Bring it back, that old Civic Hack

Monday, August 26, 2013 - By Zack Beatty - No comments

Following up on the success of the CT Civic Hackathon we hosted on June 1st (blog recap), we're hosting a more casual Civic Hack Night on Wednesday, August 28th.

DETAILS:

  • The first 30 minutes will feature a brief presentation (speaker TBD) on a civic dataset and data visualization, followed by a Q&A.
  • The remainder of the meetup will be an open format. This is not a hackathon: no demos, presentations or judging.
  • This is a technology/language/platform/tool-agnostic meetup. Develop in/on anything.
  • Designers are welcome, encouraged and needed! Think infographics, DataViz, etc.
  • Theme: we encourage any type of civic-related hacking, such as projects that utilize the read/write #Open311 standard, #OpenData sources, or #OpenGov initiatives. Here are a few relevant datasets to get you started:
  • There will be pizza & beer.  NB: if you have gluten-free and vegan needs, please email me ahead of time.
RSVP on the New Haven IO meetup, where you can also share other datasets, or any project ideas/plans. 

Hope to see you there!

-Zack

ps. Nice job catching the KRS-One reference in the title (famously sampled by Beastie Boys on "Alive").

ICYMI: Official Announcement of SeeClickFix and Chula Vista!

Thursday, August 15, 2013 - By Anonymous - No comments

We've just gotten our hands on the official announcement of the brand new partnership between the City of Chula Vista, California and yours truly. Check out the announcement (and screenshot of the app) below!

Chula Vista Launches SeeClickFix

As you’re driving through your neighborhood, you spot an ugly pothole. Wouldn’t you love to be able to report it as soon as you see it? Now, in the City of Chula Vista, you can do just that! The new feature, called SeeClickFix, allows residents to submit requests for non-emergency service via mobile application and web tool. Issues can be reported using a widget on the City website , City Facebook page (ChulaVistaCity), Twitter (#@ThinkChulaVista), or with a free phone app (for iPhone and Android devices, search for SeeClickFix on Google Play Store or iTunes).

Just a few examples of issues that can be reported using SeeClickFix include graffiti, pothole, dead animal, malfunctioning traffic signal, and abandoned vehicle. Requests reported through SeeClickFix can provide location, description and photographic information regarding the problem. The new service is available in different languages and requests can be submitted anonymously. Residents also can report issues to Public Works at (619) 379-6000 and these issues will be added to the SeeClickFix database.

SeeClickFix allows citizens to not only report the non-emergency issues, but to monitor them as well. Once the issue is documented with SeeClickFix, the reporting citizen will receive a notification and tracking number. The request is then automatically forwarded to the appropriate department. Once the issue is addressed, the status will be updated and posted on SeeClickFix. City staff will monitor SeeClickFix during normal business hours.

The new system eliminates the same request being submitted multiple times and allows staff to work more efficiently by filtering requests regarding type, status or department assigned. In the near future, SeeClickFix in Chula Vista will also be adding a FAQ on common questions about Chula Vista. SeeClickFix is strictly for non-emergency services and any emergency should still be reported to 911.
Posted: August 15,2013 via City of Chula Vista

Two (Awesome) New Members of the SeeClickFix Family!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - By Anonymous - 1 comment

Today, we are excited to announce two new SeeClickFix partners. In case you don't follow us on Twitter, you may not have heard that both launched early this week, adding a new partner on each side of the country.

          

With over 200,000 residents, Chula Vista adds to our many awesome partners in California--not to mention at time of launch tons of already-active members.

Stockbridge, Georgia is a great city in the Atlanta metropolitan area, and another Georgia partner we couldn't be more excited about, who've already gotten started reporting neighborhood issues.

Stay tuned here for more info on these two new friends of SeeClickFix, and if you have any questions in the meantime please don't hesitate to contact us.

SeeClickFix, Sinkholes & Stats

Monday, August 12, 2013 - By Anonymous - No comments

We've written about reporting sinkholes--hopefully before they get bad--on SeeClickFix. While this is not new to the site, it's an important reminder that being engaged doesn't mean just reporting graffiti and parking meters. 

We know a lot of times these events happen with no noticeable warning, but in many cases holes, dips, and fissures can be documented before anything really bad occurs--and many cities want to receive them!

The sudden formation of a sinkhole in Florida today fortunately ended without human damage, but it's a healthy reminder that up to 20% of the United States alone are areas susceptible to sinkhole damage.

This heatmap shows areas of the continental U.S. potentially affected.

Compare this to the map of sinkhole issues reported on SeeClickFix (zoom in for more detail):



To see sinkholes reported already, click here. You can report sinkholes, potholes, and other issues via SeeClickFix mobile apps or on the web.

Using SeeClickFix to Meet All of Your Workflow Management Needs

Friday, August 9, 2013 - By Anonymous - No comments

We’ve recently created a series of videos that further explain how SeeClickFix can be used to best serve your governments, cities and citizens.

