Publicly-available Census or Department of Energy data can be a powerful tool in the right hands, and the White House wants to help get it there. The inaugural National Day of Hacking from June 1st to June 2nd is inviting everyone, regardless of experience to come together and help "liberate open data," building software that puts the government’s meticulously-compiled facts and figures to good use. Developers could visualize data in new and interesting ways, or build frameworks that make it easier for future software to tap into it, and several federal agencies including NASA and the Department of Labor will be announcing specific challenges for hackers to tackle during the event.

The White House says it plans to have an event in 'at least one city' in all 50 states

The nationwide get-together is being held in conjunction with existing civic hacking groups like Code For America and Random Hacks of Kindness, and is being modeled after Innovation Endeavors' Super Happy Bock Party — a kind of creative mashup of art, music, and technology. The White House says it plans to have an event in "at least one city" in all 50 states, but so far only 27 cities have been announced. If you’d like to participate, contribute ideas, or help organize a hackathon, you can find more details below.