Brigade Resources

[patwater]

Thread to discuss how we can provide resources for brigades to accelerate their work to implement best in class public technology. Context from our meeting at LACI 12/15:

[matikin9]

Learning from each other on our successes. For example - Charlotte being good at helping their city do design research. Asheville going to the community groups and learning from them.

Educating community groups about civic tech & open data topics - building their capacity to think about how tech can improve their outcomes

Have a pre-built presentation and pool of speakers able to speak to groups, at events, at conferences, etc.

Help government do design research, learn about examples in other governments of successful tech/procurement with specific strategies - through workshops, project partnerships, etc.

More open discussion on the risks involved in a blanket policy of open data/better technology.

Technical workshops (with a civic bent, like using open data) and projects that help those transitioning into the tech field with real world project and speaking experience.

Better marketing/storytelling material. Use videos, leverage the entertainment industry (LA) to create engaging content that gets the knowledge across. Can be an opportunity to reach minority populations.

[tdooner]

Okay here is my recap; Some thoughts to help contextualize the boards--

Overall our task was to brainstorm ways that Brigades could engage with the lofty principles.

First we talked about an Internal vs external distinction. Internal = changes to operations within a brigade, and External = changes to partnership strategy and community engagement.

On the external side, we discussed successful approaches of community engagement as exemplified by Code for Asheville's community group meeting focus and Hack for LA's homelessness symposium event hosting. All together, these help brigades build meaningful alliances with community organizations and assist them in achieving their goals more effectively.

On the internal side, we thought that Brigades should take it upon themselves to internalize the principles by scheduling a brainstorming meeting or leadership discussion.

Overall, the principles as currently written, run the gamut from lofty ambitions to nitty implementation details -- so we sought to pick a couple to focus on. Principles that have a direct and obvious connection to Brigades:

• open data (standards?) that benefit the community
• continued education + professional opportunities
• virtual public comment
• seamless gov service user experience

These are exemplified by existing CfA-realm projects, and could be strengthened by systemizing the sharing of knowledge around best practices for each. For example, Open Charlotte Brigade has a seat at the table when procurement decisions are made, and if we could share knowledge to help other brigades achieve the same, the Brigade network would be stronger for it.

As for medium of sharing, the ideal would be some place that's accessible and engaging. Perhaps use the CfA Discourse?! Perhaps make informational videos?! Perhaps leverage YouTube stars to partner on anime-inspired messaging. Somewhere in there.

[patwater]

Key action items from my POV:

• Develop short videos -- make new allies with the entertainment industry. Opportunity to collaborate with the one and only Tae Yoo
• Build a workshop template for brigades to explore how they can implement these principles in a way that makes sense for their community. That should include a list of discussion questions on the risks of better public technology
• Coordinated effort to build alliances with other civic organizations by meeting them where they are.