Had the pleasure of meeting Matt and John Paul at Microsoft New York to begin the dialogue about our Civic Tech project. Both are knowledgable and passionate about their work. John Paul mentioned that Microsoft New York is looking to work collaboratively and deeply within non-profit, community, and hacker communities to address 21st century problems like access to health care, education, access to food, disaster response, and general community well-being. Matt and John Paul gave us a tour of their facility, letting us know that at different times during the year, student researchers are there working on various unguided research projects. Looks as if we will be one of those student groups. What strikes me most about our first engagement with Matt and John Paul is how open everything seems to be. Matt tells us that we can develop any project that we want. (VERY, VERY EXCITING but also a little nebulous, how do we narrow it down?) John Paul tells us that non-traditional players matter, something that resonates with me, being a self-identified hacker. In all honesty, it’s something I never expected to hear from anyone affiliated with Microsoft, but it is refreshing. I have no idea what we should build, but know that I want to do something that people in underserved communities can benefit from. I also want to know how Civic Tech or data analytics can benefit these communities. Matt and John Paul will point us in the right direction in terms of organizations doing interesting work in underserved communities utilizing data-analytics. We’ll look to contact them.
