each of the six tracks will receive a $150 cash award.
What we provide
- Lunch and snacks throughout the day
- Wi-Fi, power, and space to work
- Track-specific project briefs and starter resources
- Mentors who can help teams narrow an idea, find data, and get unstuck
- Six $150 track awards, for $900 total
Registration
Register through the official MLH event page. After registering, use Devpost to find teammates, review the track requirements, and submit your project.
Register with MLH | Open Devpost
Volunteer
Can’t make it to CityCamp, but want to be part of FCI’s projects that are changing Florida for the better? Volunteers in Gainesville and beyond can sign up today!