What Do Civic Innovation & Open Data Policies Mean for

Cities? Urban Benefits & Opportunities of the

Government 2.0 Movement

Ellie Tumbuan PA780 - Urban Administration

12.20.12

Civic Innovation

What is it? Broad range of activity: A new idea,

technology or methodology that challenges and improves upon existing processes and systems, thereby improving the lives of citizens or the function of the society that they live within. (Alex Howard, Gov2.0 Correspondent for O’Reilly Media)

Civic Innovation: Examples

Civic application development for local use

App development competitions, gamification

New ways to engage

Example: Neighborland.org

Neighborland cont’d

What is Open Data?

“All your data are belong to us”

Public information should be public

Greater transparency brings greater accountability

Citizens have good ideas, too

Open Data - Definition

Datasets that are made accessible in non-proprietary formats under licenses that permit unrestricted re-use (OKF – Open Knowledge Foundation, 2006).

Open government data involves governments providing many of their

datasets online in this way.

Open Data - Implications

3rd parties can innovate with open data, generating social and economic

benefits. Citizens and advocacy groups can use

open government data to hold state institutions to account.

Data can be shared between institutions with less friction. (Tim Davies, PhD

Candidate in Web Science Doctoral Training Centre, U. of Southampton)

“Best Open Data Releases of 2012”-The Atlantic Cities, 12/19.12

Crime mapping in Philadelphia Bikeshare rides in Boston Public transit in Atlanta Blight in New Orleans

Pedestrian injuries in San Francisco Green roofs in Chicago

Rat sightings in New York City Tsunami sirens in Honolulu Dangerous dogs in Austin

Fixed speed cameras in Baltimore

Pedestrian Injuries in SF

Value for Cities as Places

Improving quality of life

Neighborhood improvement

Community development

Economic development & local investment

Value for City Governments

Creating efficiency for and accountability in municipal management

“I would love to find out where things are and what is happening, but the process to figure

out where a case or complaint really is can be miserable“ –Libby Schaaf, Oakland City Council Member

Intergovernmental relations: breaking down silos, shared info and systems cuts costs,

saves time, and helps departments run better

Creating a More Civil Society: Optimizing Impact & Resources of

Nonprofits & Community Based Orgs

Nonprofit Partnerships

Excellent position to take advantage of Open Data & passion for civic

innovation Connected to ground-level action, most

intimate interaction with citizens Passionate, values-driven staff

Issue experts Services pick up where Gov leaves off

(Usually) retain trust of community

Sustainability

Smaller environmental footprint – less paper and less energy

Shared costs of IT maintenance – after implementation, elimination of

duplicative efforts Increases accountability via

transparency: eliminates bureaucratic waste

Resources

Alameda County. Alameda County Data Sharing Initiative datasets: https://data.acgov.org/

CityCamp: http://citycamp.govfresh.com/ CityCamp Oakland: http://citycampoak.org/

Code for Oakland: http://codeforoakland.org/ Engage Oakland online platform: http://www.engageoakland.com/

Get the Data: http://getthedata.org/ GovFresh: http://govfresh.com/

Open Data Handbook: http://opendatahandbook.org/ OpenOakland: http://openoakland.org/

San Francisco Data: https://data.sfgov.org/ San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation:

http://innovation.sfgov.org/ School of Data: http://schoolofdata.org/handbook/