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Code for America 2011 Projects Overview

by Code for America

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Overview of the Code for America program and 2011 projects.

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Code for America was motivated by the fact that our cities are in crisis. Budget deficits, aging workforce, and outdated technology. After talking with people in cities, we realized that the current way cities solve problems isn’t working. And the hope that there had to be a better way…
And we think there is – now, especially. There are powerful trends in society and technology that could be leveraged for city governments. First are the developments in the web to be more interactive and open, which organizations have used to be more innovative, efficient, and dynamic. Second is the increased interest in public serviec, with record levels of volunteerism and engagement. We think we can couple these forces to create a new kind of public service – a fellowship for techies to help city governments.
High school students in Boston engage in various educational activities – in school and out. For example, students not only go to school in the morning, they partake in an after school program – say a college prep group – and then they stop by the library on the day home. Each of these activities fit within the larger picture of his educational performance. And each come with important data and metrics. But that information, currently, is siloed.
In Boston, there are multiple databases across multiple departments that describe student activity. From the library, to transit to community centers, students are engaging in a host of services. The problem is that these databases don’t talk to each other. For instance, parents have to fill out health forms multiple times across activities in different areas of the city, teachers are unable to see extra curricula activities, and school admins, like counselors, can’t see patterns across the student body for grades, language,a after school programs etc.
This has real and tangible consequences… and most importantly, these presents an opportunity to create technology for a 21st century educational system that is flexible, holistic, and dynamic.
Boston is unrolling student ID cards this year to its high school students that bring together their identification for school, after school programs, and local transit. This card will serve as the link between activities in the real world – one which we can online as well.
For Boston, we plan to build on top of those cards to create a privacy sensitive application program interface – or API -- that will unite this data and enable a whole host of awesome applications. It’s basically a fundamental language that’ll allow those separate databases to talk to each other. In building the api, we’ll be creating a buffer between the individual department data, and publicly available data so that developers can build applications like administrative dashboards, teacher extra curricular assignments or health form storage for parents. We plan to create this system in a nonspecific method where any school district can use it, they just have to write the connectors to their own databases.
For Boston, we plan to build on top of those cards to create a privacy sensitive application program interface – or API -- that will unite this data and enable a whole host of awesome applications. It’s basically a fundamental language that’ll allow those separate databases to talk to each other. In building the api, we’ll be creating a buffer between the individual department data, and publicly available data so that developers can build applications like administrative dashboards, teacher extra curricular assignments or health form storage for parents. We plan to create this system in a nonspecific method where any school district can use it, they just have to write the connectors to their own databases.
For Boston, we plan to build on top of those cards to create a privacy sensitive application program interface – or API -- that will unite this data and enable a whole host of awesome applications. It’s basically a fundamental language that’ll allow those separate databases to talk to each other. In building the api, we’ll be creating a buffer between the individual department data, and publicly available data so that developers can build applications like administrative dashboards, teacher extra curricular assignments or health form storage for parents. We plan to create this system in a nonspecific method where any school district can use it, they just have to write the connectors to their own databases.
For Boston, we plan to build on top of those cards to create a privacy sensitive application program interface – or API -- that will unite this data and enable a whole host of awesome applications. It’s basically a fundamental language that’ll allow those separate databases to talk to each other. In building the api, we’ll be creating a buffer between the individual department data, and publicly available data so that developers can build applications like administrative dashboards, teacher extra curricular assignments or health form storage for parents. We plan to create this system in a nonspecific method where any school district can use it, they just have to write the connectors to their own databases.
