CfA Fellow Jeremy Canfield recently published a short piece in UX Magazine, “Why UXers should Code for America,” on the importance of interaction design and user-centric development: Despite its name, the Code for America Fellowship isn’t just for coders. In fact, most of what we do for our government partners doesn’t involve much code atRead… Read more »
CfA Fellow Jeremy Canfield recently published a short piece in UX Magazine, “Why UXers should Code for America,” on the importance of interaction design and user-centric development: Despite its name, the Code for America Fellowship isn’t just for coders. In fact, most of what we do for our government partners doesn’t involve much code atRead… Read more »
Jennifer Pahlka — founder of one of Civic Commons’ founding partners, Code for America — gave a talk at the Future of Web Apps conference in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, entitled “The Next Disruption: The Opportunity for Civic Startups.” The keynote, embedded below, outlined how there is a huge opportunity in the governmentRead… Read more »
In 2003, then Surgeon General, Richard H. Carmona reported that obesity had reached crisis levels. Carmona explained that obesity is ”the fastest-growing cause of disease and death in America. And it’s completely preventable.” In response to this crisis, Michelle Obama has been publicly advocating increased physical activity and improved diet. In 2010, the first ladyRead… Read more »
In late June, Jen Pahlka, CfA’s Founder and Executive Director, gave a talk at the Future of Web Apps conference in Las Vegas. Entitled “The Next Disruption: The Opportunity for Civic Startups,” Jen’s keynote outlined how there is a $172 billion government spending market that is waiting to be disrupted by today’s geeks and entrepreneurs.Read… Read more »
The name “Code for America” is a little misleading: CfA needs more than coders, and its coders must do more than code. We need civic hackers, yes. But we also need researchers, project managers, and designers experienced in UI and UX. We need fellows who can understand government, and fellows who can understand each other.Read… Read more »
Last week, New York City announced its first ever hackathon aimed to revamp its web presence, NYC.gov. On July 30-31, teams of designers, developers, writers, photographers and product managers will gather at General Assembly in New York City and spend a weekend implementing their visions for a re-imagined NYC.gov. Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the contestRead… Read more »
The City of Columbus, OH, has just announced a mobile app that combines many of the aspects of Open311 and Open211. More and more cities are building similar information aggregating and issue reporting applications (such as Boston’s Citizens Connect), and we are encouraged to see that smaller companies are able to work with cities onRead… Read more »
As designers and visual communicators, we should do better to consciously recognize the communicative value of icons and symbols. Designers are a curious breed of people: we are creators, inquisitive leaders, thinkers, and ponderers of how we can spark change through the process of design, and how we can improve communication and understanding through whatRead… Read more »
The Sunlight Foundation just dug up some interesting recommendations from Vivek Kundra’s testimony before aHouse Committee on Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee today. Before the committee, he proposed 10 Principles for Improving Federal Transparency. We felt they were smart, so we’re reposting it below, as good advice to all levels of government. Build end-to-end digitalRead… Read more »