PublicStuff Blog

When it Comes to Technology and Innovation for Public Benefit, Local Governments are Paving the Way

2012-01-26T13:56:00.001-08:00

There seems to be a lot ofdiscussion out there surrounding the need to improve the efficiency andtechnological capabilities of our government to meet the advancing needs of thepublic. We are hearing it in Obama’sState of the Union Speech, in our daily newspapers and across political partylines. The old way of doing things, justdoesn’t cut it anymore. We need tobecome more efficient to remain more fiscally and environmentallyresponsible. Yet during a state ofpolitical unrest at the federal level, it appears to be harder to implementthese themes of change to modernize our government in order to improveefficiency and transparency. If you’restarting to get frustrated at the seemingly never-ending delays in thisprocess, have faith. Just turn to yourlocal state or city municipality. More and more local governments are startingto take matters into their own hands and leading innovationand change on their own terms.

The value of such change isso apparent that the U.S. Conference of Mayors recently launched a Technologyand Innovation Task Force. The TaskForce, which is lead by San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee, will focus on usingtechnology to foster innovation and transparency in local municipalities. Some of the major priorities of the TaskForce will be to build public and private partnerships, establish communityengagement and increase access to public data to improve public services. The committee will even outline prioritiesand best practices to advise Congress and the Obama Administration. The Technology and Innovation Task Force maywant to take notes from the City of Fontana, which has recently launched an “Access Fontana” application withPublicStuff to do just that.

The City of Fontana, whichhas been highlighted recently in StrongCities | Strong State , a resource that highlights city success stories inthe state of California, established the app to further improve communicationand access to public services. Throughthe online and mobile platform, residents are able to request a variety of Cityservices specific to the region including graffiti cleanup, pothole repairs anddead animal pickups in an easy, efficient manner. The system is powered by PublicStuff, whichhas been working with the City of Fontana to strengthen the lines ofcommunication between the City and its residents and increase efficiency inresponding to public requests.

The “Access Fontna” app will help improve transparency among itscitizens and also allow City staff to streamline their response process throughthe PublicStuff professional software management system. The technology even allows for citizens totrack their requests, support requests made by other citizens and receivestatus updates. The use of thisinnovative system is planned to help increase active community engagement,streamline the work order process at the City level and enhance publicsatisfaction.

To test out “AccessFontana” visit the following links:

Online Portal: www.publicstuff.com/fontana-ca

iPhone App: www.publicstuff.com/iphone/fontana-ca

Android App: www.publicstuff.com/android/fontana-ca

Do you have an idea of how we canfurther improve the application? Provideus with your feedback.

Hurricane Irene: Free Accounts to Municipalities

2011-08-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

As you are well aware, Hurricane Irene is scheduled to extend up the east coast within the next 24 hours. In an effort to expedite the rebuilding process, we are offering our online municipal request management software package for free for all areas impacted by the storm. Using our free website, mobile applications, SMS and voice services, citizens can report damage, power outages, or any other service they need. These requests will then be automatically routed to the appropriate department or employee, who can update the user instantly on the status of their request.

The service is free for 30 days and comes with a full data export at the end. The service comes with no obligation or contracts. To sign up for an account, please follow these steps:

Sign up for an account
http://account.publicstuff.com/register and set-up your account.
Upgrade to premium
Once we receive your registration we will upgrade you to a premium account, which will allow you to access all the features.
Place this link on the municipality website, which will enable residents to submit/track requests:
http://www.publicstuff.com/iframe
Follow-up: We will follow-up immediately with additional marketing/informational material

Our hope is that by providing this service we can ease the hardship visited on the citizens of the areas hit by the storm. If you know of any municipalities that could benefit from this service, please send pass along this information. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us at hurricane_services@publicstuff.com, and we will reply promptly.

Washington D.C. Rated as #1 Site

2011-08-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

Washington, D.C.'s municipal e-government site is number one in the nation according to a Rutgers University study. The study was carried out by a partnership of E-Governance Institute, School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University-Newark, and the Department of Public Administration at San Francisco State University. A very academic and nonpartisan judgment was made using the

comprehensive Rutgers E-Governance Performance Index that measures 98 characteristics and classifies them into five categories: privacy, usability, service, content, and citizen participation.

Cities in the Midwest received the highest spots in the study with an average score of 45.84. Those in the West managed a 41.41 score, right behind was the South and Northeast with scores of 41.40 and 39.03 respectively. The Midwestern cities also were the top of each of the categories.

The E-governance study looks most closely at the municipalities' focus on usability and content. The researchers place a high premium on privacy, services and citizen participation. One of the most common features on the cities' websites emergency management features concerning

weather, epidemics, or treats, with more than half exhibiting such features. Yet, only about 13% of the sites are accessible to the blind in their communities. Here are some the features of Washington, DC's website:

View and pay utility bills,
Renew driver's licenses
View public records
Access to Geospatial Information System (GIS) for city communities, museums, national buildings, rail and bus lines.
CapStat, is a state of the art performance measurement system that lets citizens track the how well individual agencies perform their services, or analyze statistics of selected neighborhoods.

Below is the rating that each city received:

E-Gov Savings

2011-07-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

Municipal governments are faced with the seemingly unsurmountable expectations of being more transparent than ever and delivering more services to the public while spending fewer dollars. With the right mix of restructuring and increased reliance on technology these expectations can be met. It will not be an easy, yet every government agency is faced with making the transition or facing increasing criticism from their constituents. Phil Bertolini, in an article in the Government Finance Review titled Running the Government Race: Reaching the Finish Line with Technology, discusses the issue from various perspectives.

