This was presented at mySociety's TICTeC Local 2019 conference, which was held on 1st November 2019 at City Hall in London. More details on the conference can be found here: https://tictec.mysociety.org/local/2019

1. A presentation to TICTeC Local London
by Dr. Tammy Esteves, Troy University
https://www.proschoolonline.com/blog/how-analytics-can-be-useful-for-developing-smart-cities/
CivicTech to empower democracy
and increase civic engagement:
Local gov examples from the United States

2. Political
Participation
Technology may provide some answers
Political participation and trust in
government are in evident decline
Polarization, low voter turnout, rise
of incivility, ideological disconnects

3. How I got here

4. How I got
here
Image from the 2013 Knight Foundation report “The Emergence of

5. Research
questions
• What is the relationship between sustainability,
emergency management, and smart city
technology?
• Are the same cities leading the way in all three
areas?
• Are the departments siloed, or are they
collaborating (or at least cooperating)?
• Is a model emerging for doing this well?
Initial questions
• Full circle to – the use of technology for building
community.
• If and how is the technology being used to make
life better? How are these all connected for
sustainability and resilience holistically?
Evolution

6. Research
process

7. So, what are some ways
technology is being used to
promote democracy and
increase civic engagement?
• Social Media
• Decrease Digital Divide​
• Increase Civic Participation​
• eVoting
• Crowdsourcing
• Reaching online students

8. Social Media
• #lovelansing, #orlandostrong
• City of Orlando and Orange County Commissioners
• CivicPlus
• Crime prevention and police assistance
• Emergency alerts and severe weather updates
• Activities and class registration
• Town Halls and Council meetings
• Public Service Announcements
• Construction Updates and Road Closings
• Job applications
• Facebook Town Hall

11. Crossing the
Digital Divide
Louisville, KY: Digital Inclusion Plan. Residents
in one of the city’s lowest-income
neighborhoods can stroll down to their local
community center for free high-speed internet
access, digital literacy training and assistance
in entrepreneurship skills. (GOVTECH)
Austin, TX: Smart Work, Learn, Play. Connect
underserved communities with digital
inclusion program that will put an internet
connection, digital literacy training and
computers in every housing authority home.
(GOVTECH)

12. Increasing civic
participation
• Raleigh, NC: InVision Raleigh, a web-based
3D tool that uses geospatial analytics to
provide place-based scenarios allowing
citizens to visualize and interact with proposed
changes in the city, exploring trade-offs
between scenarios and conditions.
(GOVTECH)

13. eVoting
• Arizona, Colorado, Missouri
and North Dakota allow some
voters to return ballots using
web-based portal.
• West Virginia has a mobile
voting app using blockchain
technology.
• Nineteen states + DC allow
some voters to return ballots
via email or fax.

14. Crowdsourcing

15. Reaching the online students
Politics and Pop Culture Politics in the Digital Age
• Growth of technology
• Citizen journalism; digital democracy
• Social media in politics
• Social media in governance
• eParticipation & CivicTech
• Civic activism; Social media in protests
• Crowdsourcing
• Civil liberties in a digital age
• DigiGov in the movies
• What is pop culture?
• Cinema & Video, Television
• Books
• Art (including graffiti)
• Music
• Social Media

16. A word about apps –
CONSOLIDATE!
City of Boston (7) – BOS:311, Commonwealth
Connect, TrashDay, ParkBoston, StreetBump,
Boston PayTix, Where's My School Bus
Other cities – Seattle FindItFixIt, CycleAtlanta,
City of Calvary Pets (Calvary has 12 apps)
And just because it is cool – BCN Visual

17. Interesting Cocktail Party tidbit
Honest Elections Initiative in Seattle in
2015 – To allow lower-income residents to
participate in the campaign process, each
Seattle resident, regardless of immigration
status, receives four Democracy Vouchers,
worth $25 each. The vouchers are funded
through a tax, and can be donated to
candidates of the resident’s choice in city
elections.

19. “What is technologically
possible may not be
organizationally feasible, or
socially or politically
desirable.”
Teresa Pardo, Director of the Center for
Technology in Government (CTG) at the
University of Albany

20. "A smart sustainable city is an
innovative city that uses
information and communication
technologies (ICTs) and other
means to improve quality of life,
efficiency of urban operation and
services, and competitiveness,
while ensuring that it meets the
needs of present and future
generations with respect to
economic, social, environmental
as well as cultural aspects."
(UNECE and ITU, October 2015)

21. Let’s Network!
Twitter - @tlesteves
Email –
tlesteves@troy.edu
LinkedIn – Tammy Esteves