On Saturday March 4 2017, BetaNYC presents the 2017 New York City School of Data conference – a day-long showcase of New York City’s open data ecosystem, innovative users, and a showcase of civic technology. The main track will be streamed live on the BetaNYC YouTube Channel.
View on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2zqPl67aLXA
Homepage: https://schoolofdata.nyc/
Schedule: https://schoolofdata.nyc/schedule
Twitter: #nycSoData
Facebook: #nycSoData
On Tuesday May 19 2015 the NYC Commission on Public Information and Communication (COPIC), Chaired by Public Advocate Letitia James held a hearing at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) focused on the City’s compliance with Local Law 103 of 2013, sponsored by then Council Member Gale Brewer, which requires the webcasting of public meetings. The hearing was be webcast on both the BMCC Livestream Channel and the Internet Society Livestream Channel. Video is below.
View on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mnJ11238DbM
Transcribe on AMARA: http://www.amara.org/en/videos/kveIpG4EW1mR/
Twitter: @copicnyc | #locallaw103
On October 17 2014 Microsoft Civic hosted Professor Stephen Goldsmith, director of Data-Smart City Solutions at Harvard Kennedy School, and Professor Susan Crawford, co-director of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society discussing their book, The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance. Moderator was John Paul Farmer, Director of Technology & Civic Innovation, Microsoft. Themes: How can emerging technologies and data analytics improve life in our cities? How do we enshrine democratic discourse and citizen input even as urban processes become more automated? Video is below:
View on YouTube: http://youtu.be/l5CYBrfds34
Transcribe on AMARA: http://www.amara.org/en/videos/9p6pnUsqTaZ8/
Twitter: #theresponsivecity
Today, Wednesday September 10 2014, the ISOC-NY TV show will present an edited version of Reinvent Albany Executive Director John Kaehny‘s talk The Future of New York State’s Open Government at the BetaNYC meetup on September 3 2014. Video of the entire talk is posted below.
What: ISOC-NY TV Show – John Kaehny -Net Neutrality & the Politics Of Entrepreneurship
Where: Manhattan Neighborhood Network
When: Wednesday September 10 2pm-3pm EDT | 1800-1900 UTC
Manhattan Cable: TWC 56 / 1996 | RCN 83 | FiOS 34
Webcast: http://www.mnn.org/live/2-lifestyle-channel
View on YouTube: http://youtu.be/e5Ox-ynT3HU
Transcribe on AMARA: http://www.amara.org/en/videos/c9fd3sAqX0ea
Today, Wednesday March 26 2014, the ISOC-NY TV show will present an edited version of the Resident Engagement panel at the Smart Law for Smart Cities conference on February 28 2014. The panel examines, with case studies, new methods of online civic engagement. The show, which airs from 2-3pm, may be viewed via Manhattan Cable or online via the MNN website.
What: ISOC-NY TV Show – Resident Engagement in Smart Cities conference
Where: Manhattan Neighborhood Network
When: Wednesday March 26 2014 2pm-3pm EDT | 1900-2000 UTC
Manhattan Cable: TWC 56 / 1996 | RCN 83 | FiOS 34
Webcast: http://www.mnn.org/live/2-lifestyle-channel
In 2007 Gale Brewer, then Chair of the NYC Council Committee of Technology, introduced a law to amend the City Constitution to require webcasting of all City public meetings. This law applies to the Council, Committees, City Agencies, and Task Forces. The law – 2013-103 – was approved unaniminously by the council on November 14 2013, and signed into law by Mayor Bloomberg on December 2 2013, including a budget of $230k in 2014, and $100k/annum thereafter. The law gives the City 90 days to implement, which time is up on March 1 2014 – this Sunday. On Monday February 24 2014 the Committee, now chaired by Council Member James Vacca, held a public hearing for oversight of the implementation process, in the form of a report by Jeff Merritt from the Mayor’s office. Furthermore, Council Member Vacca and some colleagues have introduced a new law – Int 0028 – that will require Community Boards to also webcast their proceedings, so this hearing was an opportunity for public input on that topic. Speakers included Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, representatives of several Community Boards, and public interest groups Citizen’s Union and Reinvent Albany. The last word came from ISOC-NY’s own Joly MacFie, who emphasized flexibilty and the need for transcripts. Video is below, click through to YouTube for an index. A transcript should be available in a day or two.
View on YouTube: http://youtu.be/OtaW_jylwmQ
Twitter: @NYCCouncil
Today, Wednesday January 1 2014, the ISOC-NY TV show will present an edited version of Steven Clift’s talk New Voices – The Civic Technology and Open Government Opportunity, recorded at the UNDP on December 18 2013. Clift discusses whether growing open government and civic technology will ironically lead to greater concentration of power among fewer, often similar voices or will more open government and community engagement online lead to better government decisions, stronger communities and more problem-solving? The show, which airs from 2-3pm, may be viewed via Manhattan Cable or online via the MNN website.
What: ISOC-NY TV Show – .NYC Public Workshop and Info Session
Where: Manhattan Neighborhood Network
When: Wednesday January 1 2014 2pm-3pm EDT | 1900-2000 UTC
Manhattan Cable: TWC 56 / 1996 | RCN 83 | FiOS 34
Webcast: http://www.mnn.org/live/2-lifestyle-channel
On a brief visit to NYC civic technology leader Steven Clift, a White House Champion of Change for Open Government, at short notice set up a presentation – New Voices – The Civic Technology and Open Government Opportunity at the UNDP offices on December 18 2013. At issue is whether growing open government and civic technology will ironically lead to greater concentration of power among fewer, often similar voices or will more open government and community engagement online lead to better government decisions, stronger communities and more problem-solving? Clift highlighted myth-busting research from the Pew Internet and American Life project and shared unique highlights from E-Democracy’s BeNeighbors.org initiative that is designed to foster local neighborhood engagement online that builds bridges across income, race, and native-born and immigrant communities. Video is below:
View on YouTube: http://youtu.be/cHt9K-04IcQ
Transcribe on AMARA: http://www.amara.org/en/videos/YkwSWEatPchw/
Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/netclift/new-voices-the-civic-technology-and-open-government-opportunity
Twitter: @democracy | #edem
On August 1 2013 the 21st Century Democracy & Technology Meetup hosted a NYC Civic Tech Demo Night at Tipping Point Partners NYC. Introducing the night was Tipping Points founder and CEO Art Chang, who revealed a forthcoming expanded collaboration – a “tech campus” – between his firm, New York Law School, and other institutions.
Presenting first was FundElevator, a new crowdfunding platform for both causes and politicians that will have its soft launch in the next few days.
The second was NYC Votes. Art Chang is also the Chair of NYC Voter Assistance Advisory Committee(VAAC), part of the NYC Campaign Finance Board‘s (CFB) Voter Assistance Unit, as reconstituted by the 2010 Charter Commission. The CFB has three primary mandates: administering the Campaign Finance Program, publishing the Voter Guide, and overseeing the Debate Program. The CFB provides easily accessible and comprehensive information on candidates’ campaign finance and works to make candidates and elected officials more responsive to New York City citizens, rather than special interests, by reducing the opportunity for campaign contributors to influence candidates and elected officials and by providing a means for credible candidates who might not have access to “big money” to run competitive campaigns via a matching funds program. To assist in this purpose the VAAC spawned the 21st Century Democracy project which in turn spawned a Digital Action Working Group of leading local techies,namely AppOrchard, Method, and Pivotal Labs, who set to work on creating an app – NYC Votes – to help achieve the CFP’s purpose. NYC Votes is aimed to provide the complete voting experience from registering to vote, to learning about the candidates, to funding candidates (thereby gaining them 6x NYC matching funds), to casting a vote at the poll site on Election Day. The app is scheduled to go live on Aug 7 2013 at the New York Tech Meetup. This night was something of a dress rehearsal for that.
View on YouTube: http://youtu.be/GFB90PvU4OQ
Transcribe on AMARA: http://www.amara.org/en/videos/uH601JQul4ez/
Twitter: #civictech | #nycvotes
Speakers:
Art Chang – Chair, NYC Voter Assistance Advisory Committee
Mickey Costa – CEO, FundElevator
James Schuler – CTO, FundElevator
Amy M. Loprest – Executive Director, NYC Campaign Finance Board
Rusty Munro – Creative Director, Method
Michael Schubert – Managing Director, NYC, Pivotal Labs
Michael Carlson – Product Manager, AppOrchard
BetaNYC is the latest incarnation of the ever-evolving NYC Open Government working group formerly known as Open NY Forum, whose original policy concepts have successfully been adopted and launched by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The group is now sponsored by, and incorporated as a local ‘brigade’ of, the Code for America organization (CfA) – a national effort partly funded by the same Kauffman Foundation that supports HackNY. CfA funds a full-time director (Noel Hidalgo) for BetaNYC, which organizes monthly #BetaTalk presentations, weekly #CivicHackNights, and occasional #GovGeek socials. CfA itself presents further opportunities – it has an accelerator program for civic startups, also awards fellowships, and funds worthy local projects. At this meetup there was comprehensive introduction to CfA and its activities, including fellow Ezra Spiers presenting on a NYC Project to improve the city’s Criminal Justice system. CfA volunteer Veronica Ludwig talked about the NYC BigApps challenge, in which #BetaNYC actively participates. Video is below.