Bertolini states that agencies can no longer implement traditional strategies of merely cutting costs or increasing taxes. Such behavior will come up short in continuing to provide their current services, let alone increase the offerings that the public is clamoring for. The private sector is preoccupied primarily with profit, while government is concerned with service delivery and the prudent use of taxpayer money. The bottom line in both cases is dollars and cents. The preponderance, 80 to 90 percent, of all government, budgeted payouts is related to employee salaries and benefits. The trimming has to begin in this area.

Proper technology investment will result in reduced staff costs. However, merely reducing staff can place all services to the public in jeopardy. Governments must change the way they do business, says Bertolini. Improving services must remain their main goal, even if their coffers are becoming shallower. Technology is a tool that enables governments to do things differently. Technology allows automation of tasks, freeing up funds from salaries to employees who were manually entering data, answering questions and receiving payments.

Using the case study of Oakland County, Michigan, Bertolini points out that simply automating antiquated business processes and services does not create the significant wins desired. Municipal governments must rethink how they due business with the public and make use of modern e-government applications that can be easily accessed and understood by the public. These applications need to be offered for both computer and mobile device platforms.

We are in a new cost-cutting era of governance, yet there is the opportunity to make those cuts and increase services to the public. So, as experience has showed us, managers should spend many hours with their IT staff and private vendors to strategically place modern technology at the forefront of the delivery of their services.

311 in the News

2011-07-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

The use of a 311 phone number to assist municipal governments to serve their citizens is not new, and agencies are now able to use the data collected to start tracking trends. As Chicago's Mayor Daley hands off to Rahm Emanuel, some are saying his greatest legacy is the 311 system he put in place. Knoxville, Tennessee's call system had a record 6,400 calls in one week during May. These are just a few of the news stories recently coming across the wire concerning 311 systems across the nation.

Chicago residences are witnessing a change of Mayor in May and many are saying that outgoing Mayor Daley's most important legacy will be the city's 311 system he instituted. In fact some see Daley as the “father of 311.”

The phone number 311 transformed how Chicagoans interact with their city government and set a president for many other US cities. Daley created Chicago’s 311 system in 1999 as a front desk and storehouse for city services, contact personnel, complaints, and citizens' service requests. The system tracks work orders resulting from the complaints. The system has improved the efficiency and productivity of city work crews.

Chicago’s 311 system's greatest success to date was literally leading the way in the halting of the West Nile disease. Monitors noticed a dramatic uptick in dead birds being reported through 311. The city mapped the 311 dead bird complaints and sprayed insecticides, removed standing water – a potential epidemic was addressed quickly and efficiently. This week, the city of Knoxville's 311 call center received a record of 6,400 calls. The call center was started in 2005 as a tool for residents to retrieve information about city services. The major factors contributing to the record week were people signing up for the city's curbside recycling program and people reporting storm damage. In the past, these two major events would have cost the city large sums of money, yet with the 311 center already in place, it cost a few hours of coding to create the forms to speedily collect this information.

The potential cost savings of these types of services can be significant, even for small to medium sized municipalities. And with the rise in mobile device usage, we can only expect this number to grow.

Mobile Phone Trends in Africa

2011-07-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

African countries have been on the receiving end of many innovations throughout their history, however they are now employing mobile devises in ways that are making the rest of the world sit up and take notice, and maybe learn a thing or two.

Voices of Africa is a site that encourages young Africans to become local reporters. It consists of an outlet for news and a training program sponsored by Voices of Africa Media Foundation. These reporters, armed with nothing more than a camera and texting-ready cell phone, are bringing marvelous stories of accomplishments in local villages and are responsible for shining light on corrupt local politicians resulting in some indictments. The reporters see their role as providing “stimulating ( citizen) journalism, democracy will be served and this may stimulate good governance in Africa.”

In yet another innovative and powerful employment of cell phones, Fareed Zein, a Sudanese now living in Texas, has adapted and implemented a mobile-powered monitoring tool that contributed to keeping the January referendum vote in Sudan open and honest. "I believe technology is the equalizer," says Zein. His service is Sudan Vote Monitor (SVM), which is an adaptation of Ushahidi (Witness) that was mounted in the run-up to Kenya's referendum in 2010. As this video shows, Ushahidi is an open source program (free and offered for adaptation) that has played a vital role in recent elections and disasters around the world.

Kenya has begun using a system that will make it possible for consumers to use text messages to find out if a particular medicine was wholesome or counterfeit. Dr. Esther Ogara, Manager of Kenya's e-Health policy is publicly promoting mPedigree, that was implemented with great success in Ghana several years ago. Kenya, not unlike other African countries, is plagued by the prevalence of counterfeit drugs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLfNuyyora4&feature=player_embedded

All Africa News reported that Kenya began using PDAs back in 2001 to collect data in the field to determine the efficacy of the outreach effort for measles immunization campaigns. Red Cross personnel in various locations of the country, where week-long campaigns were underway, sent text messages to share methods that worked and those that did not so adjustments could be made, nation wide, at the end of each day. Normally, the campaign would be completed and various sites would write up their experiences and the recommendations shared five months later, hoping that the information would assist future immunization campaigns. They are using similar messaging to report all of their weekly and monthly utilization, disease surveillance and supply data into the district health system. This is very successful in both reducing the cost of the health information system by 25 percent, just for the data transfer, and reducing the time it took to get information - down from four weeks to one week.

