HACK FOR CHANGE. The current set of locations where the National Day for Civic Hacking will take place. Photo from http://hackforchange.org/

MANILA, Philippines - How do you know when hacking has become mainstream and culturally significant? When even the White House wants you to do it.

The White House has announced an initiative meant to foster the coding community and solve problems facing the US today. Called the National Day of Civic Hacking, the event is set between June 1-2.

The hope of the National Day of Civic Hacking is to get coders from around the country to meet up and, with data provided by various institutions, create programs and applications that can kickstart further change in the country by helping to fix problems in the community.

Currently, the US Department of Labor, the US Census Bureau, and NASA will be contributing data for the event, though the hope is that more companies and organisations follow suit and contribute data.

The White House hopes that this will be "an opportunity for citizens in every town and city across the Nation to roll up their sleeves, get involved, and work together to improve our society by cultivating an ecosystem for innovation and change."

Interested parties can contribute or collaborate by checking out the Hack for Change website. - Rappler.com