Open Access Philadelphia Sunday, October 30, y Conference Vision Open data/information Civic participation Digital inclusion Info

Info tech business growth

Mayor Nutter: Open, Transparent & Participatory Government Cutting edge: Phila among Top Ten Civic Engaged Communities (selected by ???) Continuously asking how we open govt and share information 311 system - 2M have used 311 to get information and service 911 to 311 transferral to keep 911 free for genuine emergency Philly Stat - to measure, ask critical questions and hold officials accountable Outcome Operations Were in the customer service business - Phila is a $4B, 22K employee business Philly Rising Getting departments and agencies to reach deeper into neighborhoods Code for America Using every social media tool -- FB, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr Two photo interns for behind the scenes photos - posts on Flickr Tech will improve, constant change -- City must change or get left behind Any great or good tool has a flip side -- policies needed for how to use and who should use (?) Freedom Rings -- 77 access sites planned with 50 operating now 41% of Philadelphians have no access to Internet, so these centers are critical 80% of job applications require online info input Comcast supports -- if child qualifies for free food program, CMCSA offers $9.95/mo for access and a free modem, coupon for $149 laptop Requires city leadership but We cant do by ourselves. Literacy -- requires computer literacy, not just reading and writing

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Desiree Peterkin-Bell (Yale, Skadden Arps, city comms), Director of Communications and Strategic Partnerships: How Government Communicates NYC Post 9/11: created municipal government marketing model, brand promotion Newark, Brooker staffer: take back the story; create own message. Social media was part of plan. Believes innovation occurs on the ground level. Launched Newark Tech Group to promote positive messages about ed, social issues. Booker Twitter 1M followers to challenge major media. How a government can take back that communication. Video to highlight Newark moving forward and developed Conan OBrian push-back. Citizens got involved, pushed video toward Tonight Show. (1) City (2) Citizens (3) got cash from NBC Execs and $50K from Conan who had been teasing Newark. Phila.: Tech community committed to civic improvements. Partner with NBC10 - qs by e-mail, Twitter, FB Mayor on Twitter -- responding to a lot of conversation on line. Including reporters asking for intvs, etc. Events like this morning Mult-platform comm plan -- includes tech and social media, but also need meetings, one-on-one. But Soc Med is happening. We are at the peak of innovation, but all -- govt, tech community -- all need to participate.

Jeff Friedman, Manager of Civic Innovation & Participation, Mayors Office: New Paths to Civic Participation (Code for America) Code for America -- like Teach for America, but for coders Phila one of five inaugural cities - three still active Initiated 2010 Developed stakeholder group - broad. Added to a fairly large group to determine what we wanted to build Organized around Philadelphia neighborhoods Change By Us Philly developed: Based on ideas in Use government as a platform (Tim OReilly) Takes input -- sticky note Users (anyone) can initiate or join existing projects Within projects -- discussion, id new initiatives, etc. In-kind donation feature Open source - designed for Phila, NYC and Seattle, but available to outside of 800M user Facebook platform. Connect with neighbors; government Now has: 95 users, 14 projects in soft-beta launch. (NYC about 1/2 of PHL after 5 months)
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Andrew Buss, Director of Public Programs, Phlia.: The Civic Fusion Process Freedom Rings Govt cant do everything, doesnt have expertise, doesnt have the resources, so needs help from those who are smart, knowledgable, educated engaged folks Freedom Rings -- 77 locations, 50 labs open -- using NGOs, community groups, churches, etc. Users get access to PC, Internet, staff helpers, suite of learning programs for things relevant to users. Will someone who doesnt have a computer be willing to go somewhere to use one? Yes -- 4K users.

Alex Hillman, Independents Hall (Indy Hall), Co-Working/Living & weworkinphilly How to be a good citizen in Philadelphia or other communities Started as a developer trying to build a network to come together for projects; difficult to find talent Now has office in Old City -- 100 people on roster, paying to use office and be with colleagues People elsewhere turn to Phila. for co-working -- Phila model success replicated elsewhere No grants, member support -- people pay to come to an office and work with other people. Communal work place moving to communal living place -- Kensington area -creating better neighbors Community edited directory online -- like Wiki, but anyone can moderate. Site users can edit or delete others. Sort of voting them off the island. WeworkinPhilly.com

