Civic Tech Field Guide
Sharing knowledge and productively growing the fieldThe Tech > Participatory democracy > Engagement tech - (541)
Perhaps the core premise of civic tech is that it can improve civic engagement. Whether in concert with formal governmental bodies or independent of them, civic tech promises to help citizens (in the Latin sense, of the city) engage with one another to share power in the pursuit of building just societies.
Recommended reading:
- A collection of case studies demonstrating where civic tech interventions have resulted in tangible improvements and benefits for governments/public institutions and their citizens
- The Equitable Community Engagement Toolkit is an excellent collection of guides and resources for equitably engaging communities in order to share power.
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State by state tracking of mail ballots requests and returned
Sortition Foundation
Cambridge, UKOrganization dedicated to promoting citizens' assemblies
Citizen participation and machine learning for a better democracy
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)The experiment will test whether machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) can effectively cluster similar proposals and recommendations from ‘like minded citizens’ on the Consul digital democracy platform
In partnership with municipal crowdfunding platform Neighborly and the Berkeley Blockchain Lab, Berkeley City Council is planning on issuing municipal bonds on the blockchain.
The outdoors brand takes on climate deniers
WITNESS is an international nonprofit organization that trains and supports people using video in their fight for human rights.
Streetmix
PhiladelphiaCivic engagement for street design
RapidPro
Nyaruka, Kigali, RwandaRapidPro allows you to easily design, pilot, and scale services that connect directly with a mobile phone user...without the help of a software developer.
Vote411
1730 M Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20036, USAElection Information You Need, sponsored by the League of Women Voters Education Fund
Civocracy
BerlinCivocracy is fixing the relationship between citizens and their government using digital citizen participation.
TalkLondon
LondonTalk London is City Hall’s online community. Have your say on big issues and help shape our plans and policies. Let’s make London better together.
Worldie – Social Media for Good
San Diego, CAWorldie‘s mission is to create safety, equality, humanitarianism, positive social impact, and all-in-one integration to improve lives with technology, helpful social media systems, social projects, public safety, crowdsourced help, and a network of partners.
Ryecatcher
420 Central Park West, New York, NY 10025, United StatesRyeCatcher is online collaboration software that makes it easy for everyone involved in a student’s success to work together.
coUrbanize
33 Arch Street, Boston, MA 02110, USAcoUrbanize is a community engagement platform that helps residents, real estate developers, city planners, and municipalities build better cities together.
Vote for Policies
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)Vote for Policies makes it easy to compare what the political parties are promising to do in the 2017 general election. It helps you decide who to vote for.
Grassroot
Johannesburg, South AfricaGrassroot is a civic tech tool plaform that uses web, mobile app, USSD, Whatsapp and social media, it allows informal settlements citizens to engage with other members, call meetings, take votes, mobilise rallies and create actions lists.
Facebook Groups
Palo AltoMany communities use Facebook Groups as their online message board
I'm Resistbot. Text RESIST to 50409 and I'll help you contact your officials.
DebateWise.org is an online database of expert-curated debates on popular topics.
Vote Compass is an award-winning application, showing you how your views align with those of the candidates running for election.
This Expert Network Accelerates The Search For Talent. Case study by GovLab
Citizen Observatory Madrid
Madrid (Spain)In this panel called Citizen Observatory, a group of people chosen at random will approach and provide solutions to key issues for the life of the citizens of Madrid.
Copy, Paste, Legislate
Phoenix, AZ, USAAn investigative series deploying algorithms to detect copy-paste legislation
Hromadski Project (Громадський проект)
1991 Civic Tech Center, вулиця Мечникова, Kyiv, UkraineOne IT solution for all participatory budgeting activities. Available as SaaS or self-hosted.
US FDA's device approval process
The GovLab, MetroTech Center, Brooklyn, NY, USAConnecting Expertise to Government
Polco
Middleton, WIPolco is a platform designed to increase civic engagement, improve government transparency, and inform municipal governments of constituents’ input which, in turn, will help better guide public policy.
GoFundMe: The most trusted free online fundraising platform. Start a successful crowdfunding campaign on the site with over $5 Billion Raised. Read our guarantee!
PeakMetrics
Los Angeles, CAPeakMetrics tracks news and government action around the clock, so you save time and react faster.
Bang the Table EngagementHQ
AustraliaOur complete suite of listening, information, analysis, reporting and relationship management features enable you to mix and match precisely the right online tools for your community engagement objectives.
Public Square
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)Public Square is a two-year action research programme that explores how to improve participation at a local government level.
Dialectic
SingaporeDialectic.sg: Better debates for a better Singapore. Learn more about and discuss important policies facing us today.
Mzalendo
KenyaMzalendo is a non-partisan entity that keeps an eye on Kenyan Parliament with a mission to facilitate public participation in Parliamentary processes through Information Sharing, Research and Networking.
Place Speak
New City Ventures, Attn: PlaceSpeak, 1005 Cypress Street, Vancouver, BC, V6J 3K5, CANADAPlaceSpeak is a location-based citizen engagement platform that authenticates the online public participation process through digital credentials and privacy-by-design to build trust.
Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about EveryElection
New Zealand Digital Service Design Tools
New ZealandThese tools can help you test ideas and products with real users so you design services that work for people. There are also tools to help you present research in a meaningful way and bring it to life.
Voting Information Project
Democracy Works, Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY, USAThe Voting Information Project helps voters find information about their elections with collaborative, open-source tools.
Cities Coalition for Digital Rights
United Nations Avenue Nairobi, Kenya 00100We, the undersigned cities, formally come together to form the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights, to protect and uphold human rights on the internet at the local and global level.
FixMyStreet
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)The UK’s street fault reporting website (rebranded as FixMyCommunity)
A website dedicated to helping employers create vote-friendly workplace policies, and celebrating those that do
Tired of paper & pen checklists, shift notes, and log books? Join 1000s of restaurants nationwide and streamline your food safety & quality with our mobile app!
Block Party
New York CityWe make local policy information accessible and byte-sized, with a weekly email of your community board’s most recent meeting highlights and transcript data.
Nos Députés
17 Rue Corneille, 31100 Toulouse, FranceLe collectif Regards Citoyens est une association constituée de citoyens de tous âges et régions, tous bénévoles, qui se sont rencontrés sur Internet dans un désir commun de proposer un accès simplifié au fonctionnement de nos institutions démocratiques à partir des informations publiques.
Resources and tools for Hurricane Irma response, relief and recovery.
Participation Factory
Prague, CzechiaParticipation Factory is a social enterprise that mainstreams participation and data-driven approaches into governance and process design.
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Civic Tech Field Guide