Civic technology is the use of technology for the public good. Think: an app that pairs with local counties to provide quick, easy access to food stamps; a new program that makes signing up for public benefits online easier than ever; an app that allows you to clear your prison record.
In this session, I’ll give a brief introduction to what civic technology is, why it matters to Detroit Labs, and showcase some other local and nationwide organizations doing this work. Participants will walk away empowered with the interest and tools needed to have real impact in their local communities.
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I'm a relatively new developer having been in the Detroit Labs Apprenticeship for iOS and found myself interested in why we choose to build the things we do. We are all human beings in the community with each other, so how will this inform what we build?
Some Googling and tying personal interests together helped me find my way to civic technology. But what is civic tech?
Civic technology is technology designed and created for citizens to improve the delivery of public services. A few examples are city transit, incident reporting, applying for public benefits, etc. Every citizen needs to be able to access and use civic technology in order to receive the benefits they are entitled to. Ethical and accessible technical solutions can't be an afterthought.
There are a lot of restraints and requirements for government technology, and not a lot of help. To see them through designers and software developers are partnering to help these initiatives to benefit their communities.
Before I dive into a few organizations that I love, let's talk about the civic tech ecosystem:
- Open Data - Free accessible data open to the public
- Open Gov - Solution to improve citizens access to public services (ie. whitehouse.gov)
- Community Action - solutions that effect issues in communities (ie: NextDoor)
Local profiles - civic technology
-Clear My Record ([ Ссылка ])
-Civilla ([ Ссылка ])
How are civic tech and community tech different?
Civic tech - Heavily invested in large initiatives, often integrated with the government.
Community tech - Non-profit funded. Goals revolve around being able to hand off the project to community members.
Local profiles - Community technology
- Equitable Internet Initiative ([ Ссылка ])
- New Center EII
Local profiles - Open Government
- Detroit Open Data
- Harvard Law Library of Innovation (case.law)
Why is this important? As technologists, we have a lot of power. The skills we have, the platforms we have access to. Any open source project, YOU can contribute to and steer. My hope is that you have some idea of what civic technology is, and engage with the tools your city releases.
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Index:
2:32 - Why do I care about civic technology?
4:34 - What is civic technology?
6:43 - Commonly held values in civic technology
8:50 - A very brief history of civic tech
11:29 - The civic tech ecosystem
13:35 - Local profiles
21:42 - How are civic tech and community tech different?
23:50 - Community tech profiles
27:22 - Open Government
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#civictechnology #civictechnologyexamples #civictech
