civictech - DemocracyLab.org

1st Virtual Tech-for-Good Hackathon: After Action Report

DemocracyLab adapted to Covid-19 by taking its March 14th St. Hack-trick's Day event online. This post shares information about the event format, the technology used, and lessons learned.

civictech

Council Data Project Demystifies City Governments

Local governments affect people’s lives more than any other, yet most people know very little about the beliefs and actions of those who represent them in City Hall. City councils typically meet during the day when most people are working, and publish video recordings of their meetings that are

civictech

Turin Horse Uses Data to Analyze Legislative Efficiency

There are many substantial barriers to finding trustworthy and meaningful sources of political information. Poor decision-making at the ballot box based on bias or un-contextualized information decouples government political action and voter accountability. These decisions spur higher rates of local corruption, greater cost for municipal bonds, lower voter turnout, signs

civictech

OrcaSound Uses Machine Learning to Advocate for Endangered Orcas

“The bird people are ahead of us,” was not what I expected to hear coming from a group at Hack to Give Thanks tasked with talking about killer whales. But, according to Scott Veirs of OrcaSound, a web-app that allows users to listen for whales and then conserve them, this

civictech

Child Care Resources Gets Help Navigating Tech Maze

Child Care Resources (CCR) Homeless Child Care Subsidy program is a resource for families experiencing homelessness. By providing access to affordable, accessible learning and childcare, the program allows parents to allocate more time and energy to finding work and housing, removing some of the tenacious barriers that can trap families

techforgood

Town Hall Project Promotes Political Accountability

For citizens who want to keep track of their local government’s activities and policies, the only option was constant proactive engagement… until Town Hall Project was launched in January 2017. Borne out of a Google spreadsheet, the site will tell you—based on your zip code—who your representatives

civictech

ClimateTree Fosters Learning to Combat Climate Change

The project is complicated, but the problem it seeks to solve is simple: how can we optimize climate activism using the wealth of data available? ClimateTree, inspired by the global Climate Strike student movement, is a platform for sharing climate solutions between areas that face similar challenges. Users can compare

civictech

Infoncast Bridges Last Mile Connectivity Gap in Africa

For many nations in sub-Saharan Africa, the national languages are English and French. However, most of their citizens are not fluent in these languages; instead, they speak one of hundreds of local dialects. This presents a significant inhibition to media accessibility for sub-Saharan Africans. Developed in response to this disconnect,