James Moustafellos, Asst. Prof (Practice), Management Information Systems Fox School of Business, Temple. Design Approach - Free Flow of Information Design as a tool to solve problems Tool as bigger than me -- collaborative process, collective knowledge New approaches to problem solving Spring 2010: Design Week at Fox -- competition, design challenge, to id problems and issues in Phila. that could be solved (or start to be solved) by bringing together people and ideas 95 students: Challenge is North Broad Tech solution?
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Walked community, talked to residents, and identified problems that had not been an acknowledged focus previously Now building on challenge. Grant to start urban apps and maps studio Who are biggest users? HS and College students Engage them in solving urban needs Pair with experts at Temple and elsewhere Job creation; entrepreneurship; public health (hypertension, diabetes) Apps based on smartphones

Geoff Dimasi, partner Independents Hall (Indy Hall) and principal Punk Avenue. Community Empowerment - Civic Participation & Innovation Moved to South Philla; but found no civic association south of Washington Ave, and little government interest or engagement Established the Passyunk Square Civic Association -- new model that did not rely on hierarchical, political access system. Early project -- mass tree planting: Citizens doing for themselves. Tried to lift up others; new leaders Zoning process -- businesses make neighborhood improvement projects, but it is informal process. So built database of who promised what. City data not available, so created it.

Roert Cheetham, Founder/CEO Azavea, Leader, OpenDataPhilly. Open Data Philly - Free Flow of Information Open data portal - not avail in Phila, and city didnt have resources Company is a B Corporation - cross between private and public?? When access is open, there are transparency but also economic development benefits. opendataphilly website Peaked at launch New apps being sent in to DB; now about 150 data sets Advocates for open data spurred by Open Data Race Four phases to build community supporting open data: Call for nominations of data sets that are not open but that, if they were, would be helpful; Voting phase to pick most useful/popular Winners (Prizes funded by Wm Penn Found): (3rd) Conservation Philadelphia -- vacant land status (2nd) Bicycle Coalition - reported bike thefts (1st) School Notebook - national student clearing house data (just ahead of bike coalition)
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Future phases: (3) Get some open and (4) build apps with the data Web site is open and will accept new data set debase

Mark Headd, Developer, Voxeo Labs, Open Data Apps & Hackathons Helps city use computing power (BTW Hackathons hosted at Penn - click here and here) Hackathon: Problem solving, engaging developer communities to help themselves or others including civic community. Build useful things for cities, specifically Phila. Septa example -- Hackathon to show Septa new things the transit authority could do and offer. Assumptions of what is possible can and should be challenged. Adel Ebeid, Chief Innovation Officer, City of Philadelphia. Digital Quality of Life Governemnts Role. Digital Inclusion New in Phila. -- Former NJ Chief Info Officer for Chritsie and predecessors NJ.gov transparency site -- anyone can access data on employees pay, programs, public domain data New systems must include engagement-based government rather than transactional-based government New systems, data policies, and future decisions must make open access a priority. Reading: If we can put a man on the moon...

Ashley Del Bianco, Phila. Office of Innovation & Technology, Office of Public Programs: Digital Literacy - Digital Inclusion Focus of work: Those who have access to technology and those who do not Hundreds of thousands in Phila. who do not Living in poverty Dont leave neighborhoods What differentiates us? Haves -- access info, make routine decisions based on access; using technology routinely Have Nots -- cant do that Being literate is tied to digital literacy Imagine: What is it like not to have access -- Digital Divide Has become a cliche Taken for granted that there is and will be a digital divide What does it take to resolve that paradox?
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Freedom Rings is a positive step -- city, NGOs, Drexel, others Just touches a drop in the bucket of those in need Bowling Alone Robert Putnam Bridging social capital to bring communities together How did you learn to use technology? Mentors? Part of growing up? What resources did you have? Did you do it yourself? How can you use skills that you have to include others?

Bob Moul, GM Dell/Boomi, Regional Infotech Economy - Infotec Biz Growth Boomi -- local Phila startup, raised angel money in Phila, Ben Franklin support Success after 10 years; sold to Dell Created 100 new jobs -- cloud architects, developers Ben Franklin money came with warrants, so Ben Franklin got windfall to reinvest What can Philly do to create more Boomis? How to take info-tech sector to the next level is a focus for him.

Paul E. Wright, Co-Chair - Open AccessPhilly/Project Open Voice (Comcast). The Vision of an Open Access Philly Focus -- social video, local media, analytics Now developing Project Open Voice with Comcast Civic generated video posted on CMCSA platform. Reaching new audiences. COMCSA helps users make video -- mash up those with stories to tell with those who do Increased open access to video Open Access Philly is open. Connect to weworkinphilly site.