Year: 2015

  • Presentation: GIS!

    Today I made a presentation to Illinois GIS Association regional meeting in DuPage County. GIS professionals have been under-appreciated in the civic tech movement. GIS! from Daniel X. O'Neil  

  • Presentation: Open Data & Mass Joy at Personal Democracy Forum

    Today I presented to the 2015 Personal Democracy Forum on the topic of Open Data & Mass Joy. Here’s the complete text and slides: Open Data and Mass Joy from Smart Chicago Collaborative And here’s video:

  • Panel: Mikva Challenge New Civics Practitioner Conference

    Today I participated in a panel at the Mikva Challenge New Civics Conference on civic tech. Here’s a description  of the conference: The tools and strategies for teaching civics are changing. This conference will provide in-depth training and comprehensive exposure to a range of new civics instruction: from action civics to youth media production, from digital…

  • Radio: Summer tech program will introduce South and West Side kids to coding

    Today I talked about the Smart Chicago Youth-Led Tech program at WBEZ. Here’s a description: Now that the Memorial Day weekend is over, students around Chicago are counting down to the end of the school year. And for some, that means coding camp is right around the corner. All this week on Tech Shift, we’re…

  • News: Proposed CUTGroup Testing of Ventra App

    Today the Chicago Transit Authority announced their partnership with Smart Chicago on testing their new Ventra app. Here’s a snip: Smart Chicago is a civic group that is devoted to improving lives through technology. Its Civic User Testing Group has tested more than a dozen apps. The CUTGroup will create a pool of testers to…

  • Panel: “Design Thinking and Learning Together”

    Today I participated in a panel discussion with Susan Patterson, co-director, KCIC, Knight Foundation; Kelly Ryan, CEO, Incourage Community Foundation;  Emmett D. Carson, Ph.D., CEO, Silicon Valley Community Foundation;  and Chris Daggett, president & CEO, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. We talked about the work our organizations have done together in the Knight Community Information Challenge deep dive cohort. Here’s video:…

  • Foodborne Chicago: Top 25 Innovation in Government

    Foodborne Chicago: Top 25 Innovation in Government

    I designed, named, and helped launch Foodborne Chicago, which was recognized by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Here’s their writeup: FoodBorne Chicago City of Chicago, IL On March 23, 2013, the Chicago Department of Public Health and the SmartChicago Collaborative launched the FoodBorne Chicago web application with the goal of improving food…

  • Panel: The Future of Story Telling in a Data-driven World

    Today I participated in a panel in the Tech Breakfast Club: The Future of Story Telling in a Data-driven World. Here’s a description: Experts from Narrative Science, the Smart Chicago Collaborative and Nuveen Investments will share examples of how marketers are marrying data and natural language technologies to automate routine reports and craft stories that haven’t…

  • Award: Swartz Law Day / PACER Campaign

    Award: Swartz Law Day / PACER Campaign

    Today I participated in the PACER Postcard Campaign as part of my work at Smart Chicago. We collected lots of postcards and received the Swartz Law Day Award from Carl Malamud of Public.Resource.Org.

  • Training: Last CCD Class

    Tonight, after a 10-year run in two parishes, I taught my last CCD class.