As many of you are aware, Peter Corbett of iStrategyLabs has followed up his successful work with Apps for Democracy that he did in concert with the local DC government, with Apps for Democracy Community Edition.
Now, DC wants to hear citizens’ ideas about problems that could be solved through technology, as well as their ideas about the perfect system to receive feedback and service requests. Through blog posts, email surveys, video testimonials, voice call-in captures, twitter update submissions, and in-person town halls, iStrategyLabs will seek to engage the populace of Washington, DC to ask for their input into what they’d like to see in the form of a DC Community Platform.
Recently, Peter held Social Citizen Sunday, where he invited people to head out into the city and
1) Go to a library, church or another busy public area
2) Let people know you’re helping the city by collecting insights from your neighbors
3) Ask if they can answer this one question for you “What problems or ideas do you have for DC that you think better technology can solve?” If you can, please ask “Do you have access to high speed internet and if so, where?”
4) The answers you gather in #3 are what you’ll put into a ‘field report’. That report can take any form – video, audio, powerpoint/PDF etc. The $1000 prize will be judged based on the following:
- Quality of responses gathered
- Diversity of responses (different answers from different people in different neighborhoods)
- Quantity of responses
- Uniqueness of your field report
Well they got a lot of insights gathered from around town, you can check out the summary HERE. But in the meantime they have announced the winner of the Social Citizen Award, they are our very own friends and incredible community members, Shireen Mitchell and Jill Foster. They did a really incredible in depth fied report to include video, audio, etc. Check it out below:
They did an incredible job in proposing Mobile Technology Education Labs (METL) that would
be comprised of a car fleet, traveling around the city to neighborhoods with the greatest computer access needs. This car fleet would be equipped with volunteers, laptops, and digital tools to not only offer computer/Web access to neighborhoods but also instruction on educational/professional resources available online.
Make sure to check out their presentation and while you at it, head over and propose your own idea and vote on the others submitted by other community members.
