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The “spaghetti soup of challenges” for an air quality app

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To watch Jess Sand lead a meeting of developers and others building an air-quality related app is to see a snapshot of the civic tech movement today.

Civic tech projects start out looking like it’s all about technology. But the more you look, the more you see that “civic” — meaning the development team, the people who’ll use their app, and anyone who might someday find value in their work — swings way more weight than “tech” ever will.

The project has been in the works for a few years already, and this team is at least its second generation to take it on.… Read the rest “The “spaghetti soup of challenges” for an air quality app”

“Local” is a nonphysical network

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If you were in ancient Rome watching for signs of the empire’s big fall, you wouldn’t look at the headlines. Instead, you’d have to look closely for small signs, faint signals. Big things start small.

That’s roughly what Eric Schnurer argues in “Why Local Innovation Is the Answer,” which is his reaction to a James Fallows article on Rome and the Dark Ages.

Starting with grains of sand

Small things, writes Schnurer, often have “large-scale effects but play out on the level of individual grains of sand.” Those “grains of sand” work in ways unknown or disbelieved by those who believe in “major change and progress coming in large-scale, centralized, and particularly federal efforts.… Read the rest ““Local” is a nonphysical network”

How one San Francisco-area city found its own “cool”

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Imagine the moment your boss makes it clear why he hired you, and it’s not the reason he once gave you. You’re three months into your new job as chief innovation officer in a decidedly uncool suburban city near San Francisco. You’d been told the job was all about a new fiber-optic loop. Now, you hear, it’s all about making the place “cool.”

The moment comes at a city council meeting. The mayor bangs his fist on the dais and says to council members and staff, “Look, I just want this city to be cool. Could somebody tell me please how do we get this city to be cool?”… Read the rest “How one San Francisco-area city found its own “cool””