Jennifer Pahlka helps improve how government works

 

Public administrations – not only in the USA – invest real money on websites which are supposed to provide services to users. More often than not, the websites are half-baked, difficult to use and with a bad user interface. Using the skills of talented young programmes is a great idea – on condition that the underlying processes, i.e. bureaucratic procedures are streamlined and adapted as well. And this is what Code for America insists on, before they take on a project – more often than not, the fault lies with the procedures, which cannot be efficiently implemented in code, because they are inefficient or simply make no sense. Good idea which should be adopted around the world, not only in the USA.

From her office in an old leather factory South of Market, Jennifer Pahlka is working to change the way government uses technology, one city at a time. Pahlka is founder and executive director of the nonprofit Code for America, which brings in mid-career tech workers willing to work for a year in cities looking for outside help. […] it helped create an application to make it easier for city workers to deal with a growing flood of public records requests, but also posted the results of those searches online for everyone to see. Evan Marwell, last year’s award winner and a member of this year’s nominating committee, cited her work’s success in getting young people engaged in technology. Marwell’s nonprofit group, Education SuperHighway, is focused on narrowing the digital divide by helping schools across the nation get wired for high-speed Internet. Like many others, Palhka moved into the tech world and spent years arranging and organizing conferences, first for game developers and later for events pushing the growing idea of Web 2.0, which argued that the regular back-and-forth interaction — and content sharing — between users and their customers (think YouTube, Twitter, Google and many others) was the digital future. When the idea of Gov 2.0, which sought to apply those same principles to distinctly non-user-friendly government services, starting gaining traction, Pahlka looked to get involved. “If people are going to give money for government programs to help people, they should want programs that really help those people, as well as respect them and use the money efficiently,” she said. When a friend talked about his experience with Teach for America, which asks young college grads to spend two years teaching in urban or rural schools, Pahlka had her inspiration. Cities and states have to be convinced that waiting to make something the absolute best doesn’t always make sense in the fast-moving world of technology, Pahlka said. In 2013, Pahlka spent a year as deputy chief technology officer in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, advocating for more customer-focused, “agile technology” that would respond faster to user complaints and concerns. The nonprofit’s budget, which was about $30,000 for its first six months, has grown to about $11 million a year, thanks to support from individuals, foundations and companies like Microsoft, Adobe, Google and others from the tech sector. The honor salutes leaders who strive to make the world a better place and drive social and economic change by employing new, innovative business models and practices. The eight finalists were nominated by a distinguished committee that included Evan Marwell, CEO and co-founder of the nonprofit group Education SuperHighway; Pam Baer, founder and CEO of For Goodness Sake, a nonprofit foundation that created an e-commerce site to connect consumers with curated brands and nonprofits; Ron Conway, an angel investor and philanthropist; Ben Fong-Torres, a noted rock journalist, author and broadcaster; Pamela Joyner, founder of the strategic marketing consulting company Avid Partners LLC; Zhan Li, dean of St. Mary’s School of Economics and Business Administration; and John Diaz, The Chronicle’s editorial page editor.

Source: Jennifer Pahlka helps improve how government works

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