These are just a few examples of developing countries innovative use of mobile devices. Study of such innovations can serve as creative seedbeds for cities and municipalities nationwide.

Implementation of the Open Government Directive

2011-07-08T07:40:00.000-07:00

The public policy think tank Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) published a paper What’s Next for Open Government? by Daniel Castro in March of 2010 which is surveys and critics the implementation of the Open Government Directive delivered by the President Obama on his first day as President. Mr. Castor's discussion is useful in pointing out the various projects the Administration has set in place to fulfill the directive's guidelines, but it also offers innovative suggestions that municipal governments might make use of in their e-government initiatives. The directive called for “an unprecedented level of openness in Government” through three pillars:

Transparency
Public participation
Collaboration

The Administration took steps to publish government information online, upgrade the quality of government information, create a culture of open government, and produce policies that would enable open government. As a result, the volume of data presently available to the public is unprecedented and the plethora of government blogs offers citizens more insights into the inner workings of government than ever before.

This transparency enables government accountability and heightens citizens' trust in government. A market research firm, Foresee Results, found in a 2009 survey of over 36,000 visitors to federal websites that “citizens who believe a site is highly transparent are 46 percent more likely to trust the overall government, 49 percent more likely to use the site as a primary resource and 37 percent more likely to return to the site.” Examples of the Administration's transparency are data and publications found on Data.gov (containing more than 118,000 datasets), Recovery.gov and USASpending.gov (tracking federal spending). Of particular interest to municipal IT departments might be IT.USASpending.gov that tracks federal spending on information technology.

In an effort to assist citizens understand and make use of all this data, the Administration has partnered with the universities to create FedThread.org, Public.Resource.org, and GovPulse.org.

An example of the Obama Administration's strides toward fulfilling the Public Participation segment of the directive was the hosting of an online town hall meeting on YouTube, and using various government blogs to collect comments on the meeting.

Prizes and competitions have been used to improve Collaboration with citizens. Over 50,000 caste their votes to determine the best Flu Prevention public service announcement (PSA) submitted by individuals. The winner collected a $2,500 prize. Also, the Department of Labor hosted a a “Tools for America’s Job Seekers” challenge that attracting over 16,000 individuals to review and rate job search and career advancement tools. The results became a website, Careeronestop.org. Local governments seeking to initiate or improve their e-government offerings will do well to follow the themes of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.

American Library Association's E-governement Toolkit

2011-05-16T12:21:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for tips and best practices on how to make your government websites more functional? Check out the American Library Association (ALA) E-government online toolkit. The toolkit contains ten sections of E-Government best practices, tips, guidelines and checklists.

One interesting section, Civic Participation & E-Government, presents two models electronic citizen participation in government. The first is a structure in which government offers citizens the opportunity to access current, public documents and proposed policies so they can evaluate and discuss them. The other model stresses government consulting citizens for opinions on how to improve current policies and administrative procedures. Both models encourage citizen participation, not merely offering information. Suggestions offered for implementation of either model include:

Connect citizens to interactive government websites that solicit citizen feedback and participation in policy making, design and innovation.
Educate citizens about their civic role and provide opportunities for them to create their own mediated messages and interact with government agencies and officials using tools that fit individual or specific community needs.
Provide citizens the ability to create a “My E-Government” page so they can personalize their interaction with government agencies and officials.
Initiate “online town halls” for E-democracy which include agenda setting and discussion of public issues.

Another section of ALA's toolkit, Building E-Government Partnerships, stresses municipal governments networking with corporate and nonprofit businesses, educational institutions, and social services to offer centralized resources and forums to citizens. Roles these partners can play include electronic infrastructure improvement, training, citizen advocacy, assistance, translation, and assessment. Such partnerships can be sustained over the long-haul to ensure greater citizen exposure to e-government services. There is much more the ALA e-government toolkit has to offer. As is the case with all toolkits, the real value only comes if utilized, so check it out!

E-Gov Workshop

2011-05-09T09:47:00.000-07:00

Many major universities offer workshops and seminars that broach contemporary issues in e-government by offering reviews of current research and presentations of case studies of successful implementation of e-government solutions. Here are PublicStuff, we think that Academic institutions' on going contribution to E-government is often overlooked and under utilized so we'd like to get the word out about some upcoming events.

On May 12, 2011, the Department of Public Administration in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago will be hosting the E-Government Workshop: Achieving IT Efficiencies Through Collaboration at the Hilton Lisle/Naperville in Lisle, Illinois.

According to the conference homepage, "This year's workshop will highlight ways that government agencies can achieve economies in the use of information technology through collaboration - collaboration with the private sector through cloud computing, and collaboration between levels of government through shared services arrangements."

Among the presenters will be Steven Clift - online strategist and founder of e-Democracy.org and Sam Ferguson – Schaumburg, Illinoi's first Director of Information of Technology. Schaumburg received the honor of begin chosen six years as one the top ten digital municipalities in the U.S. by the Center for Digital Government.

This workshop can fulfill the requirements for the ICMA Voluntary Credentialing Program and is an excellent foundation for the UIC e-Government online certificate program, and should be approved by any local government for in service and professional training credits.