For Boston, we plan to build on top of those cards to create a privacy sensitive application program interface – or API -- that will unite this data and enable a whole host of awesome applications. It’s basically a fundamental language that’ll allow those separate databases to talk to each other. In building the api, we’ll be creating a buffer between the individual department data, and publicly available data so that developers can build applications like administrative dashboards, teacher extra curricular assignments or health form storage for parents. We plan to create this system in a nonspecific method where any school district can use it, they just have to write the connectors to their own databases.
For Boston, we plan to build on top of those cards to create a privacy sensitive application program interface – or API -- that will unite this data and enable a whole host of awesome applications. It’s basically a fundamental language that’ll allow those separate databases to talk to each other. In building the api, we’ll be creating a buffer between the individual department data, and publicly available data so that developers can build applications like administrative dashboards, teacher extra curricular assignments or health form storage for parents. We plan to create this system in a nonspecific method where any school district can use it, they just have to write the connectors to their own databases.
For Boston, we plan to build on top of those cards to create a privacy sensitive application program interface – or API -- that will unite this data and enable a whole host of awesome applications. It’s basically a fundamental language that’ll allow those separate databases to talk to each other. In building the api, we’ll be creating a buffer between the individual department data, and publicly available data so that developers can build applications like administrative dashboards, teacher extra curricular assignments or health form storage for parents. We plan to create this system in a nonspecific method where any school district can use it, they just have to write the connectors to their own databases.
To give you an example, imagine that a history teacher is really passionate about local historical figure, John Adams – or she just really liked the HBO mini-series. But she realizes that in Boston, she has real-world connections to that century’s old president. She works a local developer at MIT and creates a checkin system for her students, where they visit mutliple venues about a local historical figure, like John Adams, and they check in at each venue. As the students checkin using their RFID-enabled card or perhaps their mobile phone, the teacher can see the extra curricular activity. On the administrative side, a curriculum developer sees that students who use the application score higher on their history exams, and decides based upon data, to recommend the application for the entire district. This is one example, we're looking forward to what our fellows an the larger developer ecosystem we cultivate thinks up. The possibilities are endless.
Seattle and Philadelphia came to us with a similar problem: they wanted a better way for civic leaders to engage with their constituents. They realized they have lots of energy and enthusiasm in their cities – people are wanting to get involved – but they lacked effective tools for communication and coordination. Here’s why…
We like to think there’s this neat organization between government, civic leaders, and citizens. Government is empowering the leaders who organize the citizens to strengthen their communities; everyone is know, information is shared, and it’s always sunny. It’s not…
In reality, the picture is far less neat. Citizens, civic leaders, and the government are scattered across the plane in terms of location, access, and information. So what ends up happening is an uneven and ineffecient civil society.
Local leaders have access to some citizens and great groups, but some are always missed.The government knows of some leaders and connects with them, but some are always missed. City departments inidividually share information with known contacts, but its often hard for city staff to know who is where and for what issues Disconnected and disorganized, the civic leadership and the city government are unable to maximize their ability to reach and support their citizens. And as cities cut budgets, they need to rely more and more on communication with and among civic leaders to solve community problems.
So first what we want to do in these cities is identify those civic leaders and talk to them. Find out what they are doing and what they need to be more successful. And we also want to identify them so that they city is better able to connect with them.
Next we want to catalog the tools they are using currently and develop mechanism for those to interact and to record information so knowledge isn’t siloed.
Those tools will only be as useful as the information civic leaders have to act on, so we’ll also want to pipe in relevant local news/data streams, so they can know what’s happening involving their constituents.
Finally, we’ll want all this to be networked and connected to the city so that other and future civic leaders and benefit from each one’s experience, and so that the city can be able to support endevours with resources, etc, when the need arises.
To give you an example, take a common function like new zoning regulations for a city block. The city needs to notify residents and civic leaders in order to get comment, ideas and thoughts about the new proposed changes. But, who does the city person talk to? Who do they reach out to? Who are the civic leaders that might want to weigh in?
That city official can simply draw a boundary and get information from current places like twitter, neighborhood listserves and blogs that affect that area. They’ll get a list of contacts, city-wide, that are available and can be contacted. The city official could also search for people based upon topics or issues, like trash, recycling, dogs, parks, etc.

1 Like

aulia.m 2 years ago

Code for America 2011 Projects Overview Presentation Transcript

A fellowship
CONNECTING WEB TALENT AND CITY GOVERNMENTS
Current state of our cities
84% of cities face significant financial difficulties
92% expected to have trouble meeting citizens’ needs
60% of city workers retiring in next 5 years
The existing method of solving problems is not working
Source: ICMA
Opportunity now
We take advantage of the evolving nature of the web and growing enthusiasm for public service opportunities.
We recruit fellows to apply the principles of web 2.0 to solve our cities challenging and complex problems.
Cross-Sector Collaboration
2011 Program Timeline
We recruit leading web and tech professionals, as well as recent graduates from top-notch schools who have a passion for public service.
2011 Recruitment
362 Applications
20 Fellows
5.5% Acceptance
2011 CfA Fellows
2011 City Projects
The Boston Project:Improving High School Education
Education in Many Places
school
after school
student
library
Problem: An incomplete Picture
Teachers can only see grades and attendance
school
Community centers can’t see impact on grades or attendance
after school
student
Library can’t see program impact on grades
library
What That Means
Incomplete views of student attendance
Skewed information of performance
Missed connections between activities
Difficult to understand holistic educational experience
An Opportunity
The Solution
BostONE Card
The Solution
BostONE Card
Student
Data
The Solution
Privacy Filter
BostONE Card
Student
Data
The Solution
Privacy Filter
BostONE Card
Student
Data
API
The Solution
Privacy Filter
BostONE Card
Student
Data
API
The Solution
Privacy Filter
Developer
Apps
Metrics
BostONE Card
Student
Data
API
The Solution
Privacy Filter
Developer
Apps
Metrics
BostONE Card
Student
Data
API
Example: John Adams Walk
Seattle & Philadelphia
EMPOWERING LOCAL CIVIC LEADERS
What we like to think
The Reality
The Problem: Disconnected
The Solution: Civic Dashboards
Civic Leaders
The Solution: Civic Dashboards
Civic Leaders
Catalog the tools they are currently using and tie them together (mailing lists, etc).
Tools
The Solution: Civic Dashboards
Civic Leaders
Catalog the tools they are currently using and tie them together (mailing lists, etc).
Tools
Identify and aggregate information streams relevant for local civic leaders (blogs, etc).
Information
The Solution: Civic Dashboards
Civic Leaders
Catalog the tools they are currently using and tie them together (mailing lists, etc).
Tools
Identify and aggregate information streams relevant for local civic leaders (blogs, etc).
Information
Connect civic leaders to each other and the city government to institutionalize learnings.
Network
Example: #Planning
New zoning rules for an area
But, who do we reach out to?
Example: #Planning
Five civic leaders who represent
this area.
Three email lists
Two blogs
Four websites
Fifty Twitter Users
Civic Commons
SHARING TECHNOLOGY FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD
THE PROBLEM & THE OPPORTUNITY
GRAPHIC: OPENPLANS
THE PROBLEM & THE OPPORTUNITY
GRAPHIC: OPENPLANS
THE PROBLEM & THE OPPORTUNITY
GRAPHIC: OPENPLANS
IT’S ALREADY HAPPENING
GRAPHIC: JESSICA HAGY/INDEXED
Example: SF Enterprise addressing
The start: Civiccommons.com
Starter Projects
San Francisco’s “Enterprise Addressing System”
Federal IT Dashboard
Roadmap
The ED Search
Fellows Start
Secure Funding
Launch Independent Organization
The Solution: Supply-side
The Solution: Demand-side
The Solution: Complete system
OUR GROWING VILLAGE
2012 City Recruitment
NOW SEEKING LOCAL GOVERNMENT PARTNERS
City Evaluation criteria
- Ready to work with our fellows on a new kind of solution; commitment to innovation and collaboration
- Identify projects that result in cost-savings, transparency, and public participation
- Strong internal champion
- Funding secured within city; Potential outside funding sources identified
Model Cfa Projects
Harnessing the Power of the People
Connecting and empowering citizens to solve problems
New Business Gateway
Quick and easy online permitting to stimulate local economy and economic development
Workflow Transparency
Workflow transparency in managing city assets
Bring cfa to your city
Not a city employee?
It’s OK!
Go tocodeforamerica.org/cities/bring to tell your elected officials about our program and that you want CfA in your city.
City employee?
Go to http://bit.ly/CfA2012Start
Begin the discussion today!
codeforamerica.org/cities
Get Involved
WE NEED YOUR HELP.
How to get involved
Bring CfA to your city
codeforamerica.org/cities/bring
Join CfA Labs
labs.codeforamerica.org
Spare some change
codeforamerica.org/donate
Pass on office supplies
codeforamerica.org/supplies
Questions?
Good.