Sometimes it’s hard to describe what we do every day. If you’re in the civic tech community, you probably know the feeling as well.
The Microsoft team thought it would be a good idea to try to capture the gist of what is going on with the Chicago civic tech movement and after a bit of research and discussion, we decided the best way to approach this was to suggest some definitions and spotlight some of the groups and organizations which make up this very collaborative ecosystem. While this ecosystem is really fluid, there are definitely some themes that have emerged and people and organizations have organized around these themes.
The themes include: MeetUps; Resources; “Dedicated” Civic Tech organizations; STEM/Education and National Civic Tech organizations. We have also included some current examples of notable civic tech applications and businesses.
The personality of Chicago’s Civic Tech ecosystem is best illustrated by the large number of MeetUp opportunities and the impressive turnout at these programs. While there is certainly some overlap of attendees, there is also a good measure of cross pollination. What’s really important to recognize is that the civic tech ecosystem is open to anyone and everyone; no matter where you come from, you have a valuable perspective to contribute to how technology affects the public good. Within the scene, you can find people coming from all different roles and walks of life, which is what gives the movement so much strength. Everyone’s story is different and through technology, we have the unprecedented ability to take into these unique viewpoints and make sure that all voices are heard. In civic tech, there’s a clear goal to eliminate the barriers to entry.
In addition, in the hopes of inspiring the next generation to get interested in data science and analytics and to increase the focus on STEM and STEAM in Chicago, we’ve included several organizations which assist students, faculty and families improve their digital literacy skills. This is by no means a complete list! We’ve included the fairly obvious and mission critical CS4ALL from CPS, as well as smaller, more community focused organizations like Project SYNCERE. Again, we hope to illustrate from this list the organic, evolving nature of this ecosystem.
We hope you feel free to use this compilation, chat with us on Microsoft-Chicago.com about enhancements we can add and most importantly, reach out and connect with the organizations we’ve included.
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