Montreal group hacks away at corruption one spreadsheet at a time

Jonathan Brun, co-founder of Quebec Ouvert, in Montreal.

MONTREAL - Armed with little more than their laptops and a trove of government records, a small army of activists in Montreal has dedicated itself to tackling the city's corruption troubles.
The group, which gathered at a downtown community centre to pore over spreadsheets and city council minutes last week, is part of a growing movement in Canada that sees open data as a key way to make governments more efficient and honest.
"To fight corruption in the 21st century, you have to use 21st century technology," said Jonathan Brun, co-founder of Quebec Ouvert, which organized the Montreal meeting.
"In order to do that, you have to use data."
More than 100 people, many of them computer programmers in their 20s and 30s, gathered for a "hackathon" — a marathon for computer hackers.
The idea was to help uncover shady transactions by sifting through municipal records. It meant designing computer programs that can show trends or connections across thousands of documents.
Connecting the dots is no easy task.
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