The history section of the conference website contains files of presentations from the past two years. The 2009 theme was Beyond the Web Page and 2010 was Technology Solutions in a Time of Crisis. The 2010 plenary sessions are all available in streaming video. One particular 2010 presentation, Changing How Cities Work, is very informative and challenging with the City Manager of Dubuque, Iowa and the Sustainable Community Director of that city presenting.

Further information can also be found on the UIC E-Government Facebook page. The cost of the workshop is $109 which includes breakfast, lunch and workshop materials-- a steal, if you ask us!

New White House App!

2011-04-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

Do you have the White House app for your phone?, asks the April 19, 2011 post from the White House Blog. The White House realized some time ago that the use of mobile device applications was on a meteoric rise and that the technology could enable allowed citizens to receive alerts, check out behind-the-scenes photos and videos, and read the latest news from the blog or the Briefing Room. Until this week, the White House app had only been available for the iphone. It is now available to Androids.

The White House has recognized what Federal Computer Week (FCW) sees as a growing trend throughout the federal government. In an April 8, 2011 article, Gov 2.0 on the go: Agencies hit it big with mobile apps, FCW quoted Gwynne Kostin, director of mobile applications at the US General Services Administration's Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, “In some ways, we have probably reached the tipping point for mobile,” said. “It will be exciting to watch.” Federal agencies currently offer more than thirty mobile apps on their USA.gov site, and they are continuing to role out more of these useful resources.

More and more Americans are accessing the Internet through their smart phones and other mobile devices. According to a recent Yahoo study 39 percent of USA residents were in the mobile information loop in 2010 and that is expected to grow to 59 percent by 2014. Financial analysts at Morgan Stanly predict that by 2014 more people will access the Internet on mobile devices than on desktop PCs.

A further step demonstrating the importance the federal government is placing on mobile apps is the launch by The Knight Foundation and the FCC of an Apps for Community competition to develop software applications that deliver personalized, actionable information to people that are least likely to be online. The FCC is offering $100,000 in prizes.

The reason for the advance of mobile app offerings is obvious, citizens want information when and where they need it, and that is more often then not somewhere other than at their desks in front of computers.

Municipal and local governments have begun to use the Internet for to offer services and participation to their citizens. The bulk of these offerings are wedded to computers. Continuing to offer only 'at your desk' resources will situate local governments on the wrong side of the growing curve of mobile use. Citizens now have an increasing expectation not only to access mobile apps for private companies but also for communicating with their local government.

Does Your Government Offer Both E-Government Services and Participation?

2011-04-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

Public sector implementation of online technology remains far from reaching its full potential. E-government has been a major strategy in large American cities for some time. Municipal websites contain city ordinances and regulations, notices of upcoming public meetings, job openings, and downloadable permit forms. Some government websites have gone as far as facilitating online filings for permits and electronic requests for further information. These are all forms of e-government, focusing on government provision of web-based services to its citizens.

Some governments have begun to offer e-governance, which allows citizens to interact among themselves and with officials through multiple, dynamic channels such as:

· Comments or feedback forms

· Online discussion of policies through bulletin boards, forums or chat sessions

· Scheduled e-meetings

· Online surveys

· Online voting and decision making.

In a recent academic paper, “A study of e-government and e-governance: an empirical examination of municipal websites” published on March 3, 2011 in the Public Administration Quarterly the authors report on the progress the 20 largest American cities have made in offering online services and online interaction to their citizens. The study found that these large cities are providing more components of e-government than e-governance. They are doing a good job of making information available and allowing citizens to transact business via the web. Yet, they have been much slower and less effective at developing interactive web-based applications that give citizen opportunities to provide feedback on policies or debate proposed governmental actions. The review of literature in the article that points out that e-governance technology promotes “egalitarian purposes of increasing equity and democratic discourse.” It breaks down cultural and economic barriers between government officials and citizens, giving them the feeling of being true participants in government, not merely customers. The authors point to a federal website Regulations.gov as an example of quality e-governance.

The report found that in the combination of both e-government and e-governance New York significantly outperformed the other cities scoring 53.99 out of a possible 100. Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Dallas followed. Detroit and Baltimore scored lowest. While the report deals with America's largest cities, cities of all sizes would do well to further their e-government offerings and initiate meaningful e-governance technologies via the web and mobile devices. We'd love to hear your thoughts on how these public sector communication goals can be incorporated into the PublicStuff platform. Please email us at ps@publicstuff.org

Government Implementation of Social Media: Transparency and First Amendment Rights

2011-04-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

Blogs, Facebook updates, and other interactive social media are fantastic aids to local government transparency. In the current economic environment local governments are increasingly aware that they benefit from showing their citizens that they are using their resources well. Social media allows local governments to showcase progress on endeavors from the construction of facilities to detailing how federal stimulus dollars are being used.

While local governments realize how social media can benefit them, they must also negotiate some of the pitfalls in implementation of such public forums. The Institute for Local Government has posted an informative paper Social Media and Public Agencies:Legal Issues to Be Aware of.

The paper discusses several legal issues that constituents might raise, chief among them is the first ammendment issue. If a local govenment chooses to allow comments on its blogs, comments or likes on its Facebook page, or other imput on its interactive web presence, the paper points out that local govenments "can control what its part of the conversation says, there are limited options for managing what others might say.” If the agency allows its constituents to leave feedback on the website, it cannot exclude (or delete) comments that are negative toward the agency. Facebook and some blog software allow adminsitrators to filter out comments that use profanity. One way to do deal with public input that the agency does not desire to appear on their site is to draw up and publish a social media policy deliniating what comments are not acceptable. However, public forums operated by local goverments cannot delete or prohibit comments simply becuase they express views different from or critical of the agency, its employees or officicls.

