Pew Research Center’s Pew Internet and American Life Project in 2010 found that 82% of internet users (representing 61% of all American adults) looked for information or completed a transaction on a government website within the previous year of when the survey was asked. Technology and access to online sources are bringing government agencies – at all levels – closer to its constituents.
When I was researching the TedX conferences, the nonprofit organization, Code for America, was a representative organization that specifically caught my eye. Code for America is a nonpartisan and nonpolitical organization based in San Francisco, California that works with city governments to become more transparent, connected and efficient. They aim to enable and strengthen technology use and web design of government officials to deliver their city services. For example, Code for America’s Seattle Project is working to ease the communication between the city’s government and its people by providing more effective and efficient ways for people to offer input and receive responses through existing and new channels of communication such as Facebook and Twitter. Moreover, projects including designing a system that enables cities to replicate existing code projects in a sustainable and cost-effective manner are initiated. In order to do this, Code for America hires “fellows” who are technical web developers, designers, and entrepreneurs. They have municipal government training, are assigned specific city issues, and during their fellowship program, produce and leave behind an application addressing the issue they have been working with, helping cities run more efficiently. Overall, Code for America’s goal is to, “cultivate the next generation of public sector technology leaders.” Below is a Code for America outreach video for its fellowship program.
Somewhat of an equivalent to the program, Teach for America, Code for America is a two-way benefactor – for the fellows (who are usually in the younger generation, starting off their careers) and for the local city governments. The demand for web-industry professionals is high, and while they have been integrated heavily in the corporate world, it is definitely needed in the political realm as well. However, I feel like with the web as a form of information distribution, it is necessary to have smooth and effective communication with these web-industry professionals to ensure that the right information, in the right tone and procedure, is given. Especially in politics, it is essential to avoid misinformation, in order to protect politicians’ images and reputations. Moreover, the channels of communication should be smooth because constituents will rely on them more and more as they are developed and a glitch or complication in the system will only produce frustration and negative opinions toward the government. I believe that Code for America will need to take precautions in making sure that they work with the government as a whole, and keep non-partisan views when they work with the officials. Keeping procedures and rules are necessary to prevent even accusations or public views of corruption from being made. However, Code for America emphasizes access so if they are able to do their work without being a part of the government process, this role would be ideal. I also was trying to look in the benefits of working with Code for America on the government side. I was interested to see, but did not have much success in finding, why local governments would use this organization to help them manage their information distribution and website development, rather than hiring their own employees. Is there not existing staff that is in charge of this type of work? How do the responsibilities differ from the fellows of Code for America versus the local government employees? I wonder if Code for America will progress to be a more supplemental help for the city governments rather than its core force of technological development.
This new organization was founded just a couple years ago in 2009 and already has had several projects started and a solid group of staff and tech members. I am looking forward to see how Code for America’s first round of projects and fellows participating in the fellowship program develops and the organization’s short term and long-term influences. It will also be interesting to see how their organization will evolve as technology continues to advance.
Miranda- Before reading your blog, I had never heard of Code for America, and after watching the youtube video I am definitely interested in learning more. I believe that transparency is one of the most important things in determining the effectiveness and efficiency of a government. I definitely believe that technology can play an increasingly important role in providing transparency as governments can now post many official documents such as legislation or official transcripts from the supreme court online for the public to read.
ReplyDeleteYou also posed some interesting questions about why these local governments would hire such an outside organization. My answer to that would be that in an effort to look "more transparent," hiring or utilizing a third party is the best way to go.