I spent today running my first analytic over a dataset populated by text of readings that the team has collected since we started our topical research, totalling 54058 words or about 136 pages of single spaced text. The readings are Civic Tech or innovation, technology, and business related, some critical, some in support, some distributed specifically by Microsoft. With the very generous advice and help of my research colleague Professor Dale MacDonald, I constructed a Python script that looked over the data set for key terms I felt were interesting in describing the Civic Tech phenomenon. My data set and results were the following:
===== Political Terms ====
The text was searched for the following terms:
Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Communist, Socialist, Marxism, government, liberal, conservative, politics, political, oversight, regulation.
===== Business Terms ====
The text was searched for the following terms:
Innovation, bottom line, profit, market, capitalism, free market, monetization, open source, sharing economy, economy, data.
===== Social Terms ====
The text was searched for the following terms:
Community, education, health, equality, inequality, low income, under served, privacy, social capital, Big Brother, excitement, concern, sharing, trust, distrust, determinism, feminism, justice.
===== Top Ten Results from all Terms =====
===== Totals Across All Categories =====
=====Dataset=====
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_87.htm#.VNvsVtTN-I8
Description of Civic Tech initiative – cites mistrust in local government as catalyst
http://www.watershed.co.uk/playablecity/overview
Alternate take on civic tech
Describes how as income inequality has risen, trust in government/private sector has dwindled
https://hbr.org/2015/03/reaching-the-rich-worlds-poorest-consumers
Bottom up approach to research and development
Critique on what it is that big data has to offer, warning on how data is interpreted
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/28/the_terrifying_smart_city_of_the_future_partner/
Critical of smart cities – that the market can fix anything
http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/04/25/civic-engagement-in-the-digital-age/
Online civic engagement via social media sites
http://www.newamerica.org/oti/civic-innovation-beyond-civic-technology/
“Technology alone does not cause change, we do”
Civic hacking as powerful form of political participation
http://blog.microsoftnewengland.com/category/civic-tech/
MS blog of activity in New England
http://microsoftnewyork.com/category/civic-tech/
MS blog of activity in New York
http://www.thecityasinterface.com/ (chp 1)
Urban media shaped by mobile interfaces
===== Initial Analysis =====
I find it interesting that throughout all the articles, there is only generic mention of government, very little direct reference to specific American political parties or terms, strange as we are talking about Civic Tech (an implication of civic implies some type of identifiable political organization). Of course the term innovation is mentioned quite heavily across all the articles, but very few market based media jargon terms are used. Within these readings it would seem that the Civic Tech initiative may want to distance itself from the market, even though its application(s) could, hypothetically, be monetized. This could have something to do with trust (a term which is mentioned relatively frequently). The social terms are what I find really, really interesting. Across our articles there is an obvious emphasis on community, and the term trust somewhat. But when you refine the terms towards specific community issues, a few jump out like health and education, while terms like inequality, equality, low income and underserved aren’t really discussed. The term data is mentioned quite heavily, yet terms surrounding concerns regarding data (such as privacy, or even the word concern) are not.
I plan on doing another analytic as the data set grows, but I feel as if the team is beginning to be able to map out some type of Theory of Change with respect to Microsoft’s Civic Tech initiative. More on that soon…
