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#mCitizen Closing Keynote

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This is LIVE blogging and totally not every conversation or important topic!! – my personal notes & asides

Mobile for the Citizen: Gwynne Kostin, Matt Lira, & Oscar Salazar

  • Quick video Clip to kick off the closing Keynote but there are technical difficulties. Amazing number of technical difficulties for a summit being held in Microsoft.
  • “form is following function”… we are doing things difficulty 
  • Mobile is changing the way that we interact with people
  • “we are mobile but we are Not all Citizens”
  • House Majority Leader’s Office is here – Matt Lira
  • Soon the House will be required to release data in machine readable format – increased access!!
  • Government is not about PR – Government is about getting stuff done

Questions
  • what is the biggest challenge you find in using Mobile for engaging citizens?
  • a lot of regulations 
  • Govt doesn’t KNOW what will be an effective app to reach out to citizens
  • Taking what they do at a federal level and making it pertinent to people on their level
  • You don’t engage people through technology. You engage them through actions.
  • Govt shouldn’t be in the business of creating experiences – Citizens should create experiences
  • How do you figure out how to engage citizens?
    • Listen to find out what people are doing / where they are doing / how they are doing it
    • Go where the energy is particularly for a legislative area
  • What is the coolest thing you are working on
    • Tracking elections in real time – trained reporters using SMS – managers curate the information
    • building quality of life report for a country in South America – asking the citizens for their information i.e. we don’t have fresh water / have schools but don’t have teachers
    • bringing together people who work with mobiles from different agencies to talk about what they are doing and sharing information 
    • Get the legislative data out there – transparency 
    • millions of people contact Congress every month but what happens to that information / questions? – Modernize the way that Congress “listens”
  • Q: How would you define “Citizen Engagement”?
    • actively driving legislative outcomes
  • Q: what will prevent the huge number of Mobile citizens from overwhelming govt with their questions, etc? Will it combine and become white noise?  How do they figure out their constituencies?
    • initially that was somewhat what happened with email – take That as an example to help setup a way to deal with social media – the tools are still emerging – 
  • “People make it Happen – Technology makes it Faster!” @osalazar
  • “WE Government – Citizens & Government working together rather than Me Goverment” @osalazar
  • “As a goverment, you need to deliver. As a citizen, you need to be engaged” @osalazar
  • What is available to engage as a citizen:
    • Citizen: any person who is co-creating with the government and holding the government accountable and expecting transparancy / a Mobile citizen: a small megaphone that you give to a person who has never been heard before (i.e. a street vendor in Columbia) – helping the government give them a better life  @osalazar  
    • You can’t “separate” the mobile citizen from Citizens – our citizens Are mobile – Gwynne Kostin
    • Not a new kind of citizen – just making what a citizen should be “on the go – 24/7” – Matt Lira 

    Closing out the Day
    • Time for the after event party at Clyde’s

    Applicationsforgood.org hackathon – prizes include
    First Prize: $500 & from Microsoft a Windows Phone – NEXERCISE
    Second prize: WhereHire – help people find jobs – 
    Third Prize: Dr Minder – text base to remind you that you have to go to a dentist and will give you docs in your areas
    Fourth Prize: SMS Budget reminder and tracker

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