This past week, Civic Hall launched Civicist, a platform for civic tech news and analysis. The site will explore hot topics in civic tech, editorials, thought pieces and more. And we’re proud to say that our own Matt Stempeck is leading the charge by offering his first post, “A Maddeningly Broad Term.” In this post, Matt explores what civic tech really means — what work goes behind it, what technology drives it, and who it helps.
“What do you do?”
“I work in civic tech.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s like tech for good.”
“Oh, ok.”
Examples range from companies to organizations to public policy, and Matt explores the broad nature of the term “civic tech” and why that breadth is important. Matt’s strongest point is this: Civic tech is when we apply technology toward shared problems and opportunities.