Hi, I’m Laurenellen. In the summer of 2014, I started thinking and writing about the concept of “build with, not for” in civic technology. Inspired by design thinking leaders like Lucy Kimbell, relational organizing masterminds like Grace Lee Boggs and Saul Alinsky, and heavily influenced by my experience as an organizer with the DC Funk Parade and my years of work at the Sunlight Foundation as the National Policy Manager, I became convinced that we need to invest more in the “civic” in civic tech — prioritizing community leadership and stewardship in the lifecycle of public interest technology.
This page is a collection of outputs, resources, and influences. A roadmap for continued investigation and connection.
Curious to talk more, contribute a resource, highlight a project or tactical guide, or otherwise get in touch? You can email me here or tweet at @elle_mccann.
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UPDATE: NEW PUBLICATION!
Just released: Experimental Modes of Civic Engagement in Civic Tech (book) is an investigation of needs-responsive, community-led approaches to building civic technology, funded by the Chicago Community Trust through the Knight Foundation Community Information Challenge.
Available for free here or purchase a hard copy via Amazon.
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FURTHER READING
- So You Want to Run a Hackathon? Think Again. [Medium]
- Technology Should: A People’s Technology Project at the DC Funk Parade [New America]
- Civic Innovation Beyond Civic Technology [New America]
- Busting the Buzzword: Social Impact and Civic Innovation [New America]
- The Myth of Everybody [Medium]
- Building for Inclusive Community Participation: Meeting Residents Where They Are [Code for America Summit 2014]
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- No More Trickle Down Civic Tech [Medium]
- Crafting #Civic Tech [Medium]
- Five Kinds of Listening for Technologists and Communities [Medium]
- Experimental Modes of Civic Engagement in Civic Technology [Smart Chicago Collaborative]
- New Project: Experimental Modes of Civic Engagement in Civic Tech [Smart Chicago]
- No Revolution Without Reflection [Medium]
- People First, Tech Second: 5 Criteria for Community-Driven Civic Tech [Smart Chicago Collaborative]
- Building Community and Engagement Around Data [Medium]
- 5 Modes of Civic Engagement in Civic Tech [Smart Chicago]
- How-To Build Civic Engagement in Civic Tech #1: Use Existing Social Structures
- How-To Build Civic Engagement in Civic Tech #2: Use Existing Tech Structures
- How-To Build Civic Engagement in Civic Tech #3: Create Two-Way Educational Environments
- How-To Build Civic Engagement in Civic Tech #4: Lead from Shared Spaces
- How-To Build Civic Engagement in Civic Tech #5: Distribute Power
- Building Technology With, Not For Communities: An Engagement Guide for Civic Tech [Medium]
- Tomorrow: Convening on Experimental Modes — an overview of a meeting the “unusual suspects” of civic tech I organized at the Chicago Community Trust in April 2015
- Show Your Work: Submit a Civic Tech Case Study [Smart Chicago]
- Before you came to this room, did you think of your work as “civic tech”? [Smart Chicago]
- Active Listening 101 for Civic Tech [Smart Chicago]
- Real-World Civic Tech Strategies [Smart Chicago]
- Where does community organizing end and civic tech begin? [Smart Chicago]
- But What is ‘Civic’? [Civicist]
- Tools, Not Tech [Smart Chicago]
- Meet People Where They Are: New Analysis on the Top Best Practices in #CivicTech, According to the People Who Do the Work [Smart Chicago]
- On Participat*ing* [BuildWith.org]
- The Problem With Inclusion [BuildWith.org]
- This Is What Democracy Sounds Like [The Weekly Wonk]
- A More Verdant Civic Process [Civicist]
- Experimental Modes of Civic Engagement in Civic Tech: Meet People Where They Are [Book]
- On Technology and Bias: Why We Don’t Have a Facebook Safety Check for Beirut [BuildWith.org]
- Free Geek: Techno Recycling! (Case study) [(Re)Building Technology Zine, Vol. 2]