Social media offers so many opportunities for local goverments to inform and interact with their constituents that the pitfalls should not cause them to shy away from this new technology, but they would do well to approach it with a broad knowledge of what legal issues they may encounter in its implementation.

The City of Bradenton, FL Launches New Constituent Services Platform

2011-04-05T06:28:00.000-07:00

The City of Bradenton, FL has selected PublicStuff to power their new Constituent Communication System. The system enables residents to submit requests and issues directly to City officials through web and mobile phone tools.

Check out the details at: http://pro.publicstuff.com/bradentonfl.html

The City of Riverton, UT Launches New Constituent Services Platform

2011-03-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

The City of Riverton, UT has selected PublicStuff to power the new service request system. The system enables residents to submit requests and issues directly to City officials through web and mobile phone tools.

To check out the full press release, please visit:
http://pro.publicstuff.com/rivertonutpr.html

New Federal Collaboration Site is now LIVE

2010-11-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies at the General Services Administration finally launched apps.gov NOW (in beta since August) a set of tools that federal employees can use to support their open government plans and engage citizens. The toolkit includes a blogging tool, two wiki tools, a challenge tool (to launch challenges and idea contests) and two discussion forum tools.

Here's how the system works:

Sign up for a free, policy-compliant tools. (Federal agencies only)
Agencies pick a product. They have blogs, a challenge tool, wikis and forums.
Apps.gov will build it for the agency and send them an email when it's ready
Agencies can select a theme, upload their logo, and add content.

The platform is still in beta and we're interested to see how agencies and users interact with the system.

Gov 2.0: What it means to you and how we can improve it

2010-09-28T09:09:00.001-07:00

There has been a lot of discussion recently on what exactly defines Gov 2.0 and true progression in the public sector. According to Adriel Hampton, Gov 2.0 is not just about using cool new gadgets like the iPad, nor is it just implementing cloud computing. To simply do this would be "a consignment of the future to a broken past." What do you think? Let us know at our poll: http://pro.publicstuff.com/blog

These are the issues that we're always dealing with here at PublicStuff. In fact we're trying to figure out how to make the platform more inclusive and participatory for individuals and government agencies. We'd love to get your feedback as we start rolling out new features.

Poke around on the site at www.publicstuff.com and let us know what you think

Product Launch Aftermath

2010-09-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

We returned from the DEMO Fall 2010 event in Silicon Valley last week, and it was truly and incredible experience. With live demonstrations, there are always a slew of things that can go wrong from slow internet to incorrect computer settings to faulty projectors, but thanks to an amazing DEMO team, our presentation went perfectly!

Instead of overloading you with a bunch of links, we've selected some of the best of the best that came out of our product launch last week:

Have some feedback for us? Let us know on Twitter @publicstufforg

From Silicon Alley to Silicon Vally: DEMO Launch!

2010-09-12T08:38:00.001-07:00

Greetings from Silicon Valley! We're proud to announce that PublicStuff has been selected as on of 60 companies to launch our new product on September 13 - 15. For the past 20 years, DEMO has introduced hundreds of products and services that have evolved into household names such as: Adobe Acrobat, Palm, Pilot, TiVo, Salesforce.com, Java, VMware, Microsoft Live Meeting, GoogleVoice and many, many more.

We're keeping the details on our product a surprise, but make sure to tune inlive, as-it-happens, from your computer, anywhere in the world: http://fora.tv/conference/demo_2010. We will be presenting first thing on Tuesday morning, 9/14 @ 9:15am PSD during the "Enterprise Technologies" session. And if you're attending the event, come check us out booth #48.

Plus, hear from some of the most influential people in emerging technology including:

Jack Dorsey, Creator, Co-founder, and Chairman, Twitter, Inc.; CEO & Co-founder, Square
Bill McDermott, co-CEO, SAP
Andrew Mason, Founder/CEO, Groupon
Jeff Weiner, CEO, LinkedIn
Matt Thompson, General Manager, Developer and Platform Evangelism, Microsoft
Sean Finnegan, President/Chief Digital Officer, Sarcom MediaVest Group
Lisa Gansky, co-founder, oFoto (now Kodak Gallery) and GNN (now part of AOL)

PublicStuff Promotional Videos

2010-09-10T06:26:00.000-07:00

As we're preparing for our much awaited product version 2.0 launch, we have been working with a wonderful director and writer, Kelly McLaughlin from BBDO to help us brainstorm creative and memorable way to communicate how the PublicStuff platform can help citizens to easily report community and quality of life issues directly to their local government and other agencies as well.

Kelly was able to come up with some amazing ideas, and we have been shooting the video this week with the help of an incredible cast and crew. We are so excited about finishing the video series up and showing it to everyone, so stay tuned! You can check out some behind the scenes footage here: http://bit.ly/a7FzTp

Technology: A Silver Bullet that Cuts Costs, Improves Services, Enhances Revenue and Engages Citizens?

