Civic Tech Chat

Christian Martinez shares his journey from cognitive neuroscience to civic tech, highlighting the importance of open data, reproducible research, and building accessible tools like R packages. Discover how relevance drives rigor in education and data projects, and learn practical tips for getting started with open data and open source development.

Resources and Shoutouts
NYC Open Data Portal: https://opendata.cityofnewyork.us/

NYS Open Data Portal (MTA data also lives here): https://data.ny.gov/

NYC Open Data Student Gallery Book: https://martinezc1-nyc-open-data-student-gallery.share.connect.posit.cloud/

Music Credit...

Ryan Koch discusses the importance of understanding supply chain attacks in cybersecurity, illustrating how they exploit trust in software components and build systems, and offering practical strategies to mitigate these risks.

Resources and Shoutouts:
- GRC Engineering Presentation by AJ Yawn: https://engage.isaca.org/events/event-description?CalendarEventKey=bd0c09c0-662f-4fe8-a0d2-019adaab6cc4&Home=%2fevents%2fcalendar 

We're joined by Mark Headd author The SpecOps Method: A New Approach to Modernizing Legacy Technology Systems. We talk about good modernization practices like the strangler fig pattern as well as ways teams can use artificial intelligence to develop specifications that can be understood and validated across both technical and programmatic teams. 

Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol

We’re joined by Ed Mullen, Technical Solutions Director and Lauren Ciferri Director of Product, over at Nava PBC. We’ll have a conversation about open source government technology, using Nava’s Strata project as a key example. The chat will dive into importance of open source in the space, maintaining projects like this one, and how one can get involved.

Resources and shoutouts:

Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol

We're joined by Mike Paciello (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-paciello-1231741/), Chief Accessibility Officer at AudioEye (https://audioeye.com) for a conversation about web accessibility standards. We'll talk about upcoming deadlines for local and state governments, foundational principles, and what goes into establishing and updating standards. Resources and shoutouts: - Civic Plus (www.civicplus.com) - US Access Board (https://www.access-board.gov/) - ADA Fact Sheet (https://www.ada.gov/resources/2024-03-08-web-rule/) ##### Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol

Our host Ryan Koch talks about the Dutch Government's invocation of the 1952 Good Availablity Act. This action recently led to what's been referred to as the 'Nexperia Crises' creating a scenario where technical hardware manufacturing, supply chains, and geopolitics collided. ##### Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/hECzBJh

We’re joined by Senongo Akpem (https://www.linkedin.com/in/senongoakpem/) Vice President of Design and Research at Nava PBC (https://navapbc.com/). Together we talk about shifts in the direction of the design and research practice, innovative practices to build capacity and leadership within it, and its future as new tools like artificial intelligence emerge and become part of it. Resources and shoutouts: Cross-Cultural Design (Book by Senongo) | https://bookshop.org/p/books/cross-cultural-design-senongo-akpem/7700a228f8e33947 Plain Language with Indiana DWD | https://www.in.gov/mph/files/DataDayPresentation-Plain-Language_v3-Comp.pdf Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol

We're joined by Amanda Renteria (https://codeforamerica.org/people/amanda-renteria/) CEO of Code for America (https://codeforamerica.org). We dive into a conversation about what's needed to make 'good' government forms and we let you know about a neat event coming up on 9/30/2025 called FormFest(https://formfest.org/). Register for the event here: https://formfest.org/register/ . Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol

We're joined by Brett Ferrin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-ferrin-8504b8346/) VP of Sales at Traffic Logix. Together we have a conversation about how technology and data can be used to proactively improve traffic safety. If you're into data, urban planning, or transportation, this is an episode for you. Resources and Shoutouts: - Traffic Logix: https://trafficlogix.com/ - Vision Zero: https://www.cdc.gov/transportation-safety/vision-zero/index.html Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol

We're talking about experimentation in government services with two experts from Nava Labs, a philanthropically funded part of Nava PBC: Genevieve Gaudet (Director) and Martelle Esposito (Partnerships and Evaluation Manager). Learn about their approach to experimentation, leveraging data, and how they advocate for adoption. Resources and shoutouts - Keep up with the Nava Labs team (make sure to select the "Nava Labs" checkbox): https://www.navapbc.com/nava-newsletter - Nava PBC website: https://www.navapbc.com - Nava Labs’ work, including the AI tools for Caseworkers project: https://www.navapbc.com/labs - AI appropriateness checklist: https://www.navapbc.com/to...

