Welcome to Civic Insighter! đ
This blog will cover a range of topics related to the âpublic sphereââparticularly government and policy, but also cities, design, education, languages, travel, and more.
You can expect to see a mix of commentary, stories, hot takes, proposals, observations, and interviews, among other things. I hope you will find it insightful and thought-provoking, and encourage you to participate in the comments!
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About me
I currently work as an independent consultant, consulting for Nava Public Benefit Corporation.
Most recently I worked at Code for America, where I was leading efforts to support public servants with resources and training on the organizationâs principles and practices for how government can and should serve the public in the digital age.
Past work has included a range of both strategic and technical roles at Results for America and the Sunlight Foundation as part of the What Works Cities initiative, which helps local governments improve peopleâs lives by using data and evidence to tackle pressing challenges. This included managing expansion of the Certification program to Latin America. Prior work supported governments and community organizations in Rhode Island.
I have also been involved in the volunteer civic-technology scene, including spending several years running Code for DC, now known as Civic Tech DC.
In my free timeâbesides writing this blogâI am passionate about language learning (currently focused on Russian, French, Arabic, and Turkish, and already speak Spanish and Portuguese) and traveling to obscure countries.
Other writing
Below is a selection of past writing of mine, mostly from my professional life:
Code for America
Why Government Websites Often Struggle to Meet Peopleâs Needs
Fixing âClunkyâ Approaches to Government Software Development
GovLoop
In 2023 I was selected as a Featured Contributor for GovLoop, writing a series of 12 posts providing tips on how public servants can incorporate human-centered design and related principles into their work. Some highlights:
Use âJourney Mapsâ to Understand and Improve Peopleâs Interactions with Public Services
To Help the Public, Give Your Own Staff Better Digital Tools
Combined Applications Can Help Bring a Human-Centered Approach to Public Services
When the âWrongâ Words Can Help People Find the Right Services
Testing Different Versions of Language can Improve Your Communications
Sunlight / What Works Cities
See all 17 posts here. Some highlights:
Learn how to incorporate user testing into open data projects
Critical questions on âsmart cityâ tech: Continuing a conversation from Code for America 2019
Our new Roadmap to Informed Communities offers tools for community-centered open data
Introducing a new one-stop shop for writing open data policy
Old personal blog
National parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and other lands: Whatâs the difference?
How frequently does transit need to run? It depends on distance
Name, logo, and images
The âInsighterâ part of âCivic Insighterâ was partially inspired by Daniel Herszbergâs Travel Insighter. Check it out!
The logo was generated by Substackâs AI. I gave it a bunch of words related to the theme and then this was one of the options it created.
You are welcome to share and reuse the graphics that I createâwithout needing to ask me for permissionâas long you include the part of the image that has my logo, name, and URL! For photos that I took, please ask me for permission and then credit me. For images from other sources, check the individual image rights and ask their creators if necessary.