Departmental Management: Through our hosted CRM platform, your city can experience greater departmental organization and workflow management by routing requests to the appropriate field officer or department:




Route Requests to Counties: Do you need to route requests to a specific county or district within your city or town? SeeClickFix is the perfect solution to simplify issue distribution and workflow management using location-based technology:




Field Apps: Our new Field App solution allows distinctive departments within one municipality to report and address issues directly from the field - minus the paper, the computer, and the hassle. See a couch on the side of the street, but don’t have time to write down the issue? Simply open the Trash field app and select “couch.” The app captures your geographic location and the issue associated with your location:





The Open Source Path to Civic Geekdom

Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - By Anonymous - 1 comment

The following is a book review written by very cool SeeClickFix user Mickey Mercier. 

Jason Hibbets adds some fresh spice to the open-government stew with his new book The Foundation for an Open Source City, which contends that municipalities, residents, and business can benefit from applying open-source software principles to governance.

A marketing manager at Linux distributor Red Hat in the North Carolina Research Triangle, Hibbets documents how the philosophies of open-source software were embraced by the Raleigh, NC city government.

The book describes the efforts of the author and his collaborators – local officials, citizens, civic geeks, programmers and business leaders to improve transparency, participation and economic development in the North Carolina capital (population 423,000). Hibbets hopes Raleigh will become the open-source capital of the world.

Like so many others before him, Hibbets’ epiphany on civic participation came when he asked his city for help with a seemingly simple quality-of-life issue. His odyssey to get a section of road paved continued for 1,317 days – more time than it took to write the book!

Read the rest of the review after the jump. 

Meet John: New Addition to the SeeClickFix Team!

Monday, August 5, 2013 - By Anonymous - 3 comments


My name is John Murphy, and after four years serving in the United States Marine Corps as an Intelligence Officer, I am excited to be back in my hometown, joining the SeeClickFix team as a Sales Associate.

It is difficult not to get excited about working here. The innovative projects the team is working on positively shape how citizens and government employees communicate with each other, and how communities (large and small) come together to solve problems and improve their neighborhoods. 

The impact of the SeeClickFix software cannot be measured simply by the thousands of issues opened or closed by users around the world. By allowing citizens to communicate with their government in a transparent manner and to see progress being made on their issues, SeeClickFix empowers citizens to take greater ownership in their community. Because SeeClickFix makes it easier to report issues to one’s government, more issues will be reported and addressed than before. And because SeeClickFix reduces the time and resources governments spend on phone calls and antiquated work order tracking mechanisms, governments can reallocate resources to address other issues.

We can help clients evaluate how much money will be saved by using SeeClickFix, but some things are harder to evaluate. How does one value empowering citizens to be more involved? What is the value of the free time of a city employee? Maybe that empowered citizen will take a more active role in their community, and will positively affect the lives of those around him/her, inspiring his/her neighbors to create similar positive ripple effects in their lives. Maybe that city employee who has more time to apply to other tasks, will be able to find creative solutions to civic issues that have been plaguing his/her city. 

As you can probably tell, I'm a believer in the power of the little things, and I believe that SeeClickFix has the ability to make a lot of little good things happen that will have a big effect on our communities.

Whether you are a civic leader or a citizen, I hope you become a dedicated user of SeeClickFix, and a partner of ours. I believe that a lot of good for your community would come out of that partnership. 

If you are a civic leader interested in learning more about SeeClickFix, please contact us for a demonstration. It would be my pleasure to show you the functionality that SeeClickFix brings to the table.

July SeeClickFix Shoutouts

Thursday, August 1, 2013 - By Anonymous - No comments

Though the Commonwealth Connect mobile application officially launched in June, significant press surfaced over the course of this past month. If you haven't already, check out our post about Commonwealth Connect articles from the month of July. 

The Centre Daily Times ran an article about the recent launch of SeeClickFix in Patton Township, PA.  The reporter interviewed Public Works Director Brent Brubaker, who hailed the presence of additional "eyes and ears" that the town will gain through the mobile application and website. The St. Charles Patch helped add to exiting press about the presence of SeeClickFix in St. Charles, MO with its article titled "5 Things of Note About the SeeClickFix Mobile App." A report about SeeClickFix in Brookhaven, GA, discussed the rapidity with which the Public Works Department acknowledges issues and noted a few types of reports to recently appear on the site. 

The Saratogian, The Telegraph, and The Toronto Star, all ran articles that highlighted the continued use of SeeClickFix in their respective cities. The Saratogian reported that a series of problematic intersections--one of which has been reported on SeeClickFix three times--are to be examined in a $14,700 traffic study approved by the city of Saratoga Springs. The Accounts Commissioner, when discussing the intersection, proclaimed "You fix that corner, there will be a statue of you in the city." Macon, GA is in the process of tearing down abandoned buildings, and plans to increase public feedback with a link to SeeClickFix on the page dedicated to the demolition. The Fixer series in The Toronto Star examined poorly marked street lanes, temporary fencing turned trash receptacle, a hidden fire hydrant, smelly trash cans, and sidewalk holes, all of which were reported on SeeClickFix. 

Finally, we received a brief shoutout in Future Perfect: The Case for Progress in a Networked Age, a book by Steven Johnson.