We're joined by Ami Yares (https://www.amiyares.com/) songwriter and Executive Director of Build a Bridge (https://buildabridge.org), a non-profit that focuses on transforming lives through art-making, and by Shannon, a User Experience designer with over 20 years experience including time across 3 Federal agencies. We'll talk about their initiative called We the Songwriters (https://www.wethesongwriters.org), which connects federal employees with songwriters to share their stories. Resources and Shoutouts: - Friends of USAID Playlist (https://open.spotify.com/artist/33NtIX8ae3eovd3AQtMEKO?si=S2IhqKRHSFqAA1xKH3Ts8Q&nd=1&dlsi=54817e06c5dd427b) - Song: USAID...

We're joined by Amanda Renteria (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-renteria/), CEO of Code for America to discuss their upcoming Summit event. We'll cover a bit about the event itself, the state of the civic tech ecosystem, and the impact that event could have on the space. Resources and shoutouts - https://codeforamerica.org - https://summit.codeforamerica.org/ Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol

Our host, Ryan Koch, does a breakdown of infinite scrolling. We talk about what this design technique is, why it gets used, and the potential effects it could have on folks using applications. Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol

We're joined by Mike Gifford (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mgifford), Open Standards and Practice Lead at CivicActions (https://civicactions.com/). We'll dig deep into what it takes to build accessible web services and why that effort is so important. Resources and Shoutouts: - Accessibility Chapter of the Web Almanac (https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2024/accessibility) Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol

We reach back into the archives to re-release episode 84. In it we were joined by Marina Nitze (https://twitter.com/MarinaNitze) to talk about their book Hack Your Bureaucracy (https://www.hackyourbureaucracy.com/). We discussed tactics you can use to get things done in all sorts of organizational environments. Resources and Shoutouts: - Hack Your Bureaucracy (https://www.hackyourbureaucracy.com/) - Recoding America (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61796680-recoding-america) - Power to the Public (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55421550-power-to-the-public) Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol

We're joined by Sarah Schacht (https://smartercivic.squarespace.com/), Senior Data Fellow at Data Foundation and author of a new report called Innovation Fellowship Career Outcomes. We'll dive in and talk about this report, their research, and the innovation fellowship space. Resources and Shoutouts: - Innovation Fellowship Career Outcomes (https://contact-us-a9fb0e.zapier.app/) Music Credit: - Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol

We're joined by Aure Schrock (https://aschrock.com/), academic editor and writing coach at their company Indelible Voice and author of the book Politics Recoded. We'll talk about the book and their insights on Code for America, a technology forward non-profit in the civic technology space. Resources and Shoutouts: - Politics Recoded https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262549455/politics-recoded/ - Indelible Voice http://indeliblevoice.com/ - Code for America https://codeforamerica.org/ Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol

We're joined by Christopher Whitaker (https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwhitaker/), Executive Director of the Alliance of Civic Technologists (ACT) (https://www.civictechnologists.org/) to talk about the organization and it's upcoming membership drive. ACT seeks to fill the vacuum left by the sunsetting of the old Code for America Brigade Network program. We'll talk about how the volunteer space, how they plan to operate in it, and their vision for the future. ### Resources and Shoutouts: - Alliance of Civic Technologists (https://www.civictechnologists.org/join) - ACT Discord (https://discord.gg/EM6ywtMhkP) ##### Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol

We're joined by Brian Whittaker (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bwhtt/) to talk about their work with Humans of Public Service (https://humansofpublicservice.org/). A non-profit that shares the human stories of public servants. Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol

Our host Ryan Koch (https://linkedin.com/in/kochryan) gives a quick briefing about the Crowdstrike outage. We talk about why you should care about it, what happened, as well as a couple of lessons we can take from the event. ### Resources and Shoutouts: - [Cost Estimate](https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/21/business/crowdstrike-outage-cost/index.html) - [What is Crowdstrike?](https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/19/24201864/crowdstrike-outage-explained-microsoft-windows-bsod) - [Why does Crowdstrike have kernel access?](https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366598838/Why-is-CrowdStrike-allowed-to-run-in-the-Windows-kernel) - [Crowdstrike preliminary incident review](https://www.crowdstrike.com/falcon-content-update-remediation-and-guidance-hub/) - [Fix instructions](https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/how-to-fix-crowdstrike-bsods-in-three-minutes-fix-requires-manual-changes-but-they-are-simple ) - [Join us...

We're joined by Greg Jordan-Detamore (https://www.gregjd.com/) to talk about digital services in operations, how applying civic tech practices happen where resources are constrained, and overcoming differing language choices. Resources and Shoutouts: - Greg's substack (https://civicinsighter.com/) - Recoding America (book) (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61796680-recoding-america) - The Fifth Risk (book) (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46266188-the-fifth-risk?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_14) - The Mindset Mentor (podcast) (https://robdial.com/podcast/) - Slow Boring (blog) (https://www.slowboring.com/)

In this episode, our host Ryan Koch demystifies Generative AI and large language models, discussing their potential, risks, and ethical implications. We confront misinformation, privacy issues, and explore questions around authorship and economic impacts. This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking a balanced understanding of these pivotal technologies.

