The document outlines the role of civic technology in academia, specifically at San Francisco State University, including efforts to engage students, faculty, and the community in open data and civic engagement initiatives. It discusses the Commons Initiative's mission to foster collaboration and communication within the digital commons and highlights various hackathons that encourage civic participation and application of open data. The speaker emphasizes the importance of sustainability and ongoing involvement in civic technology projects to address local issues and improve social justice.

1. Civic Tech in Academia
Unless noted otherwise
Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
Professor, Information Systems
College of Business, San Francisco State University
San Francisco, CA 94132 USA
http://verma.sfsu.edu/
sverma@sfsu.eduPresented at:
Developing the Caribbean 2015
University of the West Indies, Jamaica
#DevCA2015

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@sameerverma
Caution: Large variance in context.
Follow at your own risk!

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me

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Board of Directors

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Centre of Excellence
Mona School of Business
University of the West Indies
Jamaica
http://coe-msb.org/about
Institutional Academic Partner

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CC By SA @varunbaker
Co-founder,
One Laptop per Child, Jamaica
http://olpcjamaica.org.jm

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Advisory Board
http://slashroots.org

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SF State University (1899 - present)
• 29,000 + students
• Colleges: Business, Creative Arts, Education,
Ethnic Studies, Health and Human Services,
Humanities, Science and Engineering
• Campus:
O Main Campus: 1600 Holloway Ave. San Francisco
O Downtown Center: 835 Market St., San Francisco
O Romberg Tiburon Center, Tiburon
http://www.sfsu.edu

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Commons Initiative - Mission
• Two-fold:
O To connect people, so they can communicate their ideas,
and collaborate on projects in the digital commons space at
SF State. (inward)
O To foster an environment where SF State commons can
participate in the commons worldwide. (outward)
http://commons.sfsu.edu
@SFStateCommons

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Two-fold mission
Drupal
at
SF State
Drupal Worldwide
for instance...

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Downstream - Upstream
Campus
projects
Worldwide Commons
for instance...
How?

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Not a committee
A community initiative.
Open to all:
Students, Staff, Faculty

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Lenses
• Education
O How to bring “commons” into the classroom.
• Technology
O Neat stuff happens on campus. Share!
• Outreach
O Sustained collaboration and participation.

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Advisory Board
Upstream connections

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Alexis Rossi, Internet Archive

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Alolita Sharma, Wikimedia

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Asheesh Laroia, Openhatch

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Brian Behlendorf, Apache

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Stefano Maffulli, Openstack

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Tim Vollmer, Creative Commons

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OpenData, OpenGov, CivicTech
• Openly available data. Free to use, reuse, share-
alike. Provide attribution.
• Government data available to the public. Increase
transparency and accountability.
• Use of technology for civic engagement in the
public and private sector.
Civic Engagement
Social Justice, Equity, Resilience

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Ad hoc experiences
• Interest began off-campus
• Uncoordinated experiences
• Discovery through Commons Initiative
O Like-minded students, staff, faculty
Let's hack something!

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Hack nights and Hackathons
• Hack nights at Code for America
• San Francisco and Oakland brigades
• National Day of Civic Hacking

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Hackathon in 2013
• Organize event
• Coordinate with National Day of Civic Hacking
• 8 challenges
• 1st time experience
• No student teams
#HackForChange

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My students

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Student team goes to the White House!

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Hackathon in 2014
• More organized
• 10 challenges
O 2 from campus
• 4 teams have our students
• High school participation!

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More involved and consistent

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Project #FeelBetter
http://feelbetterca.org/

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Academic project(s)
• What can we do with
O Open Data
O Open Gov
O Civic Tech
• Courses, Internships
• Hackathons

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Statistics 101

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What p-value?
Inferential or Descriptive Statistics
http://rocketscienceofwallstreet.blogspot.com/2012/04/nassim-nicholas-taleb-against-gaussian.html

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Biases

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Experimental course
• Four students
• Embedded as observers at SF Brigade (Code for
America)
O 4 weeks observation phase
O 4 weeks participation phase
O Organize hackathon.
O Report.

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Problems
• Oversupply of tools and apps
• Little re-use
• Reinvention
O Free Software Foundation
O Open Source Initiative
O Creative Commons
• Wide variance in skills
• Lack of consistency
• More Tech, less Civic
• Low Sustainability
O Bring into the classroom?
Rich history. Learn from it?

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Civic Tech leads to Civic Engagement
Focus on local problems
Civic tech may or may not be driven by open data
Sustainability is key

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Open Data @ SF State http://data.sfsu.edu
• A to Z Index
• Bike Routes and Racks
• Building Location
• Ewaste Collection Sites
• Sustainability Features
• Water Bottle Filling Stations

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Hackathon 2015
• Focus on:
O Education
O Healthcare
O Resilience
• http://hackathon.sfsu.edu

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Workshop: Civic Tech and Smart Cities
• June 8, 2015
• Scope: Sciences, Engineering, Business
• Focus: Research, teaching and service
• http://commons.sfsu.edu

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And so it continues...