The year’s end is always a time for reflection, and there’s no question that 2015 was action-packed for all of us working on civic tech issues at Microsoft. These issues are important. The burgeoning civic tech field is one that we believe has the potential to fundamentally change the way that governments operate, services are provided, citizens engage and communities thrive. We want to be part of this grassroots movement to shape our communities’ future. To that end, this past year Microsoft’s new civic tech teams across the country were establishing and expanding projects with cities that are deep and meaningful. Here in the Bay Area, we’ve kept you informed about many of these goings-on so I won’t go into all of the details here (better that you read the related posts directly in the links below) but here are a few highlights:
- Partnering directly with city halls. From open data policies and a portal in San Jose to developing The Mix at the main library in San Francisco, we have been working with city governments to understand their priorities and how innovative uses of technology could be beneficial and transformative.
- Engaging key partners and the broader civic tech movement. In San Jose, organizations like Transform California, Greentbelt Alliance, and SPUR have been critical as we seek to engage on smart growth issues. In San Francisco, the City Innovate Foundation, Tumml and Neighborhood Empowerment Network have been important partners. And of course, across the country (and frankly, across the whole civic tech movement), Code for America, which is based in San Francisco, has been a critical friend and leader.
- Empowering the community, employees and students. The civic tech movement is open and welcoming. You’ll find that much of the innovative work is coming from hackathons or other gatherings that include all types of citizens. We have been working with Code for San Jose and Code for San Francisco to host events and we’ve actively recruited students, employees, and members of the broader community to get engaged in civic tech projects. This grassroots movement will only be successful if the broader community is engaged.
- Involving the academic community. Universities will be critical in the civic tech movement, not just via their students or teaching about these issues, but also regarding research and studies to understand best practices. For example, we are engaging with Stanford’s Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society, particularly the Digital Civil Society Lab, which has experts in civic crowdfunding and participatory budgeting.
- Learning from others. At a recent civic tech conference, participants represented civic tech projects and cities from around the world. This couldn’t have happened just a few years ago. Some of these projects have been immensely successful. There are not yet great mechanisms to understand what’s working where and why, but that will hopefully come soon. We have been doing our best to learn from anyone and everyone.
In case it isn’t obvious, we are starting to realize several important things. First, we are in a period of trial and error. The field of civic tech is new, growing quickly and ever-changing. There is no single model, but we do need to start thinking about what works where and why. Second, the civic tech movement is very much about bringing everyone to the table and establishing partnerships across sectors. The idea here is that the best innovation will come when governments, non-profits, businesses, and academic organizations all work together to address community issues. We embrace this approach. Third, the strength of the civic tech movement is the people and we need to continue to involve and engage more people in civic tech projects, hackathons and policy development. This is how the movement will continue to grow.
We are thrilled that so many of you have engaged with us at Microsoft as we’ve built our Bay Area civic tech teams and launched this work. Please continue that partnership. Reach out to us. We want to learn and grow. We want to make our cities and communities more successful, dynamic and healthy. We believe that civic tech can be a catalyst for this change. Let’s work on this together to make this a reality.