We're joined by[Marina Nitze(https://twitter.com/MarinaNitze) to talk about their book Hack Your Bureaucracy(https://www.hackyourbureaucracy.com/). We'll discuss tactics you can use to get things done in all sorts of organizational environments. ### Resources and Shoutouts: - Recoding America (book)(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61796680-recoding-america) - Power to the Public (book)(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55421550-power-to-the-public)

We're pulling one out of the archives to start off 2023! This time we talk discovery sprints! We're joined by Jenn Noinaj (https://www.linkedin.com/in/actuallyjenn/)} and Kathryn Jurick(https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynjurick/), authors of the United States Digital Service guide to discovery sprints. We'll chat about what these are, how they're run, and how they can help. ### Resources and Shoutouts: - USDS Discovery Sprint Guide(https://sprint.usds.gov/)

We are joined by James O'Brien, CX Lead at Seam Social Labs(https://www.seamsociallabs.com/our-team ) for a conversation about community engagement, including chats about inclusion, co-creation, bias, and the power of language. ### Resources and Shoutouts: - Winning on Purpose (book)(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58090620-winning-on-purpose) - Frankenstein (book)(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35031085-frankenstein)

We are joined by Jeremy Hartman(https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyhartman2022/), VP of Venture Forward and Community Engagement at GoDaddy(https://www.godaddy.com/)to talk about accessibility and sustainability on the web. ### Resources and Shoutouts: - The Accidental President (book)(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35106890-the-accidental-president) - Venture Forward(https://www.godaddy.com/ventureforward/) ##### Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol

We are joined by Mike Gifford(https://twitter.com/mgifford, Senior Strategist at Civic Actions(https://civicactions.com/)to talk about accessibility and sustainability on the web. ### Resources and Shoutouts: - https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40864002-a-psalm-for-the-wild-built - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57094295-termination-shock - https://radioopensource.org/ - https://longnow.org/

We are joined by Joseph Tajaran (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tajaran/), organizer and Brigade Captain of Code for Chicago (https://codeforchicago.org), to chat about what it takes to lead a sustainable volunteer organization. ### Resources and Shoutouts: - Chicago UX Book Club (https://www.meetup.com/UXChicago/) - The Conscious Creative (book) (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49098420-the-conscious-creative) - Design Justice (book) (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51151807-design-justice) ##### Music Credit: Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol(http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Monkey_Warhol/Lonely_Hearts_Challenge/Monkey_Warhol_-_Tumbleweeds)

We are joined by Max Ghenis (https://twitter.com/MaxGhenis), co-founder of Policy Engine https://twitter.com/ThePolicyEngine) for a conversation about ways technology can help folks understand the impact of public policy proposals. ### Resources and Shoutouts: - I, Daniel Blake (film)(https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5168192/){ - What we owe the future (book)(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59802037-what-we-owe-the-future)

We are joined by Aidan Feldman(https://twitter.com/aidanfeldman), freelance technologist and former Technology Director at Technology Transformation Services at GSA(https://twitter.com/GSA_TTS) to dive into a conversation about the space where human centered concepts meet with devsecops. Resources and shoutouts: - https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/curb-cuts/ - https://blog.thepete.net/blog/2019/10/04/hello-production/ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wIvXfhWpx0

We are joined by Jordan Burris (https://twitter.com/JordansRules), Senior Director of Public Sector Product Market Strategy at Socure(https://www.socure.com/) and former Chief of Staff at the US Office of Management and Budget to talk about digital identity and the impact it can have on the delivery of public services. Resources and Shoutouts: - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/public-sector-future/id1552507257

We are joined by Amanda Renteria (https://twitter.com/AmandaRenteria), CEO of Code for America (https://codeforamerica.org) to talk about their new program, the Safety Net Innovation Lab and the impact it could have on government services. ### Resources and Shoutouts: - https://codeforamerica.org/news/audacious-project-investment-to-launch-safety-net-innovation-lab/

We are joined by Federal Chief Information Officer Clare Martorana (https://www.linkedin.com/in/claremartorana/), United States Digital Services Administrator Mina Hsiang (https://www.linkedin.com/in/minahsiang/), and Nava Chief Delivery Officer Jodi Leo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodi-leo-7a21777/). We dive into a conversation about the importance of effective government services delivery and how an executive order focused on customer experience may impact that space. Join us on Discord (https://discord.gg/hECzBJh) Resources and Shoutouts: - https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/12/13/executive-order-on-transforming-federal-customer-experience-and-service-delivery-to-rebuild-trust-in-government/ - https://www.usajobs.gov/ - https://www.usds.gov/apply ...

