Year: 2016
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News Article: Chicago seeking ‘smart-city’ tech solutions to improve city life
Today I was quoted in an article in the Chicago Tribune about Chicago’s “smart city” efforts. Here are two relevant snips: “How do we connect these abstract, big-picture, big-data initiatives to the needs of the residents of Chicago who are struggling under a failure to fund education and under a police force that thwarts the…
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Launch: Connect Chicago Initiative by Mayor Emanuel
Today Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel launched an initiative around the Smart Chicago program called Connect Chicago. Here’s more on the Smart Chicago website. Here’s some news coverage:
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Report: Chicago Police Accountability Task Force
Today marks the publication of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force, “Recommendations for Reform: Restoring Trust between the Chicago Police and the Communities they Serve“. I served on the Early Intervention & Personnel Concerns working group, and helped develop this recommendation: publish, on a monthly basis, aggregate data on the following: new and pending complaints by unit,…
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Panel: Big Data & the Public Good for the Illinois Humanities
Today I moderated a panel for Illinois Humanities about how big data can serve the public good. Here’s how they described it: What is the relationship between information technology, urban space, and the public good in the age of big data? Where do “smart cities” initiatives like the Array of Things – which doesn’t collect…
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Panel: Civic Tech Breakfast
This morning I participated in a panel discussion about community technology resources with Alderman David Moore (17), Alderman Roderick Sawyer (6), Edward Coleman, Chief Innovation Officer of Bethel New Life, and Tina James, Director of Commercial and Technology Services at Greater Southwest Development Corporation. We spoke about the need to support and fund community technology for all.
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CUTGroup Book
Civic User Testing Group as a New Model for UX Testing, Digital Skills Development, and Community Engagement in Civic Tech documents a methodology I invented while I was Executive Director of the Smart Chicago Collaborative. The model has been implemented in about a dozen cities across the United States.
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Documenters for the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force meetings
This month I conceived, led, and participated in the documentation of the four community forums hosted by the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force. The work, centered at Smart Chicago, is a part of the Documenters program. Here’s a snip from a blog post I wrote, kicking off this particular work with the CPATF: We care about…
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News Article: IRS holds contest to improve its website
Here’s a snip from an article on a Challenge.gov contest published today: Daniel O’Neil, Smart Chicago Collaborative executive director, said the IRS might get some takers. “It’s not an immense amount of money, but it’s certainly a great amount for people who are doing a nights-and-weekends project,” he said.
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News Article: Justice: There’s an App for That
Today I was quoted in an article in U.S. News & World Report: Justice: There’s an App for That. The article referenced the Smart Chicago project, Crime & Punishment in Chicago. Smart Chicago, a tech-based organization in the Windy City, tracks information from Chicago law enforcement – “the entire flow, from the commission of a crime…
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ORD Camp 2016: AA Meeting
Tonight I held an open meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous at an ORD Camp session. We are legion.