Location: CGIS Knafel K354
This will be a brainstorming session on the ways data and technology can improve local government. The session begins with a presentation by Susan Crawford. Her recent book The Responsive City highlights the promising intersection of government and data through vivid case studies featuring municipal pioneers and big data success stories from Boston, Chicago, New York, and more. She explores topics including:
- Building trust in the public sector and fostering a sustained, collective voice among communities
- Using data-smart governance to preempt and predict problems while improving quality of life
- Creating efficiencies and saving taxpayer money with digital tools
- Spearheading these new approaches to government with innovative leadership
Holly St. Clair will respond and provide a few words about her thoughts and vision for the State of Massachusetts.
Then, the remainder of the session will be spent brainstorming ideas for how data and technology can help improve government. What are some low-hanging opportunities?
Speakers: Susan Crawford is a professor at Harvard Law School and a co-director of the Berkman Center. She is the author of Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age, co-author of The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance, and a contributor to Medium.com’s Backchannel. She served as Special Assistant to the President for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (2009) and co-led the FCC transition team between the Bush and Obama administrations. She also served as a member of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Advisory Council on Technology and Innovation and is now a member of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Broadband Task Force. Ms. Crawford was formerly a (Visiting) Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at Harvard’s Kennedy School, a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, and a Professor at the University of Michigan Law School (2008-2010). As an academic, she teaches Internet law and communications law. She was a member of the board of directors of ICANN from 2005-2008 and is the founder of OneWebDay, a global Earth Day for the internet that takes place each Sept. 22. One of Politico’s 50 Thinkers, Doers and Visionaries Transforming Politics in 2015; one of Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology (2009); IP3 Awardee (2010); one of Prospect Magazine’s Top Ten Brains of the Digital Future (2011); and one of TIME Magazine’s Tech 40: The Most Influential Minds in Tech (2013). Ms. Crawford received her B.A. and J.D. from Yale University.
Holly St. Clair is the Director of Enterprise Level Data Management overseeing the Commonwealth of Massachusett's activities in data management, data analysis, research, and public access to data. Ms. St. Clair has pioneered the use of advanced decision support tools in Metropolitan Boston, managing a variety of projects that use scenarios modeling, community indicators, and innovative meeting formats to engage stakeholders in dialogue about policy choices. She has a excellent track record in public sector innovation and is recognized by Planetizen as one of the Leading Thinkers and Innovators in the field of Urban Planning and Technology.
For upcoming talks in the series, please see http://dataprivacylab.org/TIP/