We are joined by Adam Probolsky (https://twitter.com/AdamProbolsky), President of Probolsky Research to talk about opinion research and how it can be used effectively by policy makers. ### Resources and Shoutouts: - https://www.ocregister.com/2020/09/20/adam-probolsky-sees-polls-as-the-bridge-between-the-public-and-policymakers/ - https://www.probolskyresearch.com

We are joined by Nava co-founders Rohan Bhobe(https://www.linkedin.com/in/rbhobe/) and Sha Hwang (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shashashasha/) for a conversation about their experiences responding to a crises and facing the challenges of building sustainable technology, processes, and partnerships afterward. Join us on Discord! https://discord.gg/hECzBJh Resources and Shoutouts: - https://civictech.chat/2021/06/how-covid-impacted-local-government - https://www.navapbc.com/case-studies/prioritizing-research-to-quickly-serve-people-during-a-crisis.html - https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/07/the-secret-startup-saved-healthcare-gov-the-worst-website-in-america/397784/ - https://www.navapbc.com/case-studies/Supporting-Veterans-During-the-Pandemic-with-Virtual-Tele-Hearings.html

Ryan Koch (https://twitter.com/ryan_koch) chats with us a bit about dark patterns, a set of deceptive techniques that are often used in the design of technology products and services. We'll talk about what they are, why they are important, as well as what the government is trying to do about it. Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/hECzBJh Resources and Shoutouts: - Shining a Light on Dark Patterns: https://academic.oup.com/jla/article/13/1/43/6180579?login=false - What are dark patterns and how are they tricking me?: https://www.raconteur.net/technology/dark-patterns/ - Dark pattern...

For our first episode of 2022 we go back into the archives and re-release an episode from October 20th, 2020. The original description follows below! Civic Design Consultant and author [Cyd Harrell](https://twitter.com/cydharrell) joins us for a conversation about their new book [A Civic Technologist's Practice Guide](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55225556-a-civic-technologist-s-practice-guide?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=paFK2DugTf&rank=1){, which seeks to be a grounding document in the space. 🎧 Listen ### Resources and Shoutouts: - [Slow Ideas](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/07/29/slow-ideas) - [Inclusive Design for a Digital World](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46113876-inclusive-design-for-a-digital-world?fro...

We are joined by [Ariana Soto](https://twitter.com/arianaosoto) to talk about the [Civic Innovation Corps](https://www.codingitforward.com/corps), a program that connects recent graduates of two or four year institutions, bootcamps, and certificate programs to government service through a 10 week paid internship. ### Resources and Shoutouts: - [Coding It Forward Website](https://www.codingitforward.com) - [Previous episode about their Federal fellowship](https://civictech.chat/2018/08/coding-it-forward-civic-technology-fellowship) - [Coding It Forward Twitter](https://twitter.com/CodingItForward) ##### Music Credit: [Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol](http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Monkey_Warhol/Lonely_Hearts_Challenge/Monkey_Warhol_-_Tumbleweeds)

Join us for a conversation about the motivations and constraints involved with volunteering in civic tech! We're joined by [Jill Bjers](https://twitter.com/Jillzey), [Nehemiah Dacres](https://twitter.com/dacresni), [Marianne Miranda](https://twitter.com/mariannettePM), and [Matt Zagaja](https://twitter.com/mzagaja)} for a live show that happened during the 2021 Code for America Brigade Congress. Join us on [Discord](https://discord.gg/hECzBJh) ### Resources and Shoutouts: - [Volunteer personas doc](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dExHtVElMr4oCuWEXWzs8zCuxqj7OTggzyP_LXeJhQ0/edit#) ##### Music Credit: [Tumbleweeds by Monkey Warhol](http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Monkey_Warhol/Lonely_Hearts_Challenge/Monkey...

During this episode we dive into a conversation about the Code for America volunteer network. We'll talk through conversations they've been having at the grassroots level to refocus their efforts and answer some key questions around values, purpose, and future steps. We're joined by the following folks at different stages of the conversation: - [Em Burnett](https://twitter.com/elburnett) - [Janet Michaelis](https://twitter.com/jgmichaelis) - Jennifer Miller - [Rene Joy](https://twitter.com/renejoywrites) - [Tim Leisman](https://twitter.com/TimLeisman) - Yeti Aberra Join us on [Discord](https://discord.gg/hECzBJh) ### Resources and Shoutouts: - [Network...