Ottawa Civic Tech ’s Post

🫵 Do you want to harness the power of community to help scale civic tech in Canada? Civic Tech Fredericton developed this guide for those interested in starting their own groups to tackle civic challenges using technology and design. Check it out for valuable tips and insights on organizing a volunteer community in your area ⬇️⬇️⬇️ #CivicTech #TechForGood #SocialImpactTech

As the #CivicTech tools market is growing, digital solutions streamlining processes are also increasingly diversifying! For example, novoville, a citizen engagement platform, came up with a way to solve specific public sector challenges tied to the maintenance of shared properties in Scotland. Novoville’s Shared Repairs service was created, a digital ecosystem facilitating not only the process of finding traders, but also providing financial forecasting related to this problem. This civic tech tool's functionality is one of the great examples of how digital tools can help solve different types of challenges in the public sphere. 📖 We included Novoville into our catalogue of Civic Tech tools for participation available in Europe, as a part of our Civic Tech Market Report 2025. In the report, you can find more inspiring ideas and case studies of how different tools were used across projects and countries in the world. If you are looking for new ideas on how to streamline or simplify community engagement, or if you are just getting started with public participation and civic tech, our new market report can definitely be inspiring. 🔗 To explore the Report and find out how to get it, please visit: https://lnkd.in/gc95TDjt #civictech #digitalparticipation #civictechmarketreport #participationfactory

🚀 Are you ready to dive deep into the world of Civic Tech? We have some exciting news ahead of us. We have been working hard at developing a first ever comprehensive tech guide for anyone interested in this field. 👀 And what will be served? Let us introduce you our Civic Tech Market Report 2025 - all important information from the field of digital participation at one place: latest trends, case studies, expert insights and overview of 80 tools for digital participation available in the European market. A must-have for governments, practitioners, NGOs, consultant or urban planners - anyone involved in any way in public engagement and democratic innovations. 👉 Pre-sale for early birds with special pricing starts next week! Stay tuned! #civictech #digitalparticipation #civictechmarketreport #participationfactory

Ottawa Civic Tech is back: join us Wednesday September 25 to find a community of technologists, policy wonks, researchers, designers and others interested in building civic good together. https://lnkd.in/eNcCu2AS In short: meet people, listen to guest speaker Dominira Saul on strategic design and problem framing, and then we'll get into a choose-your-own adventure of either a Civic Tech 101 session or joining discussions about civic priorities and/or project groups. This will be session #134 for Ottawa Civic Tech , but the first regular session for the community since a 2020 hiatus and a June reconvening to decide where to take things next - which we'll figure out together over time. Hat tips to organizing team: Leigh-Ann Redmond Brett Tackaberry Valerie Patulot Lucas Cherkewski Ryan Androsoff Susana Guerrero Malavika M. Denise Eisner Damien Middleditch #civictech #ottawacivictech #yowct #ottawa #tech #technology #digital

On #WorldComputerLiteracyDay, let’s work toward a future where digital skills are accessible to everyone! Civic tech can bridge the digital divide and empower communities with the knowledge and tools they need. #DigitalInclusion

Hacknight! 💡 Polis & City Hall: A Match Made in Civic Tech? This Tuesday at Hacknight, we stumbled upon an exciting opportunity! The Polis Group of Civic Tech Toronto may have a chance to pitch our solution to City Hall as part of their digital strategy. Here's why we're optimistic: * Last week, we experimented with a live feed of the City Council meeting alongside a Polis survey. * The City's own livestreaming of the meeting on YouTube for remote participation aligns perfectly with our efforts! * We can also help people participate in public consultations through multiple event locations and times, and enable online participation. We're thrilled to explore opportunities for collaboration with the City of Toronto on their Digital Infrastructure. #CivicTech #Toronto #DigitalStrategy #PublicEngagement

Curious how citizen engagement occurs “across the pond”? This Thursday, join a webinar hosted by Innocode, to learn how Nordic cities are solving a problem cities struggle with here in the USA—citizen engagement. Despite having the tools, many cities face challenges in effectively utilizing digital content and social channels for communication with their citizens. Innocode will share insights from case studies in Västerås, Oslo, and Södertälje, and demonstrate their unique approaches and successes. They’ll also explore: ➡️The common issues cities face with social channels. ➡️How high-interest content from community organizations and real-time data can enrich outbound communication and foster stronger community connections. https://lnkd.in/dt2UAH-v

When digital transformation has left the most basic of services to hours of support calls and dollars lost in poorly designed systems, the question becomes when we’ll revitalize and pour time and capital into products that benefit the public. Civic tech is a remedy, and organizations are approaching the space from various angles: ↗ Code for America infuses policy and service design to improve society and meet community needs ↗ Civilla leverages design to build tools and systems that transform how we interact with assistance applications ↗ Institute for Progress (IFP) analyzes ways to catalyze public-focused innovation ↗ New Media Ventures (NMV) invests in social impact innovation across digital organizing and voting systems 🗳️ Read our full primer on civic tech’s potential here: https://lnkd.in/gMewMp6F

South Florida has the potential to become the next big American tech hub. If only it could address these six challenges. I outline them here in my latest Substack >>

My first exposure to participatory democracy was at work in a Civic Tech company Decision 21. So the topic of #digital participation has a special place in my heart 💙 Until today I continue to actively engage with it. Here are a few of my ground rules to approaching digital participation in my work: 🛠 Civic Tech is NOT a solution to all #engagement problems or a magic wand that can generate high levels of participation. It is merely a tool, and as any other tool it can be used well or not. It’s on you to make sure a Civic Tech tool works. 🔎 First, in order to use the tool well, you need to understand whether you even need a tool. Sometimes you can do things better without it. You don’t use sieve for drinking tea for obvious reasons, similarly you wouldn’t need a proposal making tool for voting. 🐾 If you do use a tool, you also need a clear process and guidelines on when and how to use it. Don’t expect people to know how to engage with it, so craft a user-friendly digital engagement path. It might sound very obvious, yet majority of issues with digital participation stem from disregarding those basic principals. Helping others avoid these mistakes, find the right tools, and run engaging processes online is the driving force beyond our upcoming Civic Tech Report 2025 and I cannot wait to share more information about it in the next days 🤩 What about your experience with Civic Tech? What are the main questions you have and what tips would you like to share? #CivicTech #digitalparticipation #digitalisation