Having gone through a couple of iterations of my website, the third of which you can see >HERE< , I believe I’m very close now to the look and feel that I’m seeking in presenting the work as a final deliverable. In building this site from scratch ( I didn’t want to use WordPress ) I was inspired by the look and feel of two sites in particular, my first two iterations were inspired by MIT’s Docubase , while my latest iteration was inspired by Design Driven City.
In our last class I had a very interesting talk with Michele about the overall purpose of my final deliverable, where several key ideas emerged in terms of usability and target audience. Michele posed several questions that have fine-tuned the design direction and presentation of my project. Instead of presenting this only to those within the Civic Tech community, Michele suggested that in presenting a collection of civic tech experiments, perhaps my project could function more as a tool that community organizers could use to familiarize themselves with data analysis, and the potentials of that analysis towards their achieving insights that may help their cause. She asked me to consider questions in terms of how users would engage my project, and how I may pass this on to my partner, or onto community organizations who I have been in touch with.
In describing the design of my latest iteration, I can say that I am attempting to build an experience at different levels of immersion, while still communicating the core intellectual arguments that I am positing (namely, if “civic tech” is in fact civic, it needs to be more accessible to everyone, not just those already with more access to technology). I would like a user to walk away from this site knowing more about civic tech and the opportunities of data analysis after 2 minutes of interaction. Beyond that, if the user choses to engage this site more deeply, it is my hope they’ll be able to understand the opportunities data analysis could afford their work, as well as how this analysis could benefit their community, or even on a personal level. Ideally, if a user chooses to invest a prolonged period of time with my deliverable, they’ll have a well rounded understanding of civic tech, their relationship to technology and data, as well as challenges and opportunities that may relate specifically to themselves or their communities in relation to the civic and technology. Essentially, (and perhaps differently from my original intention) I am introducing alot of things in this site to a potential user. That user could end their experience with the site having been introduced to new terms and web-based applications, where that would be a successful introductory engagement in my opinion.
I have chosen to focus alot of my research this semester on the community of the South Bronx, where I understand that access to home computing is limited. My site is meant to be able to be easily viewed on mobile devices, as well as desktop machines. In addition to providing the site in a format accessible via various devices, I have also made the site available in different languages to assist those where English is not their first language.
I feel good as I continue to iterate over this project, but I’m reminded that technology alone cannot solve all the problems a community faces.
Where the values and morals of the Civic Tech initiative (as I understand them) and mine seem to intersect is that tech can assist (in varying degrees) towards solving localized problems. However, our ideals seem to diverge when considering how to address issues facing access to technology, while considering the economic and social factors that lead to this divide, or further considering if it is even a responsibility of the Civic Tech initiative to address these matters. Considering all these factors and issues, larger questions emerge. How do we (all those who consider themselves part of the civic, which technically is everyone) best empower resilient communities that face more challenges than others? Is this solution market based, social infrastructure based, or a combination of both? How does technology play into this solution?
I see the Civic Tech initiative as a potent first step in addressing these concerns, but that there is still much work to be done that addresses inclusivity. Inclusivity is a vital ingredient in all matters of the civic.