2010-08-16T14:40:00.000-07:00

Technology has long helped private enterprise do things faster, cheaper and better. Want to ship a package? Fed Ex has a site where you can ship your package, track it and even print labels. You can also figure out how much it will cost to ship your nephew his new Xbox without talking to a person. Have suggestions for new products or services? Businesses like ModCloth enable their customers to vote on which clothing items they will make available in their online store. The solution solves two problems – which items will sell quickly and won’t have to be discounted due to lack of demand and customer engagement. The bottom line, technology has the power to solve business problems.

What are some business problems that local government is faced with? According to a recent article in Washington Technology — state and local government officials are faced with cutting costs, improving constituent services and even increasing revenues. The article points out that IT departments in the state and local government are looking beyond traditional IT solutions to solve these problems.

In his first day memo, President Barack Obama wrote “Government should be participatory. Public engagement enhances the Government’s effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions.” The idea of open government and civic engagement is not new, however. In the early 1800’s historian Alexis de Tocqueville said that nothing was more important in the early history of the United States than civic engagement as a way of connecting communities and building a government that would be key to the nation’s success. It is interesting that the concept of civic engagement seems to be the key to building a strong and successful government. Looks like not much has changed, at least philosophically, since the early days of our nation.

Walk down the street in any city, town, or county and most folks won’t be able to tell you what their local government is voting on in a given week or where exactly their tax money goes. They will be able to tell you all the things that they see are wrong in their neighborhood, such as a broken street light, potholes, problems with trash collection. And they’re likely to call any number of government employees to complain about it if they have time between shuttling their kids to soccer practice, working, or living their daily lives. Without a singular forum for public works issues, when local governments can communicate with constituents and citizens can communicate with the government, communication can break down between both sides resulting in inefficiency when numerous citizens report the same issue as well as the associated expense in man hours as well as dissatisfaction in government.

Fortunately we live in a world where technology can help to solve many of the problems that local governments face. Nick Grossman who runs the Open Planning Project for TOPP Labs (TOPP), an incubator for civic technology initiatives, recently participated in an open forum at MIT. He state that, “Government services are potentially a gateway…to civic engagement. It’s not just about politics and government, but about the city and how we use it.” The bottom line is that technological evolution has the power to transform the way that local governments do business on a day-to-day basis.

At PublicStuff we agree that technology has the power of technology to change government. We’re proud of our newest release due out later this month. It will provide governments and citizens better ability to engage, solve problems and increase the effective of municipal services. We look forward to sharing the details in the coming weeks and months.

Bringing Web 2.0 to City Government

2010-08-10T09:09:00.001-07:00

The Public Technology Institute (www.pti.org) in July held a virtual summit discussing the need for and growth of applications for local government. The forum considered the role of Web 2.0 and mobile applications in delivering more efficient, more open government. Cities everywhere are expanding the services they offer online to residents in search of increasing efficiency and in hopes of delivering better service to constituents. And just as municipalities are becoming more web savvy, they are now also seeing an added challenge with demand for mobile access to their services.

Alan Shark, executive director of the Public Technology Institute, identifies some of the questions raised by cities in attempting to broaden their online citizen engagement. Common questions include how government can respond to constituents in a timely manner, how applications can be deployed in the face of constrained resources, and how mobile can become part of a city’s IT plan. While resident expectations for mobile access to government services continue to increase, cities need solutions that meet service expectations while not adding to their overall IT or budget burdens.

With help from PublicStuff, cities can quickly and cost-efficiently deploy the types of solutions their residents are seeking today. Residents can input service requests, map existing requests, and see what problems the city has already solved. With automated communications, PublicStuff increases information flow between government and residents without increasing the amount of work staff have to do. Available mobile applications also address resident demand for access to government while on-the-go with a solution that is ready for cities out-of-the-box and can be customized for a city without any work by city staff. The management-facing GovStuff solution provides a platform to improve communications with constituents while also reducing management overhead and work related to scheduling activities and updating staff, residents, and elected officials on the status of new, open, and completed projects.

The full presentation from the Public Technology Institute is available online: http://bit.ly/9uOW5I

Free Custom Branded iPhone Apps for your Organization!

2010-07-06T16:40:00.000-07:00

We're pleased to announce the launch of our Community Outreach Program-- a program aimed at making web and mobile tools available and accessible in cities nationwide. Through the program we are offering all municipalities, organizations, campuses and housing buildings with a free, custom branded iPhone reporting application. Yes, you read it correctly: it's absolutely free with no strings or hidden costs attached.

Interested organizations & municipalities can sign up here
Check out the program FAQ here

We are so excited about launching our Community Outreach Program and offering cities their own branded iPhone reporting application for free. This innovative program is certainly the first of it's kind and we cannot wait to get started. Our platform focuses on the core features that enable organizations to increase efficiency and effectiveness, while utilizing the best of the web and mobile.

To get learn more about our other web and mobile tools sign your organization up for more information and a demo.

Gov 2.0 – Gov what?

2010-01-12T14:06:00.000-08:00

First there was the Web, then Web 2.0, and now you’ve probably at least heard of Gov 2.0. So – what’s Gov 2.0, and most importantly, how can it fundamentally improve the way government works?

To understand Gov 2.0, let’s start with a quick overview of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 isn’t a replacement of the Internet we’ve been using for years; in fact it’s the same Web. Web 2.0 refers to a Web in which users are more directly engaged in creating content for other people. So instead of millions of more-or-less static websites created by businesses, media companies, and content producers, the notion of Web 2.0 then is a constantly updated, always new Web with user-generated content, created by users with the help of content sharing tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Flickr, and wikis. All of these are simply tools that enable the existence of a dynamic Web 2.0, an environment in which users of the web are also the content creators. Instead of just watching an episode of Law & Order online (very web 1.0), people create videos of their neighbors doing bicycle stunts and share the video with the world (very Web 2.0). In truth there is no Web 2.0 which replaced a Web 1.0, there’s simply a notion that today’s Internet is a more dynamic collection of user-generated content with people rating that content and sharing the best of what out there with others, and that is what people refer to as Web 2.0.

Gov 2.0 similarly reflects a change in how governments (municipal, state, and federal) use the Internet and how citizens interact with governments online. It’s fair to say that until very recently (around early 2009) most government webs sites in the U.S. provided information to constituents. Some sites were well designed, others were harder to navigate or didn’t provide a wealth of information. In almost all instances however, the sites were designed for a Web 1.0 world – information was posted and citizens looked for the information they needed. In the past several years the world of government websites has begun to change dramatically in two ways – first with proliferation of government data and second with the enabling of citizen engagement with governments.

The District of Columbia was among the first entities to open up a wide variety of city data. Through a public competition with cash prizes for the most useful applications, the District enticed developers to create applications for citizens that used the data. Among the hundreds of solutions developed were an application for mobile phones that showed the safest routes to walk at night (based on crime data), an application that showed the location of vacant land parcels (useful for developers), and an application that let citizens discuss spending in the District (with data on actual spending on projects). Concurrent with the opening of data and the creation of new applications, Web 2.0 elements began to be integrated into solutions. Citizens could now take pictures of potholes and use GPS-enabled phones to pinpoint the location of things which needed the government’s attention, and let other citizens comment on issues – bringing Web 2.0 to the government – and creating Gov 2.0. So Gov 2.0 really does have the power to once again make government of the people, by the people, and for the people. In a future posting I’ll discuss how all of this not only empowers citizens, but also helps governments to better and more efficiently deliver services.

Our Future Prosperity Hinges On The Health Of Our Cities

2009-12-02T11:29:00.000-08:00

By: Morena Vattuone

As just another regular person trying to find a way to make ends meet, I’m often disillusioned by what seems like diluted policy “solutions” that really won’t be effective in solving any of our problems. More and more, I’m starting to realize that to wait for government to solve 100% of our problems, is to agree to wait, well, forever. And perhaps the whole notion of government solving everything on its own, is, well, a bit unfair.

The bottom-line is that we have to get involved. It’s not a matter of pulling ourselves up by our proverbial bootstraps, it’s more a matter of coordinating with our neighbors, schools, friends, and family to create a network of people that are looking out for the personal and collective interest—hmmmmm, some may actually call it, the community interest.

Last year the President said to the nation’s mayors at their annual conference, “We need to promote strong cities as the backbone of regional growth….we also need to stop seeing our cities as the problem and start seeing them as the solution…strong cities are the building blocks of strong regions, and strong regions are essential for a strong America…”

And on February 19, 2009, Obama signed an executive order establishing the Office of Urban Affairs. This demonstrated that the current administration recognizes cities and metropolitan areas as dynamic engines for our economy.

For the first time in history, the majority of the world’s population lives in cities. By the middle of this century, this figure will likely grow by 37 percent. In the United States, 83 percent of people and 85 percent of jobs are located in the nation’s 363 metro areas. Beyond the numbers, the overwhelming majority of the nation’s assets — airports, hospitals, universities, financial institutions, infrastructure, manufacturing plants — are concentrated in metropolitan regions and generate almost 90 percent of the nation’s economic production.

The President recognizes that the true experts of how to plan for the future prosperity of our cities and metro areas are the people in communities who have figured out how to rebuild neighborhoods, build businesses, educate their kids, make their communities safe, clean up the environment, or come up with the latest technological or scientific innovation, in spite of government.

The President says that “Washington can’t solve all our problems…change in this country comes not from the top-down, but from the bottom up.” President Obama believes that government should serve to support American ingenuity and creativity.

I don’t want this to be a list of Obama quotes. What I do want is for us to acknowledge that although government plays a crucial role in the health of our cities, the onus equally falls on us to do some of the heavy-lifting as well, to help us move past the current economic and social hardships.

Washington certainly can be a partner and catalyst for community-based solutions, instead of a bureaucratic obstacle. Our cities and neighborhoods are places of opportunity, we just need to partner with our local leaders, and one another, to make the changes we want to see.

GCV Graduation

2009-11-19T14:19:00.000-08:00

A lot has happened in the past couple months. Amongst the more notable things, includes the completion of GoodCompany Ventures program. For the last few months, we have been participating in the GoodCompany Ventures’ incubator program. The curriculum included expert speaker panels, tailored strategic and industry advisers, and information sessions aimed at providing these companies with the resources they need to maximize growth. The ten businesses received training and mentorship at GoodCompany Ventures, and it culminated with a final pitch event. On Thursday, September 17th GoodCompany Ventures hosted a Gala Venture Fair to mark the culmination of the 2009 social business incubator. The Venture Fair was sponsored by Blank Rome LLP, Investors' Circle and RSF Social Finance. One of the feature speakers was Karen Randal of the Philadelphia Department of Commerce, an investor pitch session, and an evening networking event. For more information, check out their site at: www.goodcompanyventures.org

Since the final pitch event, we've been talking with cities and vigorously developing the website. We're planning on launching the front end website within the next few weeks, so hold on to those community requests and get ready to submit them! To stay in tune, sign up for our mailing list here.

As always, if you guys have any questions, suggestions or feedback about our development, let us know at ps@publicstuff.net

Previous Blog Entries

2009-07-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

Summer of involvement, 5/20/09
Thanks to everyone who has helped us prepare for the NetSquared N2Y4 Conference next week. For those of you who can’t make it out to the conference, you can follow the projects here:
http://www.netsquared.org/blog/amy-sample-ward/follow-n2y4-online-everything-you-need-package

It’s been great working with the team at NetSquared and the other projects. The past few weeks have been a great example of how online technology can be used towards creating effective collaborations. The NetSquared team used wiki’s, mp3 recording, videos and more to communicate weekly tasks, expectations and support networks.

I also wanted to let you all know about our Summer of Coding for Good program. Since we’ve completed the demo product, we’re looking for programmers/engineers/designers to help us in coding the prototype. The application deadline for the program is June 12. Check out more information here.

And if you can’t help yourself, help us spread the word! Thanks again guys, and wish us luck!

Thank you! 4/20/09
So, we were voted into the top 14 projects in the recent NetSquared Mobile Application Competition. And we couldn’t have done it without every single one of your votes. So seriously, thank you!

We will be going out to beautiful California at the end of May to give a presentation at the NetSquared Conference. And the top 3 projects from the conference, will get funding!

For those of you who are interested in technology development that has a positive social impact, I would definitely suggest checking out the conference. The conference is a two-day meeting that brings together the minds of unlikely allies from different professional fields including: leaders in philanthropy, corporate philanthropy, engineering, media and world-class innovators driving the development, distribution and use of social technologies for progressive change. Check it out here:
http://www.netsquared.org/conference/n2y4/

Do you have a great idea on what we should include in our presentation? Email us: ps@publicstuff.org

Please support our idea by voting for us by this FRIDAY. Here are the steps to vote:

Yet another competition! 4/7/09
Has it really been a month since our last entry?! Well, we’ve done so much in the past few weeks, including discussions with potential collaborators, developing our strategy and beginning the proto-type. Yes, yes, a real prototype already!

For those of you who supported us in the Startup Nation Competition, thank you! We were voted #4 out of over 90 entries!

We enjoyed it so much that we’re trying another competition for mobile applications that create a positive social impact. And in our case, we will be creating a mobile application that works in tandem with publicstuff.org for all your cool iPhones and Blackberry’s, that will allow you to submit service and informational requests as they happen.

See a missing street sign? Want to request bulk garbage pick-up? Want to know how many of your neighbors have also reported excessive speeding on your street? Well, you can do all this and more on the go, through our phone application!

Please support our idea by voting for us by this FRIDAY. Here are the steps to vote:

Create an account at: www.netsquared.org
Check your email for the account confirmation message, and use the link in the email to log in.
Visit the PublicStuff page at: http://www.netsquared.org/projects/publicstuff-craigslist-local-government-interaction?destination=node/58163
Fill your ballot by clicking on “VOTE FOR MY PROJECT" Badge at the top of the PublicStuff page. You need to add at least 3 projects to your ballot, before you can submit your ballot.
Add 2 more projects to your ballot by going to the right side and clicking on the “Gallery” link. From here repeat step 4 & 5 to vote for 2 more projects.
Submit your ballot by clicking on the “CAST BALLOT” link. Remember that you will only see this link when you have added 3 projects to your ballot.

I know that the voting process seems complicated, but I tried it out on my less tech savvy friends, and it only took 5 minutes! (For more detailed voting instructions, visit: http://www.netsquared.org/n2y4/vote)

Keep your fingers crossed for us, or better yet, get your family, friends and co-workers to also vote for us! Bottom up innovation and mobile interactions-- that's something we can all sink our teeth into. Support us and get back to local!

Startup Nation Pitch Competition, 4/3/09
Yesterday we submitted a proposal to the Startup Nation Elevator Pitch 2009 Competition. The competition allows entrepreneurs across the nation to submit a two minute long “elevator pitch” online. These pitches can be in the form of a video or audio pitch, and can be supported with a brief written description.

An elevator pitch is pretty self explanatory. It references a moment you may have with a potential investor in an elevator where you have an opportunity to deliver a brief, yet compelling pitch for your business. The execution of an elevator pitch, however, is not as straight-forward. The delivery of a successful pitch is indeed an art; it has several different varieties, and will change depending on who your audience is. So, I encourage you to check out the proposals at Startup Nation to see the different approaches. Five winners will be selected, and these companies will have the opportunity to present their business model to the investors.

And of course, everyone at PublicStuff encourages you to vote for our video. You can vote once per day, so if you really believe in the work we’re doing, vote often!  VOTE FOR PUBLICSTUFF HERE!

And as always, our doors are open, so please let us know what you think!

Project Development Website, 2/3/09
This entry marks the official launch of our project development website! PublicStuff.org is an online portal that will connect people with their local governments. We are currently in the planning and development stage, and will be using this site to provide updates on where we are and what we are doing!

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Lily Liu and I’m the founder of PublicStuff.org. I have years of experience working in local government and NGO’s worldwide, and understand both the need and challenges behind increasing civic participation, transparency and accountability for local governments.

Our team at PublicStuff is committed to successfully launching our pilot program. But we’re going to need your input and support-- so please feel free to contact us and sign up for our email notifications.