Data, Design and Civics: An Exploratory Study of Civic Tech
Civic Tech, Participation and Society
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Boehner, Kirsten
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DiSalvo, Carl
Proceedings of the ACM CHI'16 Conference on Human Factors in Computing
Systems
2016-05-07
v.1
p.2970-2981
© Copyright 2016 ACM
Summary: Civic technology, or civic tech, encompasses a rich body of work, inside and
outside HCI, around how we shape technology for, and in turn how technology
shapes, how we govern, organize, serve, and identify matters of concern for
communities. This study builds on previous work by investigating how civic
leaders in a large US city conceptualize civic tech, in particular, how they
approach the intersection of data, design and civics. We encountered a range of
overlapping voices, from providers, to connectors, to volunteers of civic
services and resources. Through this account, we identified different
conceptions and expectation of data, design and civics, as well as several
shared issues around pressing problems and strategic aspirations. Reflecting on
this set of issues produced guiding questions, in particular about the current
and possible roles for design, to